Lost Sheep
NB. Sermon recorded at the Arts Centre Fatfield Durham 1 November 1998
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Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?
5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders
6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 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. -
Personal
My friend Pat
I have a friend called Pat who has just moved from Yorkshire to Co Mayo on the West coast of Ireland. He bought 32 acres and a small herd of sheep (daubed them with blue spots). Pat is part of our extended family and we are part of his. The Irish laugh at themselves, so I’m going to use my friend Pat as a way into this parable. I hope to weave this parable about the 1 lost sheep out of 100 around my friend Pat.
Irish joke - the lost sheep
Shepherds at the time of Jesus were the butt of a lot of jokes, shepherding was a job the more career-minded people avoided. Often Northerners would have come south to Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Jericho in search of work - a bit like people would say Irish navvies came over to build the new roads in the UK in the 1960s. So when Jesus would have been talking to this crowd of people in Luke 15 and said there was a man (a shepherd) looking after 100 sheep. The crowd would have shuffled a bit closer and chuckled and got ready for a bit of fun. Just as if I said to you, Pat the Irish man lives in a wee three-room house with thirty-two acres of scrubland and he has 100 sheep. So the story develops from there and you’re up for a bit of a giggle at the expense of Pat the Irishman and with my friend Pat’s permission I’ll have a go at relating this parable to you through him.
One day Paddy went out to count the sheep, he fed them some swede and the sheep came to eat the swede and it was a good time to count them. So Paddy starts, 1 blue spot, 2, 3,4,5, 6, … 96,97,98,99 blue spots - be japers he says to himself, I’ve missed one (nothing new Paddy never could count so he starts again. One blue spot, 2, 3,4,5,6, …keep still .. 96,97,98,99 blue spots. Be gorra I’ve miss counted again so he starts again and counts 99 again - surely, he says to himself, I can’t be wrong 3 times.
There’s only one explanation for it, one must have got lost or one could be hurt (that’s actually two things Pat).
So Paddy, what do you do when you have 99 sheep and one is lost or hurt - now we’re talking bears in the mountains, some hyenas in the low lands and jackals and foxes in abundance. So Paddy, what do you NOT do when you have 99 sheep and one lost or hurt - what’s the sensible thing. You DONT leave the 99 - you cut your losses, you save what you’ve got - you don’t leave the 99.
So what do you think Paddy the shepherd does - auch, thinks Paddy, ‘the wee thing, it might be hurt, or in danger or it might be cold, or lonely.’ This shepherd doesn’t do the sensible thing, get back Paddy! No Paddy goes off up the fields, thro’ the briars and bushes. Paddy would get his legs cut to shreds shouting for the one that was lost - looking for the lost sheep in ditches and streams, listening in crevasses. He will not give up on this lost sheep which might not be worth it anyway if it is badly hurt.
The Paddy hears something ‘baabaabaabaa’ it’s his sheep, he’s found the sheep that was lost, he’s so happy, so over the moon, he bends down over that sheep that mattered so much to him and he picks it up in his arms (as if it were his child). The sheep that was lost has been found and daft Paddy puts it over his shoulders. That’s what they did in those days if the sheep was too weak to make it back to the flock. Over his shoulders, it goes and he plods back over the hills - and then what should he do?
Go back to the flock, Paddy!
Not our Paddy, he’s so overjoyed that he has found his lost one, Paddy goes into town:
‘there is more rejoicing over finding the one that was lost…’
He’s so happy he wants the whole town to know that the lost sheep has been found ‘rejoice with me’ he says to the people in the town.
And all the time the crowd of tax collectors and sinners are thinking, ‘Paddy you daft ejit you’ve left 99 sheep in the hills’ - and then Jesus hijacks the joke and says:
‘there’s more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents…’
Oh, he’s mentioned sinners, he’s talking about us and he’s talking about heaven.
And the Pharisees in the crowd may have moved a bit closer…..Jesus, are you saying the heavenly father is like the daft shepherd, Yahweh the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (shepherds, the lot of them) has been the butt of the joke. Yahweh was the central character in the drama and they’ve been laughing at YAHWEH the one who was so crazy that he would give up all he had just to save one sheep.
Jesus are you saying every lost sheep matters so much to God that he would risk it all for one. (And leaving 99 on the hills is like risking it all). And Jesus says YES that is exactly what he’s saying and I look at myself and I wonder if I am worth the risk …and I’m sure it echoes with you and to be honest I’d have to say NO.. I’m not worth it, I want to be holy but I mess it up, I want to tell everyone about Jesus and I don’t do it, I want to pray more and I pray less. If you ask me I’m not worth it.
Romans 7:15 says there is one mediator between God and mankind…Christ Jesus. And if you’re asking Jesus is Kelvin worth it… David, …Chris.. and Jesus says ‘YES,’ every time ‘yes’ that’s how crazy the good shepherd is.
When you see your neighbour today, when you go to the shop today, when you look eyeball to eyeball at the traffic lights at some stranger, I want you to know they are worth it every bit as much as you and I are. See how crazy our heavenly father is, he risked all he had when he gave Jesus to be the good shepherd and it could have gone pear-shaped. Jesus could have bailed out at any time, instead, He taught it, lived it, and died it, that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. That’s God, like Paddy the Irish man, he is so caught up in the person he found - he throws a party.
You see the 99 sheep to you and I are a possession or a herd but God sees everyone with a compassion, not as a possession, everyone matters to God. In fact, God sets a value on those the world chooses to ignore, there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.
[The Lord] is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish
2 Peter 3:9
What does this do to us? Does it give us fire in our bellies for the lost? Our friends relatives and neighbours? Remember when you look eye to eye with a non-believer today, tomorrow and forever - remember this ‘they matter to God’ and he longs for you to be active in caring for them. Think of that picture of the shepherd draping a huge sheep over his shoulders as you become active in praying for them, active in showing them the way to the father
Let us resolve today to do that, to care, to pray and to tell the gospel story in our own way.
And though I walk the darkest path,
I will not fear the evil one,
For You are with me, and Your rod and staff
Are the comfort I need to know.
And I will trust in You alone,
And I will trust in You alone,
For Your endless mercy follows me,
Your goodness will lead me home.
Stuart Townend Copyright © 1996 Thankyou Music
