Luke 15-16 in 3D

The Lost Sheep and Terrible Shepherds

The Bible is its own best interpreter. The study of historical context and how Hebrew/Greek words were used in other ancient sources can be fruitful ventures, but learning how to read the Bible so that we hear the depth of its allusions and resonances—using the Bible’s own language to draw out a full picture of every passage—will lead us down the straightest path of all. Scripture has its own internal logic, and it takes years of study to master. In the 3D series, I’d like to share with you what I have learned by using this method.

We are no strangers to Luke 15-16. Even many of those unfamiliar with the Bible have heard the story of the Prodigal Son.¹ Yet, it is rare that a sermon will have enough time to draw out the depths of these passages, and there is nothing wrong with that. There is a time and a place for everything. So let’s jump in with the parables of the lost sheep and coin.

Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were drawing near to hear [Jesus]. And both the Pharisees and the scribes were complaining, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them!”

So [Jesus] told them this parable, saying, “What man of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the grassland and go after the one that was lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he places it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he returns to his home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost!’ I tell you that in 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.

Or what woman who has ten drachmas, if she loses one drachma, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found the drachma that I had lost!’ In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:1-10)

Let’s take a look at the first dimension of analysis—the text itself.

Dimension 1—The Direct Context

There are some textual clues as to how we should read this.

1. The word “so” that starts the second paragraph tips us off that the reason Jesus is telling these two parables is in response to the religious leaders who were complaining that Jesus welcomes and eats with sinners.

2. Jesus says at the beginning of these parables, “What man of you . . . does not,” and “What woman . . . does not?” Despite potentially ruining your favorite song, I take this to mean that Jesus is connecting with the people through illustrating behavior that would make sense to them. They could see themselves in these stories and recognize that this is the behavior that they would exhibit when losing an animal or coin. I am often surprised by people’s insistence (perhaps because of that popular song) that Jesus is presenting a reckless shepherd in the first story. Nowhere does it say that the sheep are left unattended and this venture not done wisely. The shepherd is doing what a caring shepherd does, and that’s important as we’ll see in a bit. What Jesus is doing here is something akin to what he said in Luke 14 when the Jewish leaders were mad at him for healing on the Sabbath: “Who among you, if your son or your ox falls into a well on the day of the Sabbath, will not immediately pull him out?” (v. 5b). They couldn’t respond because they knew that that’s what they would do.

3. The implication of these stories is that Jesus himself has a duty to find what was lost. And he is appealing to the people saying, “Just like a shepherd looks for his lost sheep and a woman her lost coin, so I am looking for sinners. That is why I eat with them.” And the end of each parable shows that being found means being brought to repentance; any person who has not repented has not been found. But when one does repent, Jesus shares the joy of the finding of this formerly lost soul with those in heaven. Jesus is looking at the Pharisees and scribes and saying, “Heaven is rejoicing, and yet, you complain? What did you expect me to do with these lost ones?”

The first dimension is good, very good. As Jesus says in Luke 5:32, “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” Great news for us. Can this be backed up by the rest of the New Testament. Yes.

Dimension 2—The New Testament Context

1. Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd, the one who lays his life down for his sheep (John 10:11). The implication here is that sinners who repent are saved by Jesus’ sacrificial death.

2. Jesus, in Matthew 15:24, tells us that he was only sent on his earthly shepherding mission for “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” This point is often forgotten when we are interpreting the gospels. Jesus’ pre-death ministry on earth was God’s great attempt to finally win back the Jewish people. That language may sound very strange to you, but read the parable of the tenant farmers in Matthew 12:1-11.

3. Yet, we are told by Jesus in John 10:16 that he has sheep that are “not of this fold,” which means people who are not ethnically Jewish. We know from John’s comment in John 11:51-52 that it is Jesus’ death that brings the scattered children of God from other nations to Jesus. And so, while Jesus’ earthly shepherding ministry was to lost Jewish sheep (the tax collectors and sinners in Luke 15 are Jews), when he dies and is raised, Jesus seeks the lost sheep of the world through the ministry of the church filled with his Spirit.

