Luke 15:1-10
I.
What was going on?
A.
Let’s begin outside of the parable
What is going on?
What is the scene
during which all this is taking place?
There is a gathering.
Who are the people in this passage?
1.
Tax collectors and sinners
What
are the Tax Collectors and Sinners doing?
They are coming to listen
2.
Pharisees and the scribes
What are they doing?
They are grumbling
They are saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners
and eats with them.”
Why is that an accusation?
What is wrong with welcoming sinners
and eating with them?
3.
Jesus
What is Jesus doing?
He is just there – there seems to be action in
his vicinity – people drawing close to him, people grumbling about him
So what does he do?
He
tells them A parable
Transition:
The text
says, Jesus tells them a parable, not three parables, but just one, he told
them A parable. But it is a really
complex parable which is told in three parts, three episodes. The first two are
really short and sound really similar, but are slightly different in their thrust.
The third is much longer and is one of the most well-known parables in the New
Testament. Each of the three sections of the parable reveals a different truth Jesus
is attempting to teach those in attendance. They are like three variations on
the same theme each one building from what we learned in the form part and
allowing us to see a different facet of the same thing.
Usually
when I go over this parable I go over the whole parable but then spend the majority
of the sermon on the third, longest, most famous and in my opinion most interesting
of the three episodes. Today we are
going to focus on the first two sections of the parable, but I did want to make
sure we all realized that I am indeed only covering two thirds of a longer
teaching.
II. Parable of the Lost and
Found (parts I and II)
A.
The Lost Sheep
1.
Shepherd – 100 sheep
2.
Losses 1 – goes and searches for it
3.
Find it and rejoices
4.
Calls friends together to rejoice with him.
5.
Joy in Heaven over one lost sheep, not over the ones that are found.
Let’s
talk about lost sheep and shepherd.
What would you think is “normal”
procedure when one loses a sheep? What does this shepherd do?
Where are his sheep while he is
searching?
What is it like being a lost sheep?
What do you think a sheep who has wandered from the others do?
What does it feel like? Is this the
best way of going about things?
What does he do when he finds his
sheep?
What do you think are the key aspects
of this section of the parable?
B.
The Lost Coin
1.
Woman – 10 coins
2.
Losses 1 – searches for it
a.
Lights a lamp
b.
Sweeps the house
c.
Keeps looking until it is found
3.
Calls together her friends to rejoice with her.
4.
There is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.
There
are lots of different explanations as to why this coin is so important to this
woman. Some say it is part of her bride price, 10 coins that were often worn as
a necklace or belt, which was hers if anything happened to her and she found
herself alone in the world. Some say that this was the money she has
squirrelled away bit by bit and represented her whole life’s savings. Still others say that this coin was just a lot
of money, plain and simple and therefore was worth finding simply for its value
and worth. I don’t think it matters really. What matters is we realize this
coin was valuable. The woman saw its worth and felt
the
extraordinary measures she takes to find it were worth the effort it took.
What does this woman do to look for
her coin?
What do you think about the measures
she goes to, to find this coin?
What does it feel like to be a lost
coin? What does the coin think? How does the coin feel about being lost?
Transition:
When
Jesus told this parable he intended for the people who were listening to the
parable to see themselves in the parable just as one would see oneself in a
mirror. So let us begin to think about Jesus’ audience and how they might have
heard the first two sections of this parable.
With whom did Jesus intend for them to identify?
C.
Finding the context of the parable
To whom is Jesus telling this parable?
What is lost in the story? Who is lost
in among Jesus’ audience? Who would have
considered themselves lost? Who would
have considered themselves found or even “righteous”?
Are when thinking about the second
section in light of the first, are the “righteous” always to be understood as
“found”?
If we were going to make comparison
between Jesus’ audience and things in the story what comparisons would they be?
D.
The One searching
Who is searching in this passage? Who
does the shepherd represent? Who does the woman represent?
What does this tell us about God?
What does knowing this tell us about
God? Tell us about ourselves?
E.
