SUNDAY 3rd – Luke 15:1-10
As we commence another new week, how would you personally review the past six weeks?
I must be honest, that when I started writing the daily devotions starting with the 22nd March, I did not think I would need to be preparing them for such a long period of time. Over this period, we have covered various topics, and gone to many different Scriptures. My prayer is that sometime over this period that the Word and the devotions will have ministered in some way to our Church family. As I’m preparing for this week’s devotions I am hopeful that by the time I am sending them that we may be close to being able to get back to having gathered Church again, where we can be together in fellowship in safety and with hearts that are overflowing with joy.
For Sunday – Tuesday this week we will think of the word ‘celebrate’ and then again on Friday as this week Friday is a Bank Holiday to celebrate or to commemorate V.E. Day
Our Scripture today comprises of two well-known stories or parables that Jesus taught. A parable is described as an earthly story with a heavenly meaning or, as an earthly illustration to bring out a spiritual meaning. Tomorrow we will consider the third parable in this chapter.
In the first parable, a shepherd has lost one of his sheep, in the second a lady has lost one of her coins. That which was lost in both stories was of value to the owner. One sheep out of a hundred may not seem much, but if your living depended upon it then a 1% loss is a loss and should it have been a pregnant ewe then an even bigger loss. One coin out of 10 again may not seem too bad, but it is a 10% loss. One percent or ten percent, it does not matter, something was lost, and the Shepherd went to look for the lost sheep and the woman did all she could to find the missing coin.
At the end of the first story, having found his sheep, the shepherd calls his neighbours and friends saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Likewise, the same with the woman after finding the coin, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’
First, let us be honest, I wonder how many farmers call their neighbours to rejoice when they have been out and found a lost sheep? I spent 23 years living on a farm and believe you me sheep are always breaking out and getting lost – but I never ever remember my dad throwing a party after finding a lost sheep! The same with a coin, we have probably all lost a coin, and maybe spent ages searching for it, but I guess you never ran around your neighbours houses shouting out to them ‘rejoice, I lost a coin and have found it.’ But here in the parables they did!
Why? Because the story is emphasising not so much the value of a sheep or of a coin, but of a lost soul. Remember verse 1 says that Jesus was sat with sinners and eating with them, and the Scribes and the Pharisees were grumbling and criticising Jesus for spending time with them. So, Jesus told the parables to explain what he was doing – he was looking for lost souls! This is what it says in verse 7 after the sheep in the story was found, ‘Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.’ And in verse 10 after the coin was found, ‘Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.’
The loss of a sheep is not good news, the loss of the coin was not good news but what is even worse is the loss of a human soul. A sheep can be replaced, a coin can be replaced but not a soul.
The Bible says that ‘All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned each one to our own way.’ (Isaiah 53:6) As lost sheep we were bound for eternity to be lost forever, but the Shepherd came to find us. The Shepherd came to seek and to save the lost. It is ironic that to be able to do this, the Shepherd became a lamb as Isaiah 53:7 says, to be slaughtered on our behalf so that we could come into his fold, under his care as the Good Shepherd.
And just like the coin was precious to the woman who had lost it, so the human soul is precious to God who created it! (Genesis 1:27) And like the woman who did all she could to find the precious coin, so God intended to do all he could to find lost human souls.
And when a ‘lost sheep’, a ‘lost coin’, a lost soul is found there is a great celebration in heaven, there is joy in the presence of the angels.
Again, I have to be honest, when I look back to when I was found on May 18th 1969 after this parable of the lost sheep was the subject of the preacher, there wasn’t a party in the church, nor when we got home as a family, yes the preacher was excited, my parents were excited, I was excited, but there is one thing for sure there was a great celebration in heaven.
Imagine the celebration on the day of Pentecost when three thousand were saved! It would have been an ‘all-nighter’, think back to the moment when you were saved, and imagine the party in heaven over your being found. And the angels still like to celebrate, the Shepherd is still looking through the hillside, crags and briars, the woman is still sweeping through the house, the heavenly ‘champagne’ is always ‘on ice’ ready to celebrate.
The challenge today is this, are we willing to become like shepherds to go out and to look for the lost sheep, are we willing to be like the woman and to sweep through our neighbourhoods, looking in the nooks and cranny’s to find the lost souls that need saving. Are we willing to do whatever it takes so that the angels in heaven can celebrate again?
Instead of the usual hymns for today and tomorrow I am using a poem which I had already written myself based on Luke 15. It is in three parts, part 1 and 2 today and 3 tomorrow.
Part 1
A shepherd with a flock of sheep,
Cared for them on the mountain steep,
He led them into pastures new,
And luscious grass they all did chew.
He watched them through the day and night,
He never let them from his sight,
One day he counted them all up,
But alas, he’d lost a little tup.
There should have been a hundred sheep,
His watchful eye on them to keep,
How could one have gone astray,
I’ll look for it without delay.
He left the others in the fold,
And went out in the night so cold,
He searched the valley and the plain,
While getting soaked with all the rain.
But hush, he listened to a sound,
It came as if from rougher ground,
He followed as he heard the bleat,
And saw his tup caught by his feet.
The brambles tangled in his wool,
He’d struggled hard and tried to pull,
But got himself in such a mess,
He’d driven himself to deep distress,
The shepherd caught him with his crook,
And in his arms his tup he took,
He cut the briars all away,
And fixed him up without delay.
Back to the fold they both did go,
And then a party he did throw,
‘Rejoice with me for I am glad,
My sheep are all back in the pad.’
Part 2
A woman living down the street,
She found her necklace incomplete,
Ten coins it really should have had,
One was lost and she was sad.
She turned her cottage upside down,
It must be here it must be found,
She searched the cupboards, swept the floor,
And looked behind each of the doors.
She moved the carpet and the mat,
And even scurried out the cat,
And as she pushed aside a drawer,
The tiny coin her sharp eyes saw.
It must have tumbled through a crack,
But she was thrilled to get it back,
She called her neighbours and her friends,
‘Rejoice my necklace I can mend.’