Sermon Tone Analysis

 Rich old Ron was miserable.

He went to see Rabbi.

Rabbi took his hand & led him to a window.

"What do you see?" asked, Rabbi.

He looked out into the street.

"I see lost-looking men, women, & children," answered the rich man."

Rabbi led him again by the hand, this time to a mirror.

"Now what do you see?" "Myself," he replied.

Rabbi paused, then spoke.

"What's the difference?"

Ron said, "The window is just glass.

The mirror is also glass, but it's coated with silver."

Rabbi replied, exactly.

Add silver, & you stop seeing others.

Just yourself."

The Scribes & Pharisees had that problem.

They were wealthy & thought God's chosen were all saved.

Jesus has just explained the cost of discipleship.

Put Jesus 1st.

Listen to Him.

Obey all He says.

Luke 15:1-10 picks up the story.

1Tax collectors & "sinners" kept on gathering around to hear Jesus.

The lowest scum of Jewish society-they're flocking to Jesus.

Unlike Scribes & Pharisees, they are paying attention to all Jesus says.

2aBut Pharisees & the teachers of the law kept muttering to themselves.

'Don't you realize who these people are?

Don't you know the tradition (Midrash) of the elders (Mekhilta Amalek 3 on Ex. 18:1, 65a)?

Rabbis are not to associate with the godless or teach them the law.

You're doing both!' 2b"This man keeps welcoming sinners & eating with them."

They aren't interested in listening to Jesus.

Certainly not in obeying Him.

They'd rather find fault with Him.

3So Jesus told them a parable.

3 stories, 1 parable.

The 1st story is about a moderately rich man who's a shepherd.

4a"Suppose one of you has 100 sheep & loses 1.

Many of Jesus' hearers were farmers / shepherds.

Herds of 20+ were common.

The affluent had herds 100+.

99 means he's borderline rich.

Still, losing even 1 hurts.

Shepherds count their sheep every night.

How do sheep get lost?

Grazing.

Heads down, they keep moving from one tuft of grass to another.

When they look up, they're lost.

They don't know how they got there.

They don't know how to get back.

One lost sheep may not matter to other sheep.

They keep grazing till the shepherd rounds them up.

But it matters to the shepherd.

He spends 7x24 with them.

365 days a year.

A shepherd knows & loves His sheep.

4bWon't he leave the 99 in the open country & go after the lost sheep until he finds it?

He loves the 99.

But love will do no less than go search for the 1.

Other gods sometimes are pictured as shepherds.

But no other god actively looks for lost sheep.

Not ever.

Just the opposite.

Most other gods make it hard to earn their "heaven."

Hard to earn a better reincarnation.

No other god loves sheep enough to die for them.

Our God is unique.

Only in the Gospels, our Scripture, is Jesus a Shepherd who looks hard for us, seeking us out wherever we are.

How often has Jesus rescued us from wherever we got lost?

How does He feel when He finds us? 5When the shepherd finds his lost sheep, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6a& goes home.

Wherever He finds us, Jesus carries us home on His shoulders, too.

What happens when He gets his lost sheep safely home?

He's more than happy!

He's overjoyed!

6bHe'll call his friends & neighbors together.

'Rejoice with me!

I've found my lost sheep.'

Our shepherd is Jesus.

Who do you think His friends & neighbors are? 7aI tell you... Jesus speak: 'Listen up!' This is important 7bIn the same way there'll be more rejoicing in heaven over 1 sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who don't need to repent.

Don't miss that.

Father, Son, Spirit, & even the angels rejoice for each sinner who repents.

Why? Jesus can bring them home!

Jesus now tells the Scribes & Pharisees the 2nd story of the parable.

This time, it's a woman in poverty.

8a"Suppose a woman has 10 silver coins & loses 1.

The silver coins?

Greek drachmas, each 1 day's pay.

Women sometimes wore them around their heads as a chain.

They're her dowry, so each is precious to her.

She's poor.

A day's pay is a hard loss.

But losing part of her dowry?

Unthinkable.

8bDoesn't she light a lamp?

Like other houses, hers has no windows.

It's dark inside.

The only light comes from a low door.

She always has a lamp shining.

On losing a coin, she lights another to see better where she's looking.

Doesn't she 8csweep the house & search carefully until she finds it?

Straw covers her dirt floors.