Recognizing lost-ness
What does it look like to be lost?
What does it mean to be lost?
How does a sheep get lost? How does a
coin get lost?
Is it easy to recognize lost-ness? Can
other sheep tell that one among them is lost? Can other coins? Can we tell who
around us is lost?
What does it feel like to be lost? How
do we know if we are lost? Do all lost things know they are lost? In what way would
it be possible for one of us to be lost?
F.
Joy
What is this joy all about? Why
rejoice? Why call together friends?
What is Jesus trying to tell us about
by emphasizing the joy that is in Heaven when lost people are found or sinners
repent?
What does it say about us when we
don’t find joy in the things God finds joy?
III.
Conclusion
This
parable tells us a lot about the tenacity of God; The greatness of God. It tells
us God loves the lost sheep, who is out there in the world is willfully
wandering away from the fold. God also loves
a sheep who is unknowingly wandering from the fold.
Sometimes
sheep wander away. Oh a piece of grass, oh a piece of grass, oh a piece of grass,
until they are so far from the others and the shepherd, they can not find their
way back. They did not mean to wander off. They may not even know how they got to
where they are. But they are lost now and need to be found.
Other
sheep know they are not with other sheep. They know were curious and went off
from the others, thinking it was safe, believing they could get back, if they
wanted. They are enjoying the view, enjoying the freedom, exploring. It does
not matter how they got to where they are now, what matters is they don’t know
how to find their way back, they are usually aware of where they are, even if
they don’t know or even care how they got there. Jesus loves sinners and tax collectors.
Jesus loves people who are willfully, as well as those who are idly, or
unwittingly living in ways contrary to God’s ways.
Jesus’ desire is for these
people to be found, to come back within the fold.
This
parable also tells us people can be lost in the house. There are those who
might not know they are lost, who firmly believe themselves to be righteous.
People who have not wandered anywhere but are still lost. Jesus loves these
people too. People who know the scriptures, who know what it means to be a Christian,
what it means to live the way God calls for us to live, who know we are called to
love God and to love one another, but don’t, who are in some ways falling short
of who God is calling them to be, living “righteously” but not living “rightly”. They are just as lost and just as loved.
This
passage calls for us to be like Christ to be like God and seek that which is
lost, to desire all who are lost, those among us, as well as those who are lost
from us to be found, to come back into loving relationship with God. As Christians
we know this, we know lost people should be found. We know sinners should come
into relationship with God. We know God loves all these people know matter how
“lost” they are, no matter who they might be. God wants them to be found, to
find community and relationship with among the fold. It also calls for us to
see own lost-ness to contemplate in what way we might be lost, even if we are
not really aware of our lost-ness, to contemplate what it means for us, those
who see ourselves as among the fold, to be lost; to think about what it means
to be lost in the house, lost without going anywhere. And try to discover in
what ways we ourselves might be lost, in what ways do we need to be found. Even
if we know this we don’t always act on this, we can know something but not act
like we know it. Our lives, our actions,
our words are not in line with this knowledge.
It
also talks to us about Joy, God’s joy, and God’s desire for our joy. God
desires for all those who are lost to be found. God longs for all the lost, the
sheep wandering far and the coins lost in the house, all to be found, to no
longer be lost to come home. And God finds joy when this happens, there is nothing
that brings more joy to the heavens than one who is lost being no longer lost.
People coming back into right relationship with God, people coming to a better
understanding of what it means to be the people of God, how to be better
disciple, how to better love God, love one another and love the World which God
so desperately loves, with the love that God gives to us. We can learn from
that joy, we can experience that joy, are can join in that Joy. The shepherd
and the woman both call for friends and neighbors to share in their joy. God
too wants us to share the joy. We can rejoice when God rejoices. Joy is a part
of what we are called to as Christians, joy at our own found-ness, joy at
others found-ness, joy whenever someone comes to better understand what it
means to live this life we live as God desires for us to live it. Let us go
today with these lessons in our minds, attempting to better understand ourselves,
our God and our lost-ness and found-ness in this world.
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