The parables of the lost in Luke 15
The Sunday lectionary gospel for Trinity xiii in Year C is the first two of the iii 'parables of the lost' in Luke 15, the parable of the lost sheep and the parable of the lost coin. We don't go on to read the third, the parable of the prodigal son, since nosotros read that earlier in the twelvemonth on the fourth Sunday of Lent.
In contrast to some of the surrounding chapters, this looks like a clearly linked block of teaching filling the whole of affiliate 15. There is no specific location or timing given, but a general introduction about Jesus' practice, though there are some links with the material either side, non least in the mention of the theme of table fellowship.
I had an interesting discussion with a friend online earlier in the calendar week, where he suggested that these parables should be understood the opposite way around from the traditional reading, with the thing that was lost and found being Jesus and the kingdom, and the i searching beingness the person who discovers religion. (Y'all might pause for a moment, and consider the merits of this reading, and why it might or might not be persuasive, before reading on…) I don't think this is a persuasive estimation, but it highlights two things: kickoff, as I have mentioned before, that Jesus' teaching in parables is not always immediately articulate to us, because of the implicit cultural assumptions that are frequently built in; and, second, that we need to check 'traditional' uses of these parables against what the text really says.
'Tax collectors' would generally have been seen equally the notorious element of Luke's earth, despised and dishonest people who collaborated with the occupying Roman power and exploited others for their own proceeds. But throughout Luke they are depicted as those who (surprisingly) respond to this spiritual renewal motion, both in John'due south ministry (Luke three.12) and Jesus' (Luke 5.27). 'Sinners' refers to those who do not meet the demands of being 'righteous', and and then are at the margins of religious society, and are probably gear up to reply in repentance—just the term is use by Luke in quite general means. Although information technologymighton occasion have overtones of sexual sin (e.g. in Luke 7.37), that is not a necessary implication. It is striking that, just equally Jesus has consistently drawn a crowd 'along the way', these kinds of people are 'gathering to him'. They are instinctively drawn to his teaching and his presence.
The complaint of the 'Pharisees and teachers of the police force' near the company Jesus keeps closely echoes their complaint against him in Luke 5.30. In that location is a hint in their allegation that Jesus does not merely accept invitations, but acts equally host himself, in the language of 'receives' or 'welcomes' (προσδέχεται), merely in fact the simply meal at which Jesus is depicted explicitly as host is the last supper. In contrast to Luke 5.31–32, Jesus does not offer a straight respond, but instead tells the three parables.
All three take a similar structure, in which something is identified as 'lost', there is a searching, that which was lost is found, and the terminate result is rejoicing. The get-go ii are tightly parallel, whilst the tertiary is much more developed, and the question of 'searching' by the male parent is handled in a different style. But in that location is also a notable increase in the importance of the lost, from being i in a 100, to one in ten, to existence ane of 2 sons.
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The term 'shepherd' is non mentioned in the first parable, but is implied by the presence of sheep. Although there is a popular reading of this story in which the despised and marginal shepherd is foolish enough to leave the 99 unprotected in club to notice the ane that is lost, none of this has foundation either in the text or in cultural reality. David Croteau explores the condition of shepherds in relation to the Christmas story in Luke ii, and comments:
Too Aristotle, a comment past Philo, and one argument in the Mishnah, the majority of the quotes used to demonstrate that shepherds were despised were taken from the Babylonian Talmud. I was unable to find fifty-fifty ane source from first-century Israel used to support the view that shepherds were societal outcasts. Therefore, this viewpoint is dated after the events being studied in Luke 2. It is unreliable information and should be discarded when interpreting the Gospels.
Given that the normal flock for an average family would be x to 15 sheep, this person is represented as extremely wealthy. I am writing this sitting in the desert in Jordan (as it happens), and fifty-fifty today information technology is not uncommon to see flocks of sheep and goats wandering apparently without a herdsman; the primary focus hither is that the one has become separated off from the residual of the herd, and then would exist distressed and in demand of gathering back. And those whom Jesus is addressing, who see themselves every bit leaders of Israel, could hardly neglect to meet the connections with God'southward rebuke to the failed 'shepherds' of Israel in Ezek 34.vii–xi. This, then, besides gives Jesus' teaching a Christological significance; in Ezek 34.eleven, where Israel's leaders have failed, God himself shepherds his people. Where the Pharisees and teachers of the law have failed to seek the lost, Jesus himself become the Shepherd of State of israel.
