And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ Luke 15:6 (NKJV)
In studying for this devotion around this beautiful parable, I came across all this amazing research and insight into it, and other parables, and its inspired us to do a “Parable Series.” Keep your eyes out for it over the next few weeks. Leave a comment below if there is a particular one you would like us to do. We would love to hear from you!
There was a shepherd herding his sheep deep in the desert, when he noticed one was missing. Jewish shepherds led their sheep primarily with their voices. They would hum a short tune or signal, or even had a little flute, and the sheep would follow the distinctive sound of their shepherd.
(When Jesus said in John 10, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me…” he was referring to this practise.) It was very rare that a sheep would get lost.
But this one sheep did. Deep in the desert, with no one else around, this shepherd didn’t have to look for it, no one would have made him accountable, no one was watching. But because he was this sheep's shepherd, he was responsible for him, and he had integrity, he wanted to be true to his station and calling – true to himself – and went looking for it.
Kenneth Bailey, the author of “Finding the Lost: Cultural Keys to Luke 15” suggests that focus of this parable is not the lost sheep, but the responsibilities of the shepherd. V4 says, “If he loses one of them, does he not go looking for it?” If HE loses one… It was the shepherds responsibility to keep the sheep safe. So he took it upon himself to make the treacherous journey to find what was lost.
God is THE ‘Good Shepherd'. Through sin, we’ve all become disconnected from his divinity. We find it hard to hear the sound of his song in the midst of the bang and clatter filling our lives from all around us.
But because God will always be true to himself, he never abandons us in our lost state, but relentlessly pursues until we accept to be found by him.
God isn’t picky with who he goes after, he doesn’t prefer some over others – there’s just lost people he desperately desires to be found. He pursues the one, the lonely, the hurt, the neglected, the prideful, the resented, the hopeless, the sinner… He woos the individual on a global-all-inclusive scale.
We should join him in his pursuit as those who have been found, staying true to who God has created us to be: lovers of him, ourselves and humanity.
Besides, even though I’m found, I still need finding… it’s the journey of life and faith.
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