A Revolutionary Picture of God
Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, "Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost." Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over a sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Luke 15:4-7, NRSV.
I wish Jesus hadn't called us sheep. Sheep are about the stupidest animals on the face of the earth. They are so dense that they can practically get lost in their own backyard.
Jesus' first parable in Luke 15 is about a sheep gone astray--not a rare occasion in Palestine. But it is more than about a lost sheep. More important, it is about a shepherd, really God, who cares enough to "go after" the lost one and rejoice when He finds it.
Here is not a God the Jews in Christ's audience would have recognized. While they believed that He might accept a sinner coming back to Him on hands and knees doing penance, the concept of a Deity who risked Himself to seek out sinners was beyond their ideas.
But here we have a crucial point. Salvation never starts with us. God makes the first move to help us in our lostness, as He did with Adam in the garden (Gen. 3:8-10). As Christ's Object Lessons puts it, "in the parable of the lost sheep, Christ teaches that salvation does not come through our seeking after God but through God's seeking after us....We do not repent in order that God may love us, but He reveals to us His love in order that we might repent" (p. 189).
The central words in the parable are "joy" and "rejoicing," used three times in four verses. The climax comes in verse 7, in which Jesus reports that there is "joy in heaven over one sinner who repents" (RSV).
Here is another point of the parable that flew in the face of the teachings of the scribes and the Pharisees. They had a saying that "there is joy in heaven over one sinner who is obliterated before God." We find the disciples sharing that mentality in Luke 9:54, 55, in which they thought Jesus might be delighted if a few ungrateful Samaritans got wiped off the face of the earth.
Not so, said Jesus, as He pictures the God who risks Himself in searching for the lost and throwing a party when they are found.
Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, "Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost." Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over a sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Luke 15:4-7, NRSV.
I wish Jesus hadn't called us sheep. Sheep are about the stupidest animals on the face of the earth. They are so dense that they can practically get lost in their own backyard.
Jesus' first parable in Luke 15 is about a sheep gone astray--not a rare occasion in Palestine. But it is more than about a lost sheep. More important, it is about a shepherd, really God, who cares enough to "go after" the lost one and rejoice when He finds it.
Here is not a God the Jews in Christ's audience would have recognized. While they believed that He might accept a sinner coming back to Him on hands and knees doing penance, the concept of a Deity who risked Himself to seek out sinners was beyond their ideas.
But here we have a crucial point. Salvation never starts with us. God makes the first move to help us in our lostness, as He did with Adam in the garden (Gen. 3:8-10). As Christ's Object Lessons puts it, "in the parable of the lost sheep, Christ teaches that salvation does not come through our seeking after God but through God's seeking after us....We do not repent in order that God may love us, but He reveals to us His love in order that we might repent" (p. 189).
The central words in the parable are "joy" and "rejoicing," used three times in four verses. The climax comes in verse 7, in which Jesus reports that there is "joy in heaven over one sinner who repents" (RSV).
Here is another point of the parable that flew in the face of the teachings of the scribes and the Pharisees. They had a saying that "there is joy in heaven over one sinner who is obliterated before God." We find the disciples sharing that mentality in Luke 9:54, 55, in which they thought Jesus might be delighted if a few ungrateful Samaritans got wiped off the face of the earth.
Not so, said Jesus, as He pictures the God who risks Himself in searching for the lost and throwing a party when they are found.
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