Sheep are Found In Order to be Offered

The plain reading of scripture is almost always wrong.

The lectionary Gospel reading for Sunday is Luke 15.1-10, a text that likely should not be read in isolation from the longer parable which follows it. More and more, I have come to the conviction that we read not the scriptures but passages and that, by reading it in such piecemeal fashion, we read the Bible badly. For instance, the parables of the lost sheep and lost coin are unintelligible apart from the two pericopes which precede them in Luke 14 about the cost of discipleship and the worthlessness of salt that has lost its saltiness. Moreover, the two parables in Luke 15.1-10 provide the interpretative cipher for the sad parable which follows it. This is but another reason why, as Chris Green says, “The plain reading of a passage is almost always wrong.”

These are not simply parables about lost sinners being found by prodigal searches.

The chapter opens with a provocation. Jesus is eating with tax collectors and sinners, and the Pharisees grumble like Israel in the wilderness, “This man welcomes [tax collectors and] sinners and eats with them.” Notice, the Pharisees and the scribes have also been welcomed by Jesus and are eating with him. Like the Israelites, they complain about what they have received and long for more. In response, Jesus tells three parables—the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost family. Again, the first two set the stage for the third, and in each the rhythm is unmistakable:

• Something is lost.

• It is sought.

• It is found.

• And then there is rejoicing.

Yet take a closer look at the first two parables, especially at the celebrations which follow. They each contain a paradox. The joy is not without cost. The single sheep is returned to the fold, but the shepherd’s rejoicing (we can infer from the third parable) will now require the roasting of a lamb from his flock. He’ll be back down to ninety-nine.

The woman recovers her lost drachma to the purse where her other nine safely remained. Again, she responds by throwing a party for all her friends, which would require spending from that very same purse.

“We have to celebrate!”

And the celebration must require sacrifice of the very thing that had been found.

The plain reading of scripture is almost always wrong.

In these parables Jesus gives us a glimpse into the strange economy of discipleship; namely, what is found is only truly found when it is given up in love.