Pray for Israel
The Parables of Jesus Christ
are some of the most well-known
and
well-loved passages in the Bible
Each parable has a meaning that
had
context at the time
Jesus spoke them, but they still apply to life today
Has there ever
been a man so relevant for
2,000 years....?!
Man, No.... God,
Yes.
A parable as a simple story used to illustrate
a
moral or spiritual lesson, as told by Jesus
in the Gospels.
The parables describe ordinary circumstances
and
situations that people can understand easily,
but their moral lessons teach us how to
live as faithful
Christians, as God intended.
Jesus used parables to teach the people about
God’s Kingdom and THE WAY
to
salvation.
At first,
the stories he tells may not seem to have anything to do with
God or salvation.
Why did Jesus speak in parables? The whole conversation is: Matthew 13:10-17.
This is why I speak to them in parables:
“Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
The people weren’t open to God’s message
and most were skeptical of Jesus
His messages
were unpopular because they challenged people
to
change in ways they didn’t want to
Jesus chose to teach using parables because it was simpler
for
people to understand the
abstract afterlife and righteousness of God.
Even so, the meaning of the parables could be difficult to grasp.
To help you extract the most value, each parable is
broken down into life lessons
They provide directions to help us
navigate the journey to eternal redemption through
God's Will and Specific Callings to
Achieve not just personal,
but
universal Salvation
God’s expectations never change and
the journey
to reach Him never changes.
He’s inviting us to walk down the path to salvation.
The Parables of the Lost Sheep
and the Lost Coin
(Luke 15:3–10)
Are the first two in a series of three.
The third is the “lost son” or the “prodigal son.”
Just as in other cases, Jesus taught these parables in a
set of three to emphasize His point.
To properly understand the message of these parables, we must
recognize exactly what a parable is, and why it is used.
Both Matthew 18 and Luke 15 record
Jesus’ parable
about a shepherd who leaves 99 sheep in the fold
to go
in search of one that had wandered away.
In the Macro View and physical Aspect, this is
Israel-
Literally. Spiritual First... then physical.
Jesus gave this illustration in response to the Pharisees
who were incensed that Jesus
welcomes sinners and eats with them
Luke 15:2
The religious leaders in Jesus’ day had
structured their system to exalt the self-righteous
and exclude anyone who did not live up to their
often arbitrary standards
(Matthew 23:28).
They had added so many rules and regulations
to God’s law
that no one could keep them all, including the ones who
drafted them.
When Jesus came along, His methodology confused them.
He seemed to be from God, yet He rebuked the
outwardly righteous and welcomed the wicked.
How could this man know God?
So Jesus told them a story, as He did many times
in order to
explain spiritual truths:
“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of
them wanders away,
will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to
look for the one that wandered off?
And if he finds it, truly
I tell you,
he is happier about that one sheep
than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.
In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing
that any of these little ones should perish”
(Matthew 18:12–14).
The people of Jesus’ day understood the relationship between
shepherds and sheep, but the significance of a shepherd
going in search
of one lost sheep is sometimes lost on us.
It seems strange that a shepherd would leave
his flock to search for one missing sheep.
We might consider the shepherd leaving the 99 to
find the 1 this way:
a father and his five children are asleep in their home when the smoke detectors go off. The father awakens to find his house filled with smoke and the sound of flames and crackling timber coming nearer. Panicked, he races to his children’s bedrooms and begins to rouse them. Calling to some and carrying others, he stumbles down the stairs and out the front door.
He deposits the sleepy children on the grass a safe distance away and then turns. Gasping for air, he squints through the smoke to count kids: “Tim, Sally, Angel, Jojo—where’s Lilly!” He is missing his youngest, three-year-old Lilly.
Four children are safe, one is not. What will this father do?
God is a Father. He counts His kids.
He rejoices that some are safely in Christ,
prepared for eternity and nestled near His heart.
But some are missing. Where’s Karen? Where’s Abdul? Where’s Jose?
