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Cell Notes on the Parable of the lost sheep
Word - I suggest the last q is the killer question! - you’ll need to make sure it doesn’t fall off the edge of the session in all the excitement of the study!!!
(I had two questions I was asking when approaching this parable:
1. What was Jesus saying?
2. What is the relevance of what Jesus was saying for us in London in 2008?)
Read together Luke 15:1-7
Luke 15:1 ¶ Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him.
Luke 15:2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
Luke 15:3 ¶ Then Jesus told them this parable:
Luke 15:4 “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 until he finds it?
Luke 15:5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders
Luke 15:6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’
Luke 15:7 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.
Discuss together:
What challenged u from the passage?
Was there anything u didn't understand from the passage?
How does an understanding of the back drop (v1,2) and the chapter progression help us to understand Jesus' message?*
How does the appreciation of cultural features, such as contemporary Jewish thought, farming practices of the time and social patterns in 1st C Palestine help us to understand Jesus' message?*
Taking this in2 account, how would u describe the main message of Jesus' parable?
Key question, in smaller groups - how willing have you been this past week to be found by God?
* see my preach notes below, with appreciation for the work of Kenneth Bailey, in Poet and Peasant
Witness:
In chapter 15, Jesus possibly hosted a meal, to which sinners were invited. Discuss together when was the last time you initiated a meal (or even just a drink) to which non-Christians were invited. Maybe it would be appropriate to commit to some such action over the next week?
Robin's preach notes:
Intro.
Jesus story of the Lost Sheep
old Sunday school favourite, may feel like we are familiar with the story
2 Questions I’m asking again:
Q1. What is Jesus saying to his audience?
Q2. What is the relevance of Jesus’ sayings to us here today?
Look at the background and chapter context + a few cultural specifics
Before applying Qs 1 and 2 to four key theological (i.e. God) themes
Background:
Jesus receives sinners and eats with them (v1,2)
[close to Mark 2:15 - Jesus as host for the meal at Levi’s house, hosting this meal too?]
Context of chapter 15 - muttering of the Pharisees about Jesus eating with sinners - 3 lost and found stories - first is the ‘Lost Sheep’, second ‘Lost Coin’, third ‘Lost Sons’ - next week
stories that act as a ‘defence and vindication of the gospels’
[I love this Jesus - out there but self-defined]
A few cultural observations:
1. Middle Eastern notion of ‘table fellowship’ - serious business
Jeremias:
‘to invite a man to a meal was an honour. It was an offer of peace, trust, brotherhood and forgiveness; in short, sharing a table meant sharing life’
in East, nobleman might feed lesser, needy persons, but he won’t eat with them
guest brings honour to the house in which he is entertained - traditional round of compliments - host refers to honour brought to his house by his guests, guests respond either by invoking the honour of God on the noble host or by affirming that they too have received honour by being in the host’s presence
2. Status of shepherds
telling a parable about a shepherd to Pharisees has a special problem
even more so - addressing the Pharisees as shepherds - ‘which of you...’
Herdsmen appear twice on the rabbinic list of proscribed trades
Jeremias notes ‘most of the time they were dishonest and thieving; they led their herds on to other people’s land..and pilfered the produce of the herd’
3. Nature of a flock of 100 sheep
Consensus among Bailey’s Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese friends that anyone wealthy enough to own 100 sheep will hire a shepherd to take care of them - some less affluent member of the extended family
Average family may have 5 to 15 animals - a number of such families club together to hire a shepherd who may well also be from one of the families involved and thus the owner of some of the sheep
shepherd isn’t a hireling, nor a stranger, nor a nomadic bedouin
usually two shepherds - 99 left in the wilderness - assume the other shepherd brings them home but don’t know - importance for the themes
4 Key themes (2 Questions):
1. JOY of the shepherd
Structure - poem - including rhyming in & other word games in the original language (Aramaic, where spoken lang.) - emphasis on the centre - two occasions for rejoicing - one on his own, second in community
community rejoices because a) the shepherd is safe and b) sheep that belongs to their wider community has been found
the invitation to share in joy over the conversion of sinners
us as a community rejoicing
2. Joy in the Burden of Restoration
sheep - lost, scared - lies down - put on shoulders + dangers of the wild
search has a price but also the restoration!
Without the shouldering of the burden there is no restoration
3. Gracious Love
gracious love seeks the sinner
sinners really belong to God & God wants them back
Divine love goes out to the sinner before he repents
Jesus to the Pharisees - ‘The shepherd sough the lost. I seek the lost and so should you’
4. Repentance
Who is expected to repent?
What is the nature of repentance?
Debate in Judaism between ‘completely righteous’ persons whom God loves specially v God’s greatest love extends to repentant sinners
Jesus view more - all men must repent
Is. 53:6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
For 1st C Judaism - repentance = way of bringing in the Kingdom
Jesus preaching - repentance = response to the kingdom already come
For rabbis - repentance = precondition for grace
In Lost Sheep parable - sheep does nothing to prompt the shepherd to start his search, being found is equated with repentance
You willing to be found by God this morning?
You willing to be reminded that you are a sinner who has been found by God - take on Jesus’ burden for restoring others...?
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Robin Plummer, 22/07/2008 |
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