a shepherd and a sheep
A Pilgrimage to the Cross
Walking through Lent with Jesus
Tuesday 29th March
Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering round to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.”
Then Jesus told them this parable:
“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home….
I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
Luke 15: 1-7
Who was making the rules here? Who decided on the definition of those labels, “sinner” and “righteous”? What would have been necessary, according to them, for someone to cross from one category to another?
Maybe, as teachers of the law, they were thinking about the sin offering prescribed in Leviticus:
‘When anyone is guilty in any of these ways, he must confess in what way he has sinned and as a penalty for the sin he has committed, he must bring to the Lord a lamb or goat from his flock as a sin offering, and the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin.’
Leviticus 5: 5,6
So then Jesus tells them a story about lambs…. but it is not the story they are expecting. In this story, the shepherd takes wildly inappropriate, risky action to save the lamb. Listen to how the story begins….
“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them.”
What would be the sensible thing to do? Leave the 99 unattended…..or write off the loss, 1% is only to be expected, look after the remaining assets. Put your effort where there is the greatest chance of a return- with the 99 that you have still got.
But this is a shepherd with a difference. This one sheep is of such value that the shepherd heads off to find it- and when he’s found it, he brings it back home on his shoulders, rejoicing. The lamb didn’t have to pay the price- because the shepherd loved him too much to lose him…….
Suddenly all the ideas they thought they knew about sin, and sacrifice, have been turned upside down.
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