Background
Before presenting Jesus' parables that tell of the lost being found, Luke gives us the setting, which helps us reach a proper interpretation.
1 Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.
2 And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.
Luke 15:1, 2
Luke begins his account by telling what happened "then." He is suggesting that what happened next came directly after Jesus' teaching on discipleship in the previous chapter.
25 And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,
26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
29 Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,
30 Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.
33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
34 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?
35 It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Luke 14:25-35
The ones who drew near to become disciples and to learn more of the Master's requirements were "publicans and sinners." The observing scribes and Pharisees, viewing themselves as already in the center of divine favor, hung back. And rather than take pleasure in seeing sinful men turn away from sin, they looked on the scene with nothing but contempt. They viewed Jesus Himself as a threat to proper religion. It was their view that sinners had no chance of securing divine forgiveness and blessing until they had undergone enough suffering or self-denial to pay for their sin. So, the religious elite bitterly criticized Jesus because He not only took sinners as followers, without requiring them to prove any hard chastening in their lives, or perform any acts of penitence, or make any costly sacrifices at the Temple, but instead He even sat down and ate with them.
The first time this charge was made was, of course, during the first year of Jesus' ministry, when he called Matthew the publican to be His disciple and accepted Matthew's invitation to a meal he was giving in Jesus' honor where the other guests would be the host's fellow publicans (Luke 5:27–32). The resurfacing of this charge during the last year of Jesus' ministry shows that to eat with disreputable sinners, even including publicans hated by all Jews, must have been His regular practice.
But we must be careful not to understate the self-righteousness of these scribes and Pharisees. Their concept of sinners was much broader than the word suggests. They saw within its boundaries not only gentiles and publicans and immoral women, but also the common people who failed to keep every requirement of the law as it was greatly expanded by their many rules and regulations. For many of the poorer class, keeping the Pharisees' version of the law was something they just could not afford to do. They could not cut themselves off from gentiles to the extent required, or distance themselves as far from dead things as the rabbis demanded, or manage all the rituals expected of them, or withdraw from all forbidden activity on the Sabbath.
To correct Pharisaical contempt for whoever was a sinner by their definition, He told three parables, which are among the most famous in the Gospels. The theme of all three is this. However far a present or future child of God may wander into the ways of sin, he remains precious in God's sight, and God will rescue him.
Parable of the Lost Sheep
The central figure in the first parable is a shepherd tending a flock of a hundred sheep.
3 And he spake this parable unto them, saying,
4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
5 And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
6 And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.
7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
Luke 15:3-7
The shepherd has such concern for each little sheep in his care that, if any goes astray, he will leave the ninety-nine and scour the countryside for the one that is missing.
Jesus begins with the words, "Which man of you?" Here He was framing an argument similar to others that He had used to expose the hard-heartedness of the Pharisees (Matt. 12:11–12; Luke 13:15; 14:5). By pointing out how they would treat mere animals, He would demonstrate that they had more compassion on these lower creatures than on fellow human beings made in the image of God.
In this parable He painted a picture familiar to His hearers. According to the Mishnah, an ancient Jewish work summarizing rabbinical teaching at the time of Jesus, shepherding was restricted to wilderness regions in the countryside.1 The reason is that in a land without fences, flocks were seen as a threat to sown fields. Yet all Jews had seen shepherds, and they all knew something about the business of shepherding, because it was a cornerstone of rural economy.
Although the sheep within a flock might belong to different owners in a village who jointly employed a shepherd to watch them, the whole flock might also be the property of the shepherd himself. The parable assumes the latter case, for it speaks of the shepherd as "having an hundred sheep," and it has the shepherd refer to the lost one as "my sheep."
The hearers would have pictured the pastureland as a plateau interrupted by cliffs and ravines. Also, when they heard that the shepherd left the ninety-nine, they would not have imagined that he left them untended. They knew that a shepherd taking care of such a large flock normally employed helpers, who would stay behind when their boss went away to look for a silly wanderer.
