Reflection

Luke 15:1-10

Again we hear the grumbling of the Pharisees and scribes. They are acting like Isreal in the wilderness after the exile from Egypt. They don’t like that Jesus is welcoming and eating with sinners. They think they are making Him unclean. Like every time before this Jesus knows what is at the heart of their grumbling and has a story to share.

Jesus shares a story of a shepherd with a hundred sheep and one gets lost. He is comparing the listeners and specifically the Pharisees to to shepherds who worked a job that made them unclean. Jesus shares about this shepherd leaving the ninety-nine to find the one. How he would rejoice when the one is found and so much so he would throw a party.

Then he shares another story of a woman who looses her coin. The amount isn’t specific but it is enough to cause her to search her home. We can picture her in her dark home (many of us don’t have windows and the floors would have been earth/dirt). She looks every where sweeping searching and she finally finds it. She does the unthinkable, she invites her friends over and throws a party. A party that might even cost more than the coin she found.

He shares a third story that is based on this same theme but this is enough to process for right now. We will get to the next story next time. As I think about these stories it jumps out at me that it would be reckless to chase down one sheep leaving ninety-nine behind. It wouldn’t be prudent to throw a party for finding a single coin. Yet Jesus wants to make it clear we are the lost sheep and He is the good shepherd. The joy and celebration isn’t for the prim, proper, and polished (who aren’t even fully repentant in their hearts). It’s for the sinner who turns from sin to Christ and the life He calls us to live. The sinner who fully repents of their brokenness to follow Christ.

Devotional Questions

In what ways are you the lost sheep who wandered off?

In what ways are you like the Pharisees and scribes seeing yourself as better (more holy) than others?

In what ways is Jesus calling you to repent and turn to him? What specific sin is he convicting you of today?

Consider the type of celebration God wants to have with you if you really repent and turn to him.

Lord, we wander so easily, we puff ourselves up in comparison to others, help us see our sin and fully repent turning to you toady, allowing us to celebrate your redemptive work in our lives. Amen