Reclaiming the Truth
“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” Luke 15.4-7
Redeeming the Time
Luke 15 is a series of parables Jesus tells in response to the complaints of the Pharisees and teachers of the law. They didn’t like the way Jesus was “welcoming sinners and eating with them.” (Luke 15.3) One writer entitles these parables, “The Searching Shepherd,” “The Searching Woman” and “The Seeking Father.” Shepherds, unmarried women, and rebellious sons were all examples of disenfranchised people who were usually excluded by the religious establishment of Jesus’ day.
Jesus wants to revolutionize the religious establishment by putting redemption of the lost as His primary focus. Lost children, lost marriages, lost people, lost souls. In another exchange after the Pharisees complained about Jesus eating with sinners, Jesus replied, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2.17
In this parable of The Searching Shepherd, Jesus our Good Shepherd finds the one sheep who is lost and gives cause for great rejoicing. The joy of the secure condition of the sheep is one of the primary facets of the parable. Not only the joy of the shepherd, but the invitation for those in the community to also rejoice. “Rejoice with me.”
The Church was called into being for the purpose of redemption. It was to be a place for the marginalized, cast out, unwanted, un-welcomed people of society to find healing and wholeness and holiness. And yet many Sundays, even our church sits empty of such people.
In Luke 14, just a few verses prior to the telling of these parables, Jesus tells another parable. Historically, we refer to this parable in Luke 14 as “The Parable of the Great Wedding Banquet.”
At the end of the parable, Jesus says these words, “Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full.”
Our Good Shepherd, just like Hosea, takes the Divine Initiative to go out and seek and save the lost. And He invites us to partner with Him in reaching those who are hurting and lonely and those enslaved in anxiety and riddled with fear.
Reflection
- Share the story of how Jesus found you, rescued you and redeemed you.
- When was the last time you partnered with Jesus to “compel” a lost friend to come in?
- How are you currently celebrating and rejoicing in the lost being found?
Resting in His Redemption
“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.” – Psalm 23