4. The fullness of the intended audience of these parables is seen on so many levels. The Jewish religious leaders are to celebrate the salvation of Jewish sinners. Further, as we learn from Acts and Paul’s letters, the Jewish people are to celebrate the salvation of the Gentiles. And we can even bring it into our day and say that everyone is to celebrate the salvation of all without discrimination. This is what heaven is doing. Are we?

Notice in point 3 above that I said that the lost sheep were just the tax collectors and sinners. I do not mean to say that the religious leaders were not lost. They were, but they thought that they were the righteous. And not only was Jesus’ earthly ministry to seek and to save the lost sheep of the house of Israel, it was also to rebuke those who were entrusted as shepherds of the people. To see this, we need our third dimension.

Third Dimension—The Old Testament Context

Much of Jesus’ ministry was a judgment upon the Jewish leaders, and what we are rarely told, is that it was all prophesied. Once you see this, you can’t unsee it. It happens over and over again. And the truly mind-blowing aspect of it all is that the Pharisees and the scribes knew the Old Testament better than all of us, and yet, they didn’t believe it. Jesus was fulfilling prophesy point by point, but because he was against them, they wouldn’t follow. But I bet you they knew exactly what Jesus was implying with these parables because they knew Ezekiel 34. Let’s look at some of its verses:

And the word of Yahweh came to [Ezekiel], saying, “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and you must say to them, to the shepherds, . . . you have not brought back the scattered, and you have not sought the lost . . .. My flock went astray upon all of the mountains and on every high hill, and so upon all the surface of the world my flock were scattered, and there was no one seeking them, and there was no one searching for them. . . .”

For thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Look! I, even I, will seek my flock, and I will look after them, just like the caring of a shepherd for his herd on the day when he is in the midst of his scattered flock. Thus I will look after my flock, and I will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on the day of storm and stress. . . . I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the scattered” (Ezekiel 34:1a, 4b, 6, 11-12, 16a).

So what can we draw out of this when Ezekiel 34 is matched with the two parables.

1. God speaks against the religious leaders for not caring for his people. They do not seek the scattered and lost sheep. And so, he says that he will seek them himself. In seeing this we are not left to wonder why the Pharisees usually hated Jesus. In Ezekiel 34, God says that after seeking his lost sheep he will then set over them King David as their shepherd (Ezekiel 34:23). Since David was dead at the time of Ezekiel, God is here referring to the promised son of David, the Messiah. I bet the Pharisees had an intuitive understanding that Jesus was declaring himself to be the Messiah, but also hinting that he was God.

2. Notice in the second paragraph above that God says that this is the action of any caring shepherd. The full accusation of Ezekiel 34 against the shepherds is that they cared only for themselves and actually got “fat” off of the sheep, instead of caring for them as God had called them to do. They were bad shepherds.

3. Not only is Jesus, the son of David, set up as the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4), but Jeremiah also prophesies that a plurality of shepherds will be set up that will care for God’s sheep and protect them (Jeremiah 23:4). I believe this is a direct reference to the apostles but also the elders and pastors that are raised over every church. So the parable of the lost sheep and lost coin is not only a call for us today to celebrate all salvation, it is also an exhortation to all pastors (and a rebuke to many) to shepherd lovingly the flock of God under their care.

I hope you can see that these two parables say a lot more than what is on the surface. There is a 3D image to almost every passage that will show itself if we have the biblical eyes to see. I will continue through the rest of Luke 15-16 this week, showing how Ezekiel 34 informs the rest.

1. The fact that my church is doing a sermon series on these passages right now has got me thinking some about it, but coincidentally, my personal reading plan also had me reading these sections. Many of the following thoughts are my own, and if they are wrong, should not be considered the thoughts of my pastors.