Luke 15:1-7 “in a snailshell”
Wednesday of the Thirty-First Week in Ordinary Time
©️2021 Gloria M. Chang
What does the Parable of the Lost Sheep reveal about the boundless love and mercy of Jesus for every single person?
The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to him, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So to them he addressed this parable. “What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy and, upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.
Luke 15:1-7
Rabbi or Rebel?
Jesus draws outcasts and lawbreakers to him like a magnet because his merciful heart warms cold, hardened sinners. What kind of rabbi is this? complain the Pharisees and scribes. Unlike the community’s respectable teachers, Jesus shocks them day after day by befriending unclean Jews and even Gentiles. What transpired through the minds of these scholars and experts? As Jesus grew in popularity among the common people, did they feel guilty for failing to reach out to those in need of God? Or did they callously discard tax collectors and sinners as disposable rubbish?
Completing the Flock
Knowing their judgmental and contemptuous thoughts, Jesus turns to them. Without scolding or preaching, he tells them a parable. Appealing to them as reasonable men, he proposes they imagine themselves as shepherds. If, having a hundred sheep, they lose one, who among them would not search high and low for that one sheep? In Middle Eastern culture, one sheep is so precious that it warrants a diligent search. Since Abraham’s day, flocks represent wealth and abundance. Who, having $100,000 and losing $1000, wouldn’t try to recover it? Better than cash, sheep is also life, milk, meat, sustenance, wool, warmth, and companionship. Shepherd and sheep form a bond of love, unlike bankers and cash.
Sheep also have feelings. A lost sheep is distressed and dismayed, perhaps caught in brambles, fallen into a ditch, or injured and unable to move. A lost sheep is utterly helpless. When shepherd and sheep reunite, rejoicing follows in the village and among the flock. One missing sheep saddens its friends and family too. The sheep or lamb may have a mother, father, brothers, and sisters who long for it.
The Joy of the Parable of the Lost Sheep
“There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.” Assuming the other ninety-nine have already repented and belong to the shepherd’s heart, the rescued sheep completes the flock. Ninety-nine is incomplete. Every person is infinitely precious. The entire flock would be severely wounded if even one person was cast out or lost. The Body of Christ is one because Christ is one and indivisible. Can there be eternal division in the Body of Christ?
Thank you, Jesus, for finding me.
Ninety-nine will rejoice with thee.
Traditional Chinese Translation
《迷羊的比喻》
耶穌，謝謝祢找到我。
九十九隻羊會與祢一同歡喜。
Dear GMC, I feel Snail’s thank you right in my heart, having been a lost sheep, once! Remember how a child says thank you? With pure gratitude. That’s how I feel today. Like a child in my loving Savior’s hands, one that’s been naughty and brought back too. Thank you Jesus, for finding me.