Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 3So he told them this parable: 4“Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?5When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. 6And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. 8“Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ 10Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Translation: But all the tax collectors and sinners were drawing near to hear him. And the pharisees and the scribes were murmuring, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats together with them." But he said to them this parable, saying:
"Which person among you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost until he might find it? And when he has found it, he lays it upon his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes into the home, he calls (his) friends and neighbors together, saying to them, 'Rejoice together with me, for I have found my lost sheep.' I say to you that there will be similar joy in heaven over one sinner that repents than over ninety-nine just persons who are having no need of repentance.
Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she might lose one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search diligently until she might find it? And when she found (the coin), she called together (her) friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice together with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' So, I say to you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner repenting."
Background and situation: The parable of the lost sheep (15:4-5) has a parallel in Matthew 18: 12-14. Otherwise, the passage is unique to Luke.
This week's text recalls Jesus' earlier appearance in the house of Levi the tax collector (5:29-32). Then, as in 15:1-10, the pharisees and scribes "murmur," which also recalls the Israelites "murmuring" against Moses in Exodus 15-17. Consider also the denunciation of the "shepherds of Israel" in Ezekial 34: "Thus says the Lord God: Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep?" (Ez 34:2b)
Our lection falls immediately after the troublesome passage of 14:25-33. Jesus had just said that if a person does not "hate" their family, they were not able to be his disciple.
In the first century world, the father's will dominated the family. If one of his children should pursue an effort against his wishes--such as, for example, joining up with the "Jesus movement"--that would be considered dishonoring one's father and would constitute a grave breach of family loyalty. In this sense, the son or daughter could be said to "hate" their father.
So, while Jesus does not mean "hate" in terms of emotional rejection, he certainly does mean that one's loyalty to him and his mission must outweigh all other considerations. It may well be that many followers of Jesus were acting contrary to the wishes of their families. Perhaps some were even rejected by their families, or vice versa.
Nevertheless, Jesus says, they are in the New Family: "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it (8:19-21)."
Open table hospitality: Tax collectors and sinners were drawing near "to hear" Jesus--and not just a few of them either, but "all." Every last tax collector and sinner was coming to Jesus. What a sweeping statement!
The Pharisees were "murmuring" that Jesus "receives" sinners and "eats together"--sunesthiei--with them. With such a vast assemblage flocking around Jesus, there would have been no need to "murmur". Luke intends their "murmur" as a recollection of those who "murmured" against Moses in the wilderness.
The pharisees had expressed the same concern in 5:29-32. Then, they had asked Jesus' disciples: "Why do you eat and drink with tax-collectors and sinners?" On that occasion, Jesus answered that "those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance."
In just the previous chapter, Jesus had encouraged open table hospitality. "When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind (14:13)." In practicing open table hospitality himself--eating with "all" the sinners--Jesus is an exemplar of his own teaching.
Moreover, he not only "eats together" with the poor and the blind, but even outright criminals and hookers. (Sure, the text says "sinners," but one may safely assume that "sinners" then meant about what it means today, i.e. sexual offenders.)
He is also eating with tax collectors. In other words, he shares a table with the representatives of Imperial Rome, the same people who impose severe taxes and confiscate peoples' property when they can't pay. Backed by Roman power, they oppress the people. He eats with them?
Parable of the Lost Sheep: Unlike in chapter 5, on this occasion Jesus does not offer an explanation for his eating dinner with sleazoids and scumbuckets. This time, he tells a parable:
"Which person among you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost until he might find it? And when he has found it, he lays it upon his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes into the home, he calls (his) friends and neighbors together, saying to them, 'Rejoice together with me, for I have found my lost sheep.'
The reference to shepherds recalls Ezekiel 34:1-6 and its scathing denunciation of the so-called "shepherds of Israel" who feed themselves and not the sheep. Those responsible for the leadership of Israel "have not strengthened the weak" or "healed the sick," unlike what Jesus has been doing. Nor have they "sought the lost"--again, unlike Jesus (19:10). Therefore, the people "were scattered because there was no shepherd" and "no one to search or seek for them."
Sound like any pharisees and scribes you might know? The contrast is stark. The "shepherds of Israel" don't do their job, but the shepherd who goes searching for the lost does. Moreover, when that shepherd finds the lost, he puts the lost sheep on his shoulder, "rejoicing," then brings it "home," then "calls together" his "friends and neighbors." (Note that "family" or "kin" is not included here. We're still dealing with the aftershocks of 14:25-33.)
The emphasis in the parable is clearly on finding the lost and rejoicing at the find, a connection that Jesus elaborates with his summary statement on its meaning: "I say to you that there will be similar joy in heaven over one sinner that repents than over ninety-nine just persons who are having no need of repentance."
Excursis on "having no need of repentance": Have you ever met a person who had no need for repentance? Me neither. There aren't any. Robert Capon argues that Jesus used "ninety-nine just persons who have no need of repentance" to set up the story. They don't actually exist as real persons.
None of us are "just". We're all the poor, dumb little lamb that wandered off. The whole human race is that one lost sheep. It stands for everybody. We are all lost, one way or another. The story tells us that God will do anything to find the lost, and there is "joy in heaven" at the finding.
Parable of the Lost Coin:
Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she might lose one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search diligently until she might find it? And when she found (the coin), she called together (her) friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice together with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' So, I say to you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner repenting."
Here, the God figure is not a shepherd, but a woman--interesting all by itself. The woman hunts high and low for her mint condition silver dollar. She lights a lamp--this indicates a simple dwelling, incidentally, one without windows--and she sweeps the whole house. When she finds the coin, she "calls together" her friends and neighbors and asks that they "rejoice" with her. (Again, family is not mentioned.)
The story is not about the need for repentance, particularly not the way repentance is typically understood. Neither the sheep nor the coin "repents." They don't do anything at all. They are simply lost, and they are simply found.
The story is not primarily about our sins, our need to be "righteous," our need to "repent," or our feeble efforts to reform ourselves. It is about God's relentless search for the lost and "joy in heaven" when the lost are found and brought home.
The pharisees would never have objected to Jesus encouraging other people to repent. That's exactly what they themselves thought: All those "sinners" need to straighten up and fly right. That was exactly the pharisee program.
If the story was an encouragement for people to repent, the pharisees would have applauded. Jesus would have been a pharisee hero. They would have called him a Defender of Traditional Values, and not a "glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners." (7: 34)
Both parables are about God as the seeker of the lost. We can never get away from the love that will not let us go. In seeking and finding the lost, which is all of us, God is forging a New Family, those who "eat together" with him, and are "called together" to rejoice.
In chapter 19, Jesus will go to the house of a tax collector, Zaccheus. This time, Jesus will not be the host, but the guest, meeting the "sinner" where he lives, in his home. He states his purpose explicitly: "The Son of Man came to seek out and save the lost." If the "shepherds of Israel" will not tend the flock, or bring back the strayed, the Good Shepherd will.
Image: Parable of the lost coin, Sunday school childrens' art, Discovering Sunday School
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