The Father sent Jesus on a rescue mission
“to seek and to save the lost”
(Luke 19:10).
God does not abandon the 99.
They are already safely in His kingdom,
attended by His angels,
and
guided by His Holy Spirit
(Romans 8:14; Hebrews 13:5).
But His heart aches for those
not yet in the fold.
So the Good Shepherd pursues the lost sheep,
woos them,
calls to them, and allows circumstances
into their lives
designed to make them look up.
It is often in the bleakest of circumstances that we
finally surrender our demands to have our own way.
We finally submit to our Shepherd,
who carries us back to the fold
(Luke 15:5).
In John 10, Jesus again refers to Himself as the Good Shepherd, saying,
"I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen.
I must bring them also.
They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be
one flock and one shepherd”
(verses 16–17).
Then in verses 27–29 He says,
"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.”
The 99 are still important to Him, but He knows
the flock is not complete without the lost sheep.
And a good shepherd always goes after the lost sheep.
In Luke’s gospel,
two other parables follow the one about the one lost sheep, and both of them reinforce Jesus’ main point, which is the value of individuals.
The parable of the lost coin (Luke 15:8–10) and the parable of the lost son,
also known as the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11–32),
continue the theme of God as a pursuer of lost people. We were all lost at one time, and the Lord came after us. If He had not taken the initiative,
no one could be saved (John 6:44). So, when our Good Shepherd wants to pursue another lost lamb,
the 99 who are in the fold can joyfully
support the rescue.
What is a parable?
At a basic level, a parable is a short story designed to
convey a concept to be understood
and/or a principle to be put into practice.
This, however, tells us more about the intent of a parable than what it actually is. The word “parable” in Greek literally means, “to set beside,” as in the English word “comparison” or “similitude.” In the Jewish culture, things were explained not in terms of statistics or definitions as they are in English-speaking cultures. In the Jewish culture of biblical times, things were explained in word pictures.
Why did Jesus use parables?
Word pictures do not draw attention to technicalities
(like the Jewish law)
but to attitudes, concepts, and characteristics.
Jesus was speaking a language that all Jews could understand, but with an emphasis on attitudes rather than the outward appearances that the Pharisees focused on (John 7:24). Parables also have an emotional impact that makes them more meaningful and memorable to those who are soft of heart. At the same time, the parables of Jesus often times remained a mystery to those with a hardened heart because parables require the listeners to be self-critical and put themselves in the appropriate place in the story. The result was that the Pharisees would “be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving” (Isaiah 6:9; Psalm 78:2; Matthew 13:35).
By using parables, the teaching of Jesus remains timeless despite most
changes in culture, time, and technology.
For example, these two parables convey commonly
understood concepts like grace,
gentleness, concern, pride and others,
all of which we can be understood by us,
even though the story is over two thousand years old.
In Jewish culture character traits are often described in relation to objects that are universally recognized like the regularity of the sun or the refreshing nature of rain (Hosea 6:3). This also explains why poetry is the most common mode of language used in the Bible. In the case of parables specifically, the elements mentioned in them are usually representations of something else, just as in an allegory. However, an overemphasis on a particular detail in a parable tends to lead to interpretive errors.
Repetitions, patterns, or changes will
often help us
in identifying when we should
focus
on a particular detail.
Why Jesus taught these parables
Let us look at the particular details of these parables.
The situation in which Jesus is speaking can be seen in Luke 15:1–2.
“Now the tax collectors and ‘sinners’ were all gathering around to hear him.
But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered,
‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them’”
Notice that the Pharisees did not complain that Jesus is teaching sinners.
Since the Pharisees thought themselves to
be righteous teachers of the law
and all others to be wicked,
they could not condemn His preaching to “sinners,”
but they thought it was inconsistent with the
dignity of someone so knowledgeable
in the Scriptures to “eat with them.”
The presupposition behind the statement of the
Pharisees, “this man welcomes sinners,”
is what Jesus addresses in all three parables.
