15 All the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around Jesus to listen to him. 2 The Pharisees and legal experts were grumbling, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3 Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose someone among you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them. Wouldn’t he leave the other ninety-nine in the pasture and search for the lost one until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he is thrilled and places it on his shoulders. 6 When he arrives home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Celebrate with me because I’ve found my lost sheep.’ 7 In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who changes both heart and life than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to change their hearts and lives.
Reflection
What could be worse than sitting down at the table and eating with the enemy? Jesus is accused of eating with tax collectors and sinners. Tax collectors were despised collaborators of the Romans who enforced the collection of the very taxes that Rome used to oppress the people of Judea. They enriched themselves by charging extra at the expense of their own people. They were outcasts, people seen to be of no value by society. That Jesus would openly
associate with them and other sinners was infuriating to the righteous Pharisees.
Jesus then tells them a story that invites both the Pharisees and the tax collectors to imagine themselves as the one leaving their flock to go and search for the missing sheep. Live stock like sheep were counted as wealth. They provided wool, milk, and meat and so each animal was of value. A hundred sheep is not a huge flock, but the loss of even this one sheep matters to this shepherd. When the shepherd finds the lost and wandering sheep, he carries it back
joyfully, calling his friends to celebrate with him.
The Pharisees obviously understand that Jesus is talking to them. Would they rejoice if the tax collectors and other sinners were to repent, and change their hearts and the direction of their lives for the better? Would tax collectors be accepted back into the community as redeemed and valued people, or would they still be despised for what they had done?
The tax collectors and other sinners within hearing of this story may have identified with the idea that they are the ”lost and wandering sheep.” Would they have seen the need to repent from the lives they are living and walk away from what they are doing? Would they understand that God is seeking for them, to bring them into new life that can restore them to their estranged community and to wholeness? Do they understand that they are valued by God as much as all the sheep in the flock?
by Jeneene Reduker
For Pondering and Prayer
I wonder if any tax collectors repented their sins to Jesus that day and changed? I wonder if any Pharisees rejoiced that a tax collector was saved? You see we’re all of sacred value to God. We’re all sought out by God’s grace and found by God’s love. So why then, is it so hard for us to rejoice when those we judge and marginalize repent and change? God’s grace is for all of
us. This is Jesus’ message to us. We are called to be Christ to others, to seek out the lost and the wandering, even our enemies, to show them God’s mercy and love. And when they repent, to rejoice and bring them home to the flock.
Who did you side with in this story, the Pharisees, the tax collectors, or the shepherd? Would you be able to rejoice and accept someone you despised, who changed their hearts and lives in Christ?
Prayer: Holy and Loving God, we have all been lost and wandering. You have sought us, and
we have been found by your love. Change our hearts, God. Transform us to be more like Jesus so that we can see the sacred value of all people. Amen.
