The Lost Sheep and Silver Piece

Our text is Lk 15:1-10.  Publicans and sinners drew near to Jesus to hear him.  They wanted to hear what he had to say.  The Pharisees didn’t want to hear him and were perturbed that Jesus would even associate with publicans and sinners.  In Jn 8:47, speaking of his words, Jesus said to the Pharisees, “ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God”.

Publicans were agents of the Roman government who were involved in tax, tribute, customs, and toll collection.  Thus, they were despised in society.

Jesus grouped them with the heathen.  Matt 18:17 “let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican”.  And with the harlots.  Matt 21:31-32, “but the publicans and the harlots believed him”.

They used their power to get more than what was owed.  In Lk 3:12-13 when publicans came to be baptized, John said, “exact no more than that which appointed you”.  This was their typical practice.  Zacchaeus said in Lk 19:8, “and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold”.

Because publicans wanted to hear him and they responded, Jesus ate with them.  In Matt 11:19 people said of Jesus that he was a friend of publicans and sinners.  In truth, he was looking for lost sheep.

To answer the murmuring Pharisees and scribes, Jesus spoke a parable.  This parable is about a shepherd who had a flock of 100 sheep.  One went missing.  The standard practice of a good shepherd is to leave the 99 and go after that which is lost, v.4.  When he finds the lost sheep, he lays it on his shoulders REJOICING.

In the parable, he calls his friends and neighbors and says, Rejoice with me.  I have found my sheep which was lost.  This is what shepherds who love their flock do when they find a lost sheep.

The lesson of the parable is this, “joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance”.

As it turns out, Jesus found many publicans and sinners who repented.  In Mk 2:15, he sat with many publicans and sinners to meat and they followed him.  In Lk 5:29 there was great company of publicans.

In Mk 2:16 the Pharisees asked, “How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?

The answer is very simple.  He ate with them:

• Because they were lost, like this lost sheep.
• Because he rejoiced every time he found one.
• Because heaven rejoiced over each was that was found.

We know some of the ones he found by name.

Matt 10:3 Matthew.  Lk 5:27 a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom.

Lk 19:2 a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich.

And there were many more, as well.  Lk 7:29 the publicans justified God being baptized with the baptism of John.

After the parable of the shepherd and the lost sheep, he gave another illustration of a woman who lost a piece of silver.  She had 10 pieces.  When she lost one, she lit a candle, swept the house, and sought diligently until she found it.  Then she called her friends and neighbors to rejoice with her.

The lesson of this illustration is that there is “joy in the presence of the angels of God, over one sinner that repenteth”.  See Matt 18:10-14.  Jesus sought them diligently.  The angels who behold the face of his Father rejoice.

Why did Jesus eat with them and seek them?  Because the Pharisees weren’t doing anything to find them.  There is an amazing passage in Ezek 34:2-6, 11, 16, contrasting the Pharisees and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Pharisees’ trouble was that they justified themselves and saw themselves as better than the publicans.  They weren’t.  Look at Lk 18:10-13 comparing a Pharisee and a publican.

Jesus gave the Pharisees a scathing rebuke in Matt 21:32.  He said, “John came unto you in the way of righteousness and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him”.

Conclusion: we, who were just like these lost sinners and publicans when Jesus found us, should continue the Lord’s efforts to seek and to save those who are lost.

To study the Previous lesson, click on The Cost of Discipleship.