Jesus Asks a Question: “Wouldn’t every one of you search for the lost sheep until you found it?”
Jesus Asks a Question: “Wouldn’t every one of you search for the lost sheep until you found it?”
The Grand Inquisitor. Messiah Jesus was a Master of asking questions: some were open-ended, others were very pointed; some were out of curiosity, others were challenging; some seemed rhetorical, others seemed painfully obvious; some were to reveal Himself, others were to guide the other into self-understanding; some were intentionally provocative, others were to kick-start a conversation; some questions were asked to explore a topic to deepen understanding and stretch toward the truth; some were leading questions that He designed to suggest a particular answer, and others were questions in response to questions asked of Him; some were hypotheticals to stimulate the imagination, other questions were used by Him as stepping stones to think logically from one point to the next. Jesus used questions to dignify the listener, letting that person know that He is taking that person seriously and listening carefully. Many of His questions were acts of friendship and used to pursue a more profound intimacy with someone. Jesus asked very few yes-no questions, and since time was usually irrelevant for Him when He was with people, He rarely asked a “when” question. Several biblical scholars have studied the gospels with Christ’s questions in mind, and they have literally counted a total of 307 questions in His various conversations and teachings. It seems that a worthy spiritual exercise when considering the many questions of Jesus is that we ask ourselves… should I take His questions personally, as if He was asking us that question right now?
The Full Question. “Wouldn’t every single one of you, if you have 100 sheep and lose one or one wanders away, leave the 99 sheep in their grazing lands and go out searching for that lost sheep until you find it? (Luke 15:4 and Matthew 18:12).
The Profound Answer. As Jesus directly claimed in the phrase “until you have found it” in Luke 15:4, the Lord will not ever give up searching for a lost sheep, any lost sheep, all lost sheep. The seeking of the lost is an eternal project of mercy for our persistent God, who is willing to embrace the lost come hell or high water, before death or after death. As Jesus proclaimed to His disciples, to the religious leaders, and to all of us, “Clearly, it is not the will of my Father in heaven that even one of these little ones should be lost.”(Matt. 18:14). Another way of stating this aspect of the everlasting mission of Christ, “The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.” (Luke 19:10).
Same Question Twice, With Two Different Audiences. In Luke 15, Jesus is directing His pointed question to the grumbling, judgmental Pharisees and scribes. In Matthew 18, Jesus is directing His challenging question to His disciples who were arguing about who was more important. In Luke, the sheep represent lost sinners who are found by a good shepherd. In Matthew, the sheep represent those “little ones,” the toddlers representing Jesus’ picture of the true disciple. Jesus was very concerned here that these “little ones” be found if they have wandered away from the flock.
THE TODDLER AS AN OBJECT LESSON: Jesus loved to teach in a way that was memorable. He loved to do the unexpected and the graphic when making a spiritual point. Here in Matthew 18, He is taking a nearby child and turning him/her into an object lesson. Jesus claims that the child is a model of a true believer. On the other hand, Jesus implied, none of you disciples are, if you want to keep worrying about who is greatest. If you want to follow me, Jesus is saying, become like a child. Learn to be comfortable with being unimportant, with little status or power. Identify with the child who tends to go through the day unnoticed and underappreciated. Learn to be as dependent on God as a child is on his/her parents. Have simple needs, like a young child. Be transparent, straightforward, and honest. Be trusting in God’s authority and motivation like a child would be with adult authority. And don’t forget, children are naturally curious, they are by nature good learners because of their interest in so many things and their desire to grow up. Speaking of children, we all know they are vulnerable, they are trusting, and they are physically weaker than adults. So be aware, says Jesus, that I have their backs. I was a child once, and I know what it feels like to be a vulnerable child. Whoever gives a child a hard time, or takes advantage of them, or causes them harm, or leads them astray, I will personally make sure there is serious accountability. Any abuse of children gets my attention, and I’ll make sure they pay the price come judgment day. I identify so closely with children that when you respect and receive a child, that’s the same as welcoming me. When you open your arms to receive a child, you’d better open them a little wider, because I will be right there with you.
Context for the Lost Sheep Parable in Luke 15. “Many dishonest tax collectors and other notorious sinners often gathered around to listen as Jesus taught the people. This raised concerns with the Jewish religious leaders and experts of the law. Indignant, they grumbled and complained, saying, ‘Look at how this man associates with all these notorious sinners, eats with them, and welcomes them all to come to him!” (Luke 15:1-2).
The Pharisees wouldn’t let up. They continued harping on Jesus because He welcomed sinners to listen to Him teach. He befriended them, and even ate with them! This particular time, they noticed that tax collectors and other sinners are flocking around Jesus to listen to Him teach and tell stories. And Jesus does nothing to discourage them. The Pharisees are indignant, and they muttered once again that Jesus shouldn’t be doing this sort of thing if He was a self-respecting rabbi. They complained to Jesus that He is associating with the unclean riffraff. Isn’t He worried about defiling Himself, they wonder?
A MEAL. Why was it so wrong to be eating with sinners, anyway? In the eyes of pious Jews, table fellowship was a serious business. Eating with someone was special sign of acceptance. It was evident that Jesus didn’t merely eat with sinners. It was clear that He actually hosted sinners, that these outcasts were invited by Jesus to His table. NT scholar Jeremias noted that “to invite someone to a meal was an honor, an offer of peace, trust, forgiveness, and brotherhood.” Merely rubbing shoulders with the unclean sinner was bad enough, but to go out of your way to invite them, to choose to be with them, was scandalous. Kenneth Bailey noted that a respected homeowner may offer a meal to the needy as a sign of generosity, but that man certainly wouldn’t lower himself and actually eat with those people. But Jesus did just that. The issue of impurity was so central that a rabbinic instruction of that time included, “The wise say, ‘Let not a man associate with sinners even to bring them to the Torah!” The Pharisees were obsessed with their purity laws. They were so afraid of being made unclean that they wouldn’t even associate with sinners in order to bring them to the Scriptures! Table fellowship with sinners was thus absolutely forbidden for pious Jews, and the religious leaders were dumfounded that Jesus would take this part of their law so lightly.