A possible inference from the parable is that the 'one' is more important than the 99 who have been left, and in fact the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas makes this explicit by straightening out the story's logic; the lost sheep is the largest, and the shepherd tells it 'I honey yous more than the ninety-nine' (Thousand Thom 107). But Mikeal Parsons (Paideia p 236) highlights the numerological significance of the 99 and 100. Counting on one's fingers (flexio digitorum) was very commonplace in the Roman world, and was in fact seen as an indispensable skill for the educated (Meet QuintilianInst ane.10.35). Up to 99, you would count on the left mitt, just for three-digit numbers from 100, you would count on the correct hand. In an age that preferred the right to the left, Luke's Jesus is telling us that the whole flock is out of kilter every bit long as the 1 is missing—and the whole flock is 'put right' when the one returns. No wonder there is so much rejoicing!
The parallel parable of the woman searching for the coin forms ane of the many male person-female pairs in Luke's gospel, and offers a surprising image of the searching of God for the lost in contrast to the more conventional images of the shepherd and the father.
(from Mark Allen Powell)
Kenneth Bailey reminds u.s. how unusual it would be to have coins in a peasant habitation:
The peasant hamlet is, to a large extent, cocky-supporting, making its own cloth and growing its own food. Cash is a rare commodity. Hence the lost coin is of far greater value in a peasant home than the day's labor it represents monetarily (Kenneth Bailey, Poet & Peasant and Through Peasant Eyes: A Literary Cultural Arroyo to the Parables in Luke,1983, p 157).
The ready of ten coins was well-nigh likely either some family savings, or possibly the dowry given to the adult female by her husband on her marriage. I took this picture earlier this morning in the museum of Jordanian culture in Amman; you can see the dowry coins worn around the neck, though they might accept also been worn on the forehead for more prominent display.
There is a lovely modern depiction of the anxiety of losing something valuable in the opening scene of Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring, when the former Bilbo temporarily forgets where the Band is, just to notice information technology in his waistcoat pocket.
Two keys things are worth noting in reading these parables. The first is the jarring aperture between the content of the stories and Jesus' exposition of their meaning. In neither example does the thing that is lost show sensation of its lostness or play any part in its own recovery. And nonetheless in both explanations, Jesus explicitly emphasises that rejoicing comes when 'sinners repent'. And earlier, Luke has made explicit what is only implicit in Matthew and Luke, that Jesus has come to those sick in sinfulness to bring the medicine of forgiveness: 'I have not come to call the righteous, simply sinners to repentance' (Luke 5.32). Bruce Chilton comments:
Repentance, a turning back to what solitary has value, is a necessary and inescapable attribute of entering the kingdom; it is implicit in much of Jesus' discourse, and need not exist named to exist operative. (cited in Joel Green NICNT p 575)
This means that the reversal of the kingdom is not so much from exclusive to inclusive, but from established norms to the criterion of repentance and faith.
Secondly, we demand non worry near this mismatch, since the focus is consistently theocentric. The business concern here is less on what is needed from the individuals, but the priority and concerns of God. The opening question focusses primarily on Jesus; the focus in the parables is the joy of the one searching and finding that which was lost; and the rejoicing is 'in heaven' and 'amidst the angels'. That is why the non-conventional reading I mentioned at the beginning is unconvincing.
At that place are implications for our ain priorities and practice. Andrew Wilson offers fascinating reading of the parallel account in Matthew eighteen, where the searching of the shepherd appears to exist an explicit lesson for the fellowship of believers. But here in Luke, the focus is on God himself; he is the pursing shepherd and the anxiously searching woman who longs for us to exist found once again.
Although Jesus' terminal remarks do not develop it, the enhanced portrayal of the woman'southward efforts every bit she attempts to locate what has been lost might besides provoke reflection on the initiative taken by God in human recovery. (Joel Green, p 576)
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