Locations & Times

What did the shepherd do to find his lost sheep? (He looked everywhere for it.)

Why did the shepherd leave his other sheep to find the lost sheep? (because the lost sheep was precious to him)

Who is precious to God? (We are precious to God.)

Read: Luke 15:1-7 

Why would Jesus spend so much time with sinners, the marginalized, and the unaccepted? Over and over again the Pharisees asked Jesus this question. Jesus' draw toward imperfection was offensive to them.  So he told this story of the shepherd and the lost sheep. The shepherd in the story went to great lengths to rescue one lost sheep. He still had 99, so why search for only one? Because it was his. It belonged to him. That one sheep was vulnerable, and that one sheep needed him. And the seeking and finding of that sheep gave the shepherd great joy. 

Jesus is the same way. When we know we are vulnerable, broken, and lost we are better able to see that we need something. And that something is Jesus. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and it gives him great joy to seek and find us, the lost sheep. The tax collectors and sinners approaching Jesus to hear his teaching were already a step ahead of the Pharisees because they knew without a doubt that nothing they'd done was enough to give them status, value, or worth. They knew they were missing something, and they were beginning to see that thing was Jesus. 

The great paradox of the Gospel is that we can only win after we admit we are lost. The winning is in the losing. Seeing ourselves as the same as everyone else; sinful, is the only way to see that we need Jesus. When we let Jesus find us and save us, we see just how precious we are to him. And when we realize how much we need him, we will find he is enough. 

In what ways is it hard for you to admit that you’re lost apart from Jesus?

How does knowing that we’re all the same in our need for Jesus help you see people differently?