"Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep untils he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbours together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

"See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep that about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost." Matthew 18:10-14

The gospel of Luke is volume one of a two volume collection of writings which consists also of the Acts of the Apostles and constitutes the largest contribution to the NT writngs by any one author. Luke was a diligent and intelligent researcher/compiler/editor who may be considered both historian and theologian, and ultimately pastor. Luke's preface is typical of the classical Greek historians, and throughout the main body of the text it can be discovered that he was well educated, has good knowledge of the LXX, and excellent knowledge of the political and social conditions of his day . His intention is both history and theology with the former as a means to the latter without negating the importance of either, although it should be noted that the term relating to "faith " precedes the term for "accuracy ". His concern is with God's purposes being worked out in what he is recording historically.

His concerns predominantly lay with Gentile Christians as is inferred by his reference to "Theophilus" (1:3) and the Greco-Roman preface (Carson,1992:118). He depicts this by his opening scene - an overtly Jewish origin - and closing scene of Acts - a distinctly new entity totally separated from Judaism.

As a theologian he is concerned with salvation, or more accurately Heilsgeschicte, "the linkage of salvation with historical events " (Ibid:128). Luke expresses this by making repeated references to Jesus' dealings with the marginalised of society (Ibid:131).

There are a number of motifs and themes present within the gospel which tend to "umbrella" each other and ultimately hone in on the specific passage in question. It is important to be aware of all of these "umbrellas" as they have bearing upon the meaning of the text in question.

The first major area is Lukes desire to show the universal nature of Jesus' (and the churches) mission. He depicts this by his opening scene taking place in the Temple (1:8-22) and closing scene in Rome with Paul and his poignant statement in Acts 28:28 .

The second area is the "Jerusalem journey" which is understood as that block of material between 9:51-19:44 (D. L. Bock in Green,1992:501). It is within this material that the bulk of Jesus' teaching and parables exist. The major motif here is discipleship and destiny, that is, the road Jesus travels toward Jerusalem is the same road that those who follow will travel. This causes contention with the religious elite, and this too dominants the material here.

Thirdly, the motif of value finds its greatest expression between 14:1 - 16:15 , and can be summed up in the contrast between worldly value and kingdom value. The culmination of this is Jesus' pithy statement in 16:13 and 15: "You cannot serve both God and Money" and "What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight". The antithesis of this being, that which is highly valued in God's sight is detestable among men. It is this which dominants this didactic/parabolic portion.

The forth and final "umbrella" is that of Loss/Diligence, with the former being anthropologic and the latter theologic. This section constitutes the whole of chapter fifteen. Further to this is the observation that three distinct parables exist. The first two are closely related, but the third also relates strongly to the point Jesus is wanting to convey. Having said that the stories can also be taken as complete and seperate pericopes, that is 15:4-7; 8-10; 11-32. The precursor (15:1-3) must relate to the three stories as in Lukes understanding these three parables are in essence one parable getting across one point, as can be derived from the usage of "Or" in verse 8, and "continued" in verse 11. To confirm the limits of the passage then would be to say 15:1-32, but also that each parable may be confirmed as seperate pericopes, although the first two relate very strongly together .

The genre present in the gospel is not biographical, but distinctly sermonic. Some would class them as theological biographies . The sub-genre of the text in question is parabolic, and along with apocalyptic is the most abused genre within Scripture (Osborne,1991:235). The operating principle for parables is explained in Luke 8:10, they are made known through God's grace, and require faith for understanding. The parables in question are similies, this is derived by the use of "in the same way " in verses 7 and 10.

The J.N.T . emphasises the verbs in 15:1 so as to show that whereas the tax-collectors and sinners "kept" gathering, the Pharisees "kept" gumbling. The Amplified emphasises Thayers translation of the "sinner" being "especially wicked" in verses 7 and 10. The J.N.T. translates "coin" as "drachma" which is merely a literal translation. The R.S.V. translates [Gk] engizontes as "drawing near", which is a popular term for Luke. He uses it 18 times out of the 45 usages in the whole NT and is significant in his Heilsgeschitche as it become soteriological for him. None of these points mentioned cause texual concerns for the passage in question.

15:1-2 Precursor.

3 Editorial comment

4 "Suppose" "one of you" "has a hundred sheep" "and loses one of them." "Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open" "and go after the lost sheep" "until he finds it?"

8 "Or suppose" "a woman" "has ten silver coins" "and loses one" "Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house" "and search carefully" "until she finds it? "

Both usages of "suppose" imply Jesus' rhetorical approach of asking a question where the answer is implied. "one of you" and "woman". In the first parable Jesus invites the listener to become a participant taking on the role of a shepherd, an occupation of disrepute in the eyes of many. In the second the image of a woman is used, also a figure maginalised in the society of the day. Ultimately in both stories the images are used to depict Christ's mission in God, the very images which the Pharisees detest. "Has a hundred sheep", "has ten silver coins". Each is valuable not in material terms but in terms of significance and meaning. "and loses one". A phrase of correlation. "Does he not ...", "Does she not ...". The two decriptions of searching focus our attention on the effort expended in recovering that which is lost. "Until he finds it?", "Until she finds it?". A phrase of correlation expressing the determination and perseverance of each. The search will stop only when that which is valued is found.

Verses 6 & 9 correlate .

Verses 7 & 10 correlate .

As already shown there are no serious texual concerns here. Although the Lukan material has many variations there is nothing within the text in question which warrants making any texual decisions as there is nothing here which threatens the meaning of the passage.

