I’ve been working my way through my “Sheep and Shepherds” scripture writing plan this month, and one of the verses I wrote this week made me stop and think.
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming to hear him. But the Pharisees and the experts in the law were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
So Jesus told them this parable: “Which one of you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go look for the one that is lost until he finds it? Then when he has found it, he places it on his shoulders, rejoicing. Returning home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, telling them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost.’ I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to repent.
Luke 15:1-7, NET
Depending on what kind of perspective you have, or what season of life you’re in when you read this parable, you might have a couple different reactions. Sometimes, we might identify with the sinners: “How terrible of the Pharisees to complain that Jesus would help people like me!” But other times, we might identify with the complainers: “It’s not fair that Jesus would be more happy about sinners than about righteous me!”
It’s like the story of the compassionate father/prodigal son, which is part of the same conversation in Luke’s gospel as the parable of the lost sheep. Sometimes you’re the younger son who knows you wasted God’s gifts, return to Him humbled and repentant, and are received with rejoicing. Sometimes you’re the older son who didn’t do anything wrong and wonders why there’s a celebration for the one who sinned.
One of the key things to takeaway from both of these parables is that we’ll have the chance to embody both sides of the story during our Christian walk, often multiple times. When we sin, we need the compassion of our Shepherd and Father who welcomes us back and rejoices over our return. Ideally, though, the more experience we have as a Christian the less often we need that side of God’s mercy and the more often we’ll be in a situation where we handled challenges properly. Then, we’ll be in the position of those who see others sin, repent, and be welcomed back with open arms.
Holding On To The Right Perspective
Jesus didn’t just flat-out tell anyone they lacked compassion and ought to be nicer to repentant sinners. He told parables–often very pointed ones–and let His audience figure it out for themselves. In the parable of the prodigal son, he showed it by the compassionate father’s response to his older son.
but he answered his father, ‘Look! These many years I have worked like a slave for you, and I never disobeyed your commands. Yet you never gave me even a goat so that I could celebrate with my friends! But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and everything that belongs to me is yours. It was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost and is found.’”
Luke 15:29-32, NET
When we’re not the repentant sinner being celebrated for coming back, it’s easy to forget how much we already have. They’re not being celebrated for their sins, and neither were we when in the same position (Romans 3:23; 6:1-2). They’re being celebrated because it’s like the dead came back to life! We who are in the position of the “good” son have already come back to life. That’s why “there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to repent” (Luke 15:7, NET).
Our role in this is to examine our hearts. Perhaps the simplest way to describe our responsibility as Christians is to say that we are tasked with becoming like God. This includes responding to repentant sinners the same way that God does. Like God, we should desire “all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4, NET; see also 2 Peter 3:9). Like God, we should rejoice when that happens for any individual.
Even if we are generally compassionate people, the temptation to be self-righteous when comparing ourselves to others or to feel left out when others are celebrated can still lurk in our psyche. The Pharisees and the experts in the law of Jesus’s day fell into this trap, and we can too if we let ourselves forget the great mercy God shows us and the joy He feels for us. We have to hold on tight to a Godly perspective so that we can feel as He feels for others who repent, and then fully enjoy His great mercy when we are the ones who need forgiveness.
Featured images by Susanne Jutzeler from Pixabay
Song Recommendation: “Still Waters (Psalm 23)” by Leanna Crawford
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