JESUS. How did Jesus defend Himself from these pious complaints? He didn’t respond to their criticism with a three-point sermon about the art of evangelism. Instead, Jesus tells them three stories, three parables about the lost… The lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. These “lost” parables narrow in focus from one out of 100 (sheep), to one out of 10 (coins), to one out of two (sons). These parables were Jesus’ defense for His being the friend of sinners, and He wants to make sure the Pharisees don’t miss the point. The final lost item in the three stories, the elder son, is the point of this group of stories. Jesus wants them to see that the elder son is a picture of the Pharisees themselves, who were ultimately left out of the fellowship because of their self-righteousness.
PRIDE. In His first parable, Jesus put the Pharisees on their heels right away. His first line in the ‘lost sheep’ story was, “Which of you…” This would have offended the Pharisees, because they were being compared to a lowly and impure shepherd. Jesus was asking the Pharisees in His clever way to identify with the shepherds, to take the place of the shepherd in the story. That would have put the Pharisees off-balance, because the Pharisaic law considered shepherds to be ritually unclean. The shepherd profession was seen as beneath the dignity and purity of the religious elite. So right away, the Pharisees have been indirectly rebuked for their spiritual pride. But Jesus is just getting started.
BLAME. Jesus then talks about the shepherd in his story losing his sheep. It was the shepherd’s fault. The shepherd should not have let that happen. Soon the Pharisees will see the point of the story, and they will find that Jesus is rebuking them for letting some of their sheep get lost. It’s their fault. They never should have let that happen to some of these lost souls.
HELPLESS. Evidently a lost sheep is easy to lose, but not that particularly hard to locate. Sheep are stupid, and they just wander off without being aware of becoming lost. A lost sheep then becomes frightened, just lies down helplessly on the ground and refuses to budge. That lost sheep then will bleat, constantly and loudly, out of panic and fear. The lost sheep is unable to help itself and depends on the shepherd to find it. But now comes the hard part for the shepherd. Because the sheep is immobile, the shepherd has no choice but to put the sheep on his shoulder and trudge back to the sheepfold in order to restore the sheep to the flock.
JUST NEED ONE. But before that can happen, the shepherd has to leave the 99 other sheep in the flock with his assistant shepherd. The chief shepherd will then be freed up to search diligently for that lost sheep. There is never just one solitary shepherd caring for the flock, especially one that large. It’s a job that requires at least two or more other shepherds, because of the many tasks involved in shepherding the flock. So, in the story, it was assumed that the shepherd left the fold with another shepherd and struck out on his own in his search. Jesus is asking the Pharisees, there are plenty of you around to care for the sheep that are safely in the fold. Why isn’t there at least one of you who will lovingly seek the lost who have wandered outside the fold?
UNTIL YOU FIND IT. Jesus strongly implies here that the Good Shepherd will not ever give up in his search for the lost sheep. It is simply not His will that any remain lost forever. He will stubbornly continue His search until the last lost sheep is found and restored to Him. We see the heart of Jesus’ character in this ongoing search, “God our Savior, who wants all mankind to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. He longs for everyone to embrace His life, to be delivered, and to understand the divine truth.” (1 Timothy 2:3-4). And we see the overarching mission of God as we consider that He will seek the lost until all are found and restored, “When everything in the universe, the entire created order, has finally taken its rightful place under Creator God’s sovereign authority, the Son will present to God His redeemed creation so that God will be all in all, utterly supreme over everything everywhere, including everyone, the Father indwelling all there is, the comprehensive authority and presence who has reclaimed all creation.” (1 Corinthians 15:28).
REJOICE. Joy is the centerpiece of this parable. The shepherd rejoices when he has found the sheep. And he rejoices again when he shared the good news with the community back home, his friends and neighbors. Then joy is once again brought to the center of the story when Jesus told the Pharisees of the great joy in heaven whenever one sinner repents! C’mon you religious leaders, wouldn’t you want to share in that joy, Jesus is asking? Instead of grumbling, you should be rejoicing when a sinner turns to God and returns to the fold! Why can’t you seem to do that? Do you see what you’re missing out on when you complain about sinners rather than reach out to them?
OWNERSHIP. Jesus is saying, I want you to know, Pharisees, that I still claim ownership of these sheep, whether lost or not. These sinners are my sheep, and I love them. I want them all to know of God’s love for them. I will continue to seek out the lost and take them home. I will continue to welcome the sinners and eat with them. And I will share in the joy of heaven as I lovingly take each lost sheep onto my shoulders and carry them home to the Father. In fact, I will search for my lost ones even before they repent! That’s how much I love my sheep.
SUBMIT. Pharisees, in your self-righteousness, you believe that you are clean and don’t need to repent. Well, okay, fine, but I will befriend those who do see the need. But don’t forget the words of our great prophet Isaiah, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one of us, to his own way.” And like the lost sheep, we are helpless to find the way back to the flock on our own. We are spiritually immobile until the shepherd finds us. Being a lost sheep is a hopeless situation. Lost sheep depend on the Good Shepherd to find them. Please accept your lost condition, and submit to the Shepherd as He puts you on His shoulders for the long walk back to safety, to salvation, to the Father.