To understand the significance
of the opening statement in chapter 15,
we must consider that the
Jewish culture is a shame/honor-driven
society that used shame/honor
in a way that developed a sort of caste system.
Virtually everything that is done in Jewish culture
brings either shame or honor.
The primary motivation
for what and how things are done is based on
seeking honor for oneself
and avoiding shame. This was the
central
and all-consuming preoccupation of all Jewish interaction.
In the first parable, Jesus invites His listeners to place themselves into the story with,
"Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep.”
In doing this Jesus is appealing to their
intuitive reasoning and life experiences.
As the story completes,
the Pharisees in their pride refuse to see themselves
as shameful “sinners,”
but eagerly take the honoring label of being “righteous.”
However, by the implication of their own pride,
they place themselves in the position of being
the less significant group of ninety-nine:
“There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” There may be a bit of sarcasm in the reference to the Pharisees “who do not need to repent”
(see Romans 3:23).
In the “lost coin” parable,
the ten silver coins refers to a piece of jewelry with ten silver coins on it
worn by brides.
This was the equivalent of a wedding ring in modern times.
Upon careful examination of the parables, we can see that
Jesus was turning His listeners’ understanding of things
upside down.
The Pharisees saw themselves as being the beloved of God and
the “sinners” as refuse.
Jesus uses the Pharisees’ prejudices against them, while encouraging the sinners with one
clear message
That message is this: God has a tender, personal concern
(“and when he finds it, he puts it on his shoulders,” v. 5).
God has a joyous love
for individuals who are lost (in sin) and are found (repent).
Jesus makes it clear that the Pharisees, who thought they were close to God,
were
actually distant and those sinners and tax collectors were the ones God
was seeking after.
We see this same message in 18:9-14.
There, Jesus is teaching on attitudes of prayer,
but the problem he is addressing is the same as in chapter 15. In 18:14
Jesus provides the conclusion for us:
“I tell you that this man, rather than
the other,
went home justified before God.
Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,
and
he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Patterns of progression in the parables
By identifying things in common in the parables,
we can gain context to help us understand the significance
of otherwise subtle elements in the story.
As the old saying goes,
“Proper context covers a multitude of interpretive errors.”
1) The progression of value: in the first parable a sheep is lost, then a silver coin in the next, followed by a son in the third. As mentioned before, part of the power of these parables to reach the audience comes from the shame/honor aspect of their culture. To lose a sheep as a shepherd would be a very shameful thing, a coin from a piece of bridal jewelry lost in her own house would be more shameful, followed by the lost son, which was the worst of all in Jewish culture.
2) The personal progression from seeking after only 1 of 100 sheep, then 1 of 10 coins, then 1 of 2 sons. This shows the scope of God’s personal concern for individuals and would have been of great comfort to the “sinners” Jesus was teaching.
3) A change in tense in each parable regarding the rejoicing at that which was found, from future tense, to present, and then to past tense: “will be more joy” to “there is joy” and finally “had to be.” This may have communicated the certainty of God’s acceptance of those who repent.
4) The progression of earthly references to what the thing was lost in (a subtle reference to sin). The sheep was lost in open fields, the coin was lost in the dirt that was swept up, and son was in the mud of a pigsty before coming to his senses.
5) The relational power of each parable: Poor men and young boys would have related best to the shepherd and the lost sheep. Women would have related best to the lost bridal coin. The last parable dealt with everyone present by dealing with the relationship of a father and son.
Patterns of Consistency in the parables
1) The main character possesses something valuable
and does not want to lose it.
2) The main character rejoices in the finding of
the lost thing, but does not rejoice alone.
3) The main character (God) expresses care in
either the looking or the handling
of that which was lost.
4) Each thing that was lost has a personal value,
not just a monetary value: shepherds care for their sheep,
women cherish their bridal jewelry,
and a father loves his son.
Incidentally, this first illustration of the shepherd carrying the sheep on his shoulders was the original figure used to identify Christians before people began identifying Christianity with crosses.
