Knowing The Word in Luke 15:1-7, The Parable of the Lost Sheep

Tax collectors were considered collaborators with Rome and enemies of the Jews. Sinners were the immoral law-breakers. The Pharisees knew that God welcomed penitent sinners, but something new is happening in the ministry of Jesus. In Christ, we see God is a seeking-God who takes the initiation to find the lost. In the Parable of the Lost Sheep, the shepherd leaves all the safe sheep behind to find the single, lost sheep. Carrying it home on his shoulders is not a burden to him but a joy.

The parable brings out the joy of Jesus over one repentant sinner.

1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

3 So he told them this parable: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Prayer: Lord, renew our spirits and draw our hearts unto thyself, that our work may not be to us a burden, but a delight. Oh, let us not serve thee with the spirit of bondage as slaves, but with the cheerfulness and gladness of children, delighting ourselves in thee, and rejoicing in thy work.

Benjamin Jenks, 1646-1724