For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. Luke 19:10 (NIV)
Sheep and Coins and Sons – Parables Series 4 – Part 1
(Go to Parable Series 1 or Parable Series 2 or Parable Series 3)
Last year, we started writing about Parables, and its been fun (and challenging).The Good Samaritan, The Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Series 1), The Parable of the Sower, and The Parable of the Pearl of Great Price (Series 2); The Unjust Servant and the Mustard Seed (Series 3).
Parables are not unique to Jesus, they’re an ancient tradition used in many cultures to get people thinking. They’re not tales used to communicate moral truth. They’re meant to be provocative. They poke around in our heart and spirit, challenging us in different ways about different aspects of our lives. While growing up, for me parables were told like two-dimensional stories, easy to interpret, black and white. But to Jesus' First Century audience, this was not how parables worked.
In “Short Stories by Jesus,” Amy-Jill Levine writes: “Jesus told parables because they serve… as keys that can unlock the mysteries we face by helping us ask the right questions: how to live in community; how to determine what ultimately matters; how to live the life that God wants us to live. They are Jesus’s way of teaching, and they are remembered to this day not simply because they are in the Christian canon, but because they continue to provoke, challenge and inspire.”
Luke 15 contains three parables: The Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin and the Lost Son. By recording them back to back, Luke seems to be employing the folkloric “rule of three.” Like we see in stories such as ‘Cinderella and her two step sisters', and ‘the three little pigs.' There are two models or turns of events – two things that happen that set up a third event. But the third event is where we find the variation, the provocation; the twist away from the plot of the first two. These three parables bleed into each other, and by the time we get to the third, the variation hits deep and true.
The Lost Sheep and The Lost Coin.
Jesus didn’t give these parables a title. Neither did Luke. They were added centuries later. This is important to note because as we read the parable, the title has already told us where to put our focus. However, it is not always where our focus should be. For the sake of this study (I had to do the same), forget everything you know about these parables and try to look at them with fresh eyes and through the context of Jesus Jewish audience. And remember that they were told before Jesus death.
There was a Shepherd who had one hundred sheep. One went missing. He left the ninety-nine behind to go and find the missing one. Upon finding it, he picked it up, carried it back to town, and celebrated with his friends. Likewise, there was a woman who had ten silver coins. When she realised that one was missing, she did all that she could to find it. And when she did, she called her friends and neighbours over for a celebratory feast. What was once lost had been found!
These two parables are about loss, searching, completion (or finding) and then joy. Which we all experience in life over different matters and with different people. It’s not just about repentance. It's about resurrection. Which is much more than a single moment, and goes beyond salvation…
As these questions: Who lost what? What happens when we lose something? Do we notice? Do we care? Do we go in search? Or do we pretend nothing has happened?
Loss is not exclusive as a precursor to salvation – you experience loss after meeting Christ too. Loss is always present in our lives. The challenge of these stories are: what do you do with it?
Go to Part 2 – The Lost One »
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