The Lost Sheep
Rev Steve Murray
Luke 15: 1-10
The words you have spoken are spirit and life O Lord. Help us today to hear and act on those words of eternal life. Amen
The first part of Luke’s reading tells the story of the lost sheep. I want to compare our NZ sheep with the Judean sheep as they ae very different. In NZ we had 70 million sheep in 1982, as at June 2020 we were down to 26 million sheep. We lost 44 million sheep in 38 years.
Did we grieve? No. Do we have names for the now 26 million sheep? No, except for the odd pet lamb. Did the Judean shepherds have names for their flock of 100 sheep? Probably. Did they have a special bond with the sheep? Definitely. The shepherds put their lives at risk to defend and care for the sheep. Here in NZ the shepherd doesn’t have to risk his life or have a special bond. It is just a job and a way of life. Shepherds in Judea however had a hard and dangerous task. In Judea good pasture was scarce. The narrow central plateau was only a few miles wide and then it plunged down go the wild cliffs and he terrible devastation of the desert.
There were predators. The shepherd was personally responsible for the sheep and if a sheep was lost or died then he had to bring home the fleece to the village. However what joy and celebration there was if the Judean shepherd found the lost sheep bringing it back alive to the village.
To me the parable of the lost sheep emphasizes the extravagant joy with which God, present in Jesus Christ, welcomes back home a sinner who once was lost.
Jesus Christ was friendly with tax collectors, sinners, lepers, widows, prostitutes and children. If you look at those meetings it shows Jesus bring friendly, being loving. He touches the lepers, he talks with prostitutes. He doesn’t actually scold and correct the sinners when he first meets them. Instead as on this occasion in Luke’s gospel he actually sits down and eats with
them. He gets to know them and shows them the right was. Wow! Eating with sinners is a big no-no in the eyes of the Pharisees. There is a difference between the world in Luke’s day and today’s modern world. A lot of people might think or say “aren’t we all sinners?” The Christian answer is probably yes.
However, in Luke’s world 2,000 years ago some people so habitually broke the laws of God (as enforced by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law) that they are singled out as sinners and judged. They are beyond help and they definitely should be avoided at all costs. The tax collectors and the men and women of doubtful reputation are the sinners. However the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law and the orthodox Jews kept their laws and so did not regard themselves as sinners. These tax collectors, these sinners, were lost to God and beyond salvation. Surely God could not possibly love such people. How wrong the Pharisees are! There is hope. God (Jesus) as the Good Shepherd is personally responsible for his sheep. He knows his sheep and the sheep know him. He was willing to risk his life for his sheep and demonstrated
that fully on the cross. The shepherd in today’s Gospel reading, out searching for that one lost sheep, finds him and brings it back on his shoulders. He is greeted with shouts of joy and thanksgiving from the village. In the same way when we are found, when we have faith, we will experience that same joy in earth and heaven. I am so glad that Jesus found me a sinner, and
saved me. God searches for us. The Pharisees did not. God loves us. The Pharisees did not love the sinners of their day.
The second parable of the coin a woman lost and found (verses 8-10) is interesting and has a similar message as the previous parable. A peasant’s house in Luke’s time would be dark.
The floor was beaten earth covered with dried reeds and rushes. The house sometimes had only one window or even occasionally no windows at all in order to retain the heat in the home. That is why the woman had to light a lamp to search for the coin. Looking for a lost coin was like looking for needle in the haystack. The coin was worth more than one day’s wage for a working man in Palestine. The lost coin if not found might mean that the family would go hungry. It represented much more than mere money. The woman was not wealthy. Again, there is the similar image of a difficult search before the coin is found. Then there is much joy relief and celebration. The woman invites the friends and neighbours to join in that special celebration. It illustrates the fact that there is much joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
In the same way if we are prepared to search for God then we too will experience the joy and celebration.
Allelulia. Amen.