Analyse the Grammer

The only point of contention in this area concerns the tense in verse 7. Jeremias (1963:39) understands this as that which ultimately takes place "at the last judgement", and is therefore eschatalogical, yet this is disputed by Nolland (1993:773) who insists this is merely "a logical future and not a distinctly eschatalogical future". Exegesis/Explanation

The setting of the precursor (15:1-3) is Jesus travelling with people both poor and prominent around him. In response to 14:35 it is seen that the tax-collectors and "sinners" do "hear him", and the "but" of verse 2 implies that the Pharisees and teachers of the Law do not. It is difficult to hear someone when you are muttering . In response to the comment made in verse 2: "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them .". An identical statement was made in 5:30 to which Jesus responds by asserting his mission as one of calling "sinners" to repentance (5:31, 32), this lays a foundation of understanding for the parable here. Jesus proceeds to relate the parable of the lost sheep and diligent shepherd, in response to the comment. The parable depicts a contemporary everyday life activity and experience (Jeremias,1963:70), which Jesus invites the listener to be a part of - "Suppose one of you ...". He asks rhetorically ultimately that they may gain insight into why He is doing the things people see Him doing, it is a form of explanation not justification as Nolland (1993:769) suggests. The application, however, does take "us on beyond the parable" (Ibid), from the earthly world into heaven.

Having a hundred sheep would indicate that the shepherd was reasonably well off, but not rich (Jeremias,1963:133). The loss of one sheep is set to contrast against the ninety-nine, it may seem insignificant yet the lost one becomes the priority (Wenham, 1989:100). Jesus begins to draw out the true understanding of "value", and "worth" by saying this. He may have left the other sheep with someone, or gathered them into a cave for the duration of the search (Jeremias,1963:133), this is not an important point as Jesus' focus within the parable - which will ultimately be flawed in conveying all of what he intends to teach concerning His mission - is elsewhere.

The heart of the parable is the going "after the lost sheep until he finds it", once the audience captures this they have also captured Christ's mission. An allusion is present at this juncture from Ezekiel 34, particularly verse 11: "I myself will search for my sheep and look after them". There is here in verse 4 a determination and a guarantee in this and its correlating verse - "Does she not ... search carefully until she finds it?" (v8).

The aspect of "joy" is important here, it is referred to five times in the text being explored. It is natural to feel joy when that which is very precious is found again after being lost, this is a sensation which each listener would be able to relate to in their own life experience and the natural compulsion is to share that joy with others (Nolland, 1993:773). The fact that the shepherd carries the sheep "on his shoulders" does not neccesarily refer to Jesus carrying us helpless and weak sinners, although the historical situation described by Jesus was such that when a sheep becomes weak, frightened and exhausted, the animal will simply become limp and needs to be carried. The sharing of this joy is depicted in the calling of friends and neighbours and the declartory statement, "Rejoice with me; ...", both statements are almost identical in verse 6 and 9.

The comparison is made by the phrase "in the same way" (and verse10), this tells us the parable falls into the category of similtude. Osborne (1991:236) explains, .., a simultude is a straightforward comparison with one or more verbs in the present tense, applying a common experience or typical habit to greater spiritual realities. There is therefore an assimilation between the elation experienced by the shepherd and that of God.

The parable culminates in the joy experienced in repentance (and 10) and in a watershed moment assimilates that which all listeners consider to be valuable (the sheep or applied to their situation anything which is considered as precious) with the "sinner". This comment opposes vehemently the perception of the Pharisees and teachers as they betrayed in verse 2. In this Jesus confronts the question of the worth of the individual in the sight of God, he challenges the accepted perception and responds to the comment of verse 2. Not only does he welcome and eat with sinners, but he rejoices in them when there is repentance. The parable of both the sheep and the coin does not focus in on the repentance or action of the valued item, but on the effort expended in recoverying it (Wenham,1993:101).

The parables become primarily christologically missiological, and taking in the broad concerns of Luke it may be suggested that this becomes secondarily ecclesiologically missiological. This becomes apparent when the acts of Christ are paralleled with that of the primitive church in Luke's respective volumes. The former must remain primary as our focus is theologic whereas God's is anthropologic, meaning our attention must be drawn toward the activity of the shepherd not the sheep. The secondary application becomes primary in Matthew's recounting of the parable and with some variation Matthew conveys a similiar point to Luke. Matthews setting is distinctly ecclesiological.

It is also soteriological and is therefore an expression of Lukan salvation history. Repentance plays an important part in this respect, but there is more attention given to the theme of redemption as Luke is recounting the parables in the context of worldy value verses kindgom value, the cost involved in recovering the valued item is high-lighted throughout both the parables. Jeremias (1963:136) speaks of a "redemptive joy" of God, which translates as the joy inherent within forgiveness.

Jesus conveys his message as one who truly enters into the experience of the marginalised, by presenting himself as those very images which are detestable in man's sight - a shepherd, a woman - an idea which is prevelant throughout the context of this portion of material. The culmination of which is Jesus' statement in 16:15; "What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight".

TEMPLE CHURCH Heilsgeschichte Luke Acts

Luke 9:51 - 19:44

Lukan Umbrella's

TEMPLE Heilsgeschichte CHURCH Luke Acts

Jerusalem Journey Luke 9:51 - 19:44

Worldy Value vs Kingdom Value Luke 14:1 - 16:15

Loss/Diligence Luke 15:1 - 32

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