In these parables Jesus paints with words a
beautiful picture of God’s grace in His desire
to see the lost return to Him.
Men
seek honor and avoid shame;
God
seeks to glorify Himself
through us His sheep,
His sons and daughters. Despite having ninety-nine other sheep, despite the sinful rebellion of His lost sheep, God joyfully receives it back, just as He does when we repent
and return to Him.
Both Matthew 18 and Luke 15 record Jesus’ parable about a shepherd who leaves 99 sheep in the fold to go in search of one that had wandered away. Jesus gave this illustration in response to the Pharisees who were incensed that Jesus “welcomes sinners and eats with them” (Luke 15:2). The religious leaders in Jesus’ day had structured their system to exalt the self-righteous and exclude anyone who did not live up to their often arbitrary standards (Matthew 23:28). They had added so many rules and regulations to God’s law that no one could keep them all, including the ones who drafted them. When Jesus came along, His methodology confused them. He seemed to be from God, yet He rebuked the outwardly righteous and welcomed the wicked. How could this man know God?
So Jesus told them a story, as He did many times in order to explain spiritual truths: “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish” (Matthew 18:12–14). The people of Jesus’ day understood the relationship between shepherds and sheep, but the significance of a shepherd going in search of one lost sheep is sometimes lost on us. It seems strange that a shepherd would leave his flock to search for one missing sheep.
We might consider the shepherd leaving the 99 to find the 1 this way: a father and his five children are asleep in their home when the smoke detectors go off. The father awakens to find his house filled with smoke and the sound of flames and crackling timber coming nearer. Panicked, he races to his children’s bedrooms and begins to rouse them. Calling to some and carrying others, he stumbles down the stairs and out the front door. He deposits the sleepy children on the grass a safe distance away and then turns. Gasping for air, he squints through the smoke to count kids: “Tim, Sally, Angel, Jojo—where’s Lilly!” He is missing his youngest, three-year-old Lilly. Four children are safe, one is not. What will this father do?
God is a Father. He counts His kids. He rejoices that some are safely in Christ, prepared for eternity and nestled near His heart. But some are missing. Where’s Karen? Where’s Abdul? Where’s Jose? The Father sent Jesus on a rescue mission “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). God does not abandon the 99. They are already safely in His kingdom, attended by His angels, and guided by His Holy Spirit (Romans 8:14; Hebrews 13:5). But His heart aches for those not yet in the fold.
So the Good Shepherd pursues the lost sheep, woos them, calls to them, and allows circumstances into their lives designed to make them look up. It is often in the bleakest of circumstances that we finally surrender our demands to have our own way. We finally submit to our Shepherd, who carries us back to the fold (Luke 15:5). In John 10, Jesus again refers to Himself as the Good Shepherd, saying, “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd” (verses 16–17). Then in verses 27–29 He says, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” The 99 are still important to Him, but He knows the flock is not complete without the lost sheep. And a good shepherd always goes after the lost sheep.
In Luke’s gospel, two other parables follow the one about the one lost sheep, and both of them reinforce Jesus’ main point, which is the value of individuals. The parable of the lost coin (Luke 15:8–10) and the parable of the lost son, also known as the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11–32), continue the theme of God as a pursuer of lost people. We were all lost at one time, and the Lord came after us. If He had not taken the initiative, no one could be saved (John 6:44). So, when our Good Shepherd wants to pursue another lost lamb, the 99 who are in the fold can joyfully support the rescue.
The Lost Sheep
Let's All Pray Together for Israel and join forces in
Support and Community
It is one of, if not THE most significant biblical mandate for us Christian's to support Israel and the Jewish
People of God.
Without 'Abraham, or 'Moses, or Issac, we wouldn't have our
Lord Jesus Christ.
They have upheld the Law, and nurtured our Roots under
intense persecution for thousands of years. To love Jesus, is to Love Israel,
God's firstborn.
Fully Ushering in the Messianic Era and Global peace will entail
a global effort from Christian Ministries to Focus on
Supporting Israel
The Time is Now