After a hard search, the shepherd found the lost sheep pitifully alone and confused, on its way to certain death if not rescued. It might fall into a chasm with walls too steep to climb, or a predator might make it an easy meal. But once the stray was found, the shepherd carried it back to the flock. His tender heart for the ignorant beast was so great that he actually bore it on his shoulders, not only affording it protection and releasing it from further exhaustion after a whole day of frantic moving about, but also bringing it into his close embrace, expressing the great joy in his heart because he had found the sheep before disaster struck.
That night, after the shepherd had safely conducted the whole flock to their fold and returned to his home in the village, he was still so full of joy that he summoned his neighbors and friends to join him in celebration. He wanted them also to rejoice that the lost sheep had been found.
Interpretation
What is the meaning in all this? The shepherd is undoubtedly Christ Himself. On an earlier occasion, He had devoted a whole sermon (John 10:1–18) to teaching all of us who belong to Him that He is the Good Shepherd in charge of our souls (v. 14). A companion truth is that we are all sheep. Thus, the sheep in the parable must be God's people. Our identifications of the shepherd and the sheep rest upon the authority of the apostle Peter, who recalls this parable in his first epistle.
For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
1 Peter 2:25
But the interpretation we propose raises a very difficult question. How can anyone belonging to the people of God be considered a lost sheep? In the parable, the lost sheep is obviously outside the fellowship of the flock, and when he is found, he is called a "sinner that repenteth"? Presumably, Jesus is speaking of repentance unto salvation. Thus, how could Jesus use a sheep to portray a sinner even before his repentance?
The answer is that all three parables convey the perspective of a sovereign God who has known all of His children not only before they were saved and not only before they existed, but even from eternity past.
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
Romans 8:28-33
God has not only known which people would be saved, but also He has always viewed them as His own. Scripture refers to them as God's elect. Some theological traditions view the doctrine of election uneasily because it appears to disallow the free will of man. But man has no less freedom of choice because God exercises perfect sovereignty over all His creation. Human freedom and divine sovereignty are perhaps the supreme example of a difficult paradox that is nevertheless true. We cannot reconcile the two realities because we are finite beings with narrow vision and limited understanding.
The doctrine of election has a secure foundation in God's Word, including the three parables we are now studying, for in all three the thing representing the repentant sinner returns to its original owner—to the one who possessed it before it was lost. The sheep comes back to its shepherd, the coin returns to the lady who originally counted it as her money, and the prodigal son is restored to his father. So also we who are believers belonged to our heavenly Father from the moment we were conceived. After we passed the age of accountability, we all went astray into a life of sin, where, upon death, we would have faced damnation. But our loving God did not allow us to die in our sinful condition. Although we were lost in sin's wilderness, He kept us from coming to destruction. Through the wooing of the Holy Spirit and the witness of the gospel, He brought us to repentance before it was too late and added us to the assembly of the righteous. That is, we were lost sheep restored to the safety of the flock.
Unconvinced by our interpretation of the Parable of the Lost Sheep, someone might offer an interpretation attaching a much narrower meaning to it. He might say that since a sinner cut off from God's people is represented as a lost sheep, he cannot be a sinner before salvation, but a backslidden believer. Yet Jesus presents the parable as a rebuke to the Pharisees who criticized Him for eating with publicans and sinners. It seems unrealistic to suppose that all these publicans and sinners had originally walked in fellowship with God. Jesus' association with them was scandalous precisely because at least some of them were seen as the moral dregs of society, with no history of such virtues as were prized by the Pharisees.
After the shepherd comes home, his rejoicing spills over into the whole village. Jesus says that their happy welcome pictures the joy in heaven after a sinner is converted. But although we learn that the village represents heaven, we are denied further information. Who exactly does the rejoicing? Is Jesus speaking of God Himself, of the angels, or of the saints who are now in God's presence? The best answer is probably that Jesus uses the term "heaven" comprehensively, with reference to the whole company already assembled there. The glad ones therefore include all those we have named: the dead saints and the angels as well as God in all three persons. The Epistle to the Hebrews alerts us that we should not imagine the dead saints as floating in a dreamlike state oblivious to what is happening now. In fact, they are a cloud of witnesses to the moment-by-moment victories that God's powerful hand is achieving in our world.
1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses [all the Old Testament saints who are the subject of chapter 11], let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1-2
Jesus off-handedly at the close of the parable speaks of "ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance." I believe that like the coins never lost in the next parable and like the son who remained home in the last parable, the ninety and nine represent all Jews who sincerely worshipped God and spent their lives seeking to obey the law of Moses. Among them were some, including many Pharisees, who resented Jesus' choice to fellowship with repentant publicans and others who had forsaken gross sin. In the third parable, we will see the faithful son bear this kind of Pharisaical spirit toward his returning brother. Yet we must recognize that many other Pharisees did not actually belong to God's people. The reason is that they had descended into a religion where they posed as righteous in order to enjoy wealth, power, and prestige. Some of these hypocrites even conspired to kill Jesus. Therefore, Jesus was by no means including such Pharisees when He spoke of people who needed no repentance. Rather, He was referring only to those Pharisees and other Jews that God intended to conduct safely through a transition from Mosaic religion to the religion of the revealed Christ. Although they were already right with God because they loved Him and devoted themselves to obeying the law and the prophets, they still had much to learn.
The ninety and nine have a broader meaning as well, serving as symbols for Christians in later times as well as for godly Jews in Jesus' day. His point was that the major theme of rejoicing in heaven is not the safety of believers abiding in the flock, but the spiritual rescue of sinners lost in the wilderness.
Although the three parables in Luke 11 tell the same basic story—that the Pharisees' contempt for sinners is wholly contrary to the mind of God—they also differ in four critical respects, which Jesus intended as a rich source of further truth.
- They differ in the thing lost.
- They differ in why the thing became lost.
- They differ in why the thing lost has great value.
- They differ in how the thing lost is recovered.
Let us consider each unique feature of the first parable.
- The thing lost is a sheep. Here the emphasis is on the vast difference between the sheep and the shepherd. The sheep is a dumb animal, so to speak, with little intelligence beyond a instinctual understanding that it should eat grass, whereas the shepherd knows everything about the flock, its pasturage, and its means of protection. From the contrast we learn the difference between God and God's children. He is wise to the extent of being all-knowing, whereas we, from His infinite perspective, know hardly anything.
- The sheep becomes lost through its own stupidity. It follows the lure of some green grass off to the side rather than the voice of the shepherd. Likewise, many of God's elect go astray in their youth essentially because they become truly convinced of the stupid lies that a godless world tells them in support of unbelief. There are other reasons for going astray, of course, but these are the subject of the other parables.
- The three parables show that the thing lost has great value for many reasons. The reason primarily shown in this parable is that it belongs to the flock. In its absence a perfect one hundred becomes a deficient ninety-nine. The intended lesson is very similar to the main lesson of Jesus' Parable of a Great Supper.
The Master who keeps sending out his servant to find guests is dissatisfied so long as one seat in the room remains empty. He wants His house to be full. Likewise, the shepherd wants his flock to be complete. In the society of God's people, both in this world and in the world to come, every member has a unique role—not only a special function to perform but also a special place in God's heart. Without him, the banqueting hall has a glaring vacancy. Without him, an empty space interrupts and spoils the appearance of the flock.16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:
17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.
18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.
19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.
20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.
21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.
22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.
23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
24 For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.
Luke 14:16-24
- The wandering sheep is brought back by the diligent work of the shepherd himself. Likewise, every sinner that is brought to repentance and salvation enjoys the benefit in Jesus coming to this world and dying on a cross. The work of the Great Shepherd in lovingly sacrificing Himself for our sake is the primary theme of the parable.