Learning From the Parable of the Lost Sheep

Jesus did a lot of things that raised eyebrows. But one of the things He regularly did really got the religious leaders talking: He spent time with the very people they notoriously looked down on.

“Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, ‘This Man receives sinners and eats with them’” (Luke 15:1-2).

They had drawn hard lines—socioreligious boundaries showing who was righteous and who was not, who could be associated with and who should be considered an outcast.

And now a respected teacher was crossing their boundaries in plain sight.

Their reaction showed first how cold and hard they were, but also how little they understood about the God they claimed to serve.

Jesus used their grumbling as an opportunity to teach.

False shepherds versus true shepherds

“So,” Luke recorded, “He spoke this parable to them, saying: ‘What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?’” (verses 3-4).

His question was simple—imagine you’re a shepherd and one of your sheep goes missing. Would you sit back and do nothing, or would you drop everything and go after it? The obvious answer: you’d go after it.

But a good shepherd goes even further than that.

“And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing” (verse 5).

Every lost sheep that’s found is a reason to celebrate. The Pharisees and scribes may not have seen it that way, but God does. He doesn’t beat the sheep or gripe about all the effort—it’s a moment of joy. The missing sheep has been found, and it’s a reason to celebrate. So much so that when the shepherd “comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’” (verse 6).

The textual weight of these verses is challenging to re-create in English without sounding awkward, but the original Greek frames the entire parable as a single, extended question.

In other words, the religious leaders were “expected to agree not only that the shepherd would leave the ninety-nine in order to find the one, not only that he will rejoice as he carries it home on his shoulders, but also and especially that his homecoming with the lost-but-found sheep will provide the occasion for celebration with friends and neighbors” (Joel B. Green, New International Commentary on the New Testament, The Gospel of Luke, 1997).

Of course, the Pharisees and scribes would have agreed with the parable in theory. Yes, a good shepherd goes after the lost sheep and rejoices when he finds it. But when it came to their own role as spiritual shepherds—men charged with overseeing the religious life of Judah—their actions painted a different picture.

Jesus welcomed those who needed a shepherd the most, and He taught them. The Pharisees and scribes scoffed.

They weren’t faithful shepherds. All they could see was the status quo being disrupted—completely missing the fact that sinners were actually listening to Jesus’ message and wanting to change their lives.

Meanwhile, Jesus was doing, in real time, exactly what the shepherd in the parable did.

The work of God the Father and Jesus Christ

Part of the reason Jesus gave the parable was to reprove the religious leaders for shirking their responsibilities. But the story isn’t ultimately about them. It’s fundamentally about God the Father and Jesus Christ—and what They are doing for mankind.

Later in Luke, Jesus clarifies the purpose of His ministry: “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10, emphasis added throughout).

There were plenty of obvious sinners in Jesus’ day—tax collectors who routinely took advantage of others, for instance—and they were undoubtedly among the “lost.” But it didn’t stop with them.

“Lost” describes anyone who hasn’t been reconciled to God the Father and His Son. In other words, all of us before conversion.

After our first parents’ sin, humanity as a whole lost access to the Creator. We were handed over to Satan’s rule, trapped as unwitting pawns, blind to our purpose and headed toward death (Romans 6:23). Spiritually speaking, we were lost.

And Jesus saw that reality for what it was: “When He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd” (Matthew 9:36).

Before repentance, we were the same as those multitudes spiritually. It wasn’t necessarily that we didn’t have anyone to help us manage our day-to-day lives—He didn’t mean aimless and helpless in that sense. The problem went much deeper.

On our own, we had no real spiritual direction, no hope of life and no one to lead us back to the Father.

That is—until Jesus Christ began to rescue us.

The good news is, a massive operation to restore humanity has already begun. It was unfolding right there in His day, and it’s been unfolding ever since. The mission to seek and save the lost is in motion, and it won’t stop until it’s finished.

Launching the Church

Jesus came to launch His Church and reveal Himself as the true Shepherd.

Jesus broadcast a message; God the Father drew people to Him (John 6:44); and together, They formed individual disciples and laid the foundation of the Church (Matthew 16:18). They were in the process of seeking Their sheep.

In fact, in one exchange, Jesus told the religious leaders directly that it was already underway: “I have other sheep which are not from this pen; I need to bring them” (John 10:16, Complete Jewish Bible).

The ones then in His pen were sheep that had been lost but had already been found—like the apostles and others who had heard and responded to the gospel. But Jesus made it clear there would be more.

And there will be—a lot more.

Untold billions of humans still need to be sought out. But little by little, that’s been happening. From the days of the early Church until now, the flock has grown incrementally—one sheep at a time.

Ezekiel 34 looks forward to the time when God will search and seek out His sheep. God’s flock will grow exponentially. It will be a much bigger fraction of humanity than the small group that exists in this age (Luke 12:32).

Notice God’s description of the people of Ezekiel’s time, which will also apply to the people before Christ’s return: “They were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill; yes, My flock was scattered over the whole of the face of the earth” (Ezekiel 34:5-6).

And then the turning point:

“For thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out’” (verse 11).

God won’t leave His sheep scattered forever. He started seeking them out through the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, as well as through the ongoing guidance He provides His Church. But Jesus Christ will do it in a much greater way when He returns to lovingly rule the earth.

God will keep searching and keep seeking until every sheep has been given the chance to return to Him.

What is our responsibility?

None of this means that the lost sheep are unable to do anything. God initiates, God saves—but His sheep must willingly follow Him.

The parable of the lost sheep expresses the depth of God’s love for all people and the lengths He’s willing to go to seek out each individual. But the rest of Jesus’ ministry makes another thing clear: we have a role to play in our own restoration.

Repentance falls on us.

Repentance means acknowledging the fact that sin has led us away from God, that we are spiritually lost and that we can’t find our way back to God on our own. Our relationship with God is a two-way street: He draws us and seeks us out, but we must choose to turn to Him.

And one of the powerful takeaways from this parable is that God doesn’t begrudgingly save us or see us as a lost cause. Jesus wrapped up the parable with this: “I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:7).

Every lost sheep that’s found is a reason to celebrate. The Pharisees and scribes may not have seen it that way, but God does.

We should deeply appreciate all God has done to rescue us, and we can cherish and celebrate with the other lost sheep He calls.

Study more about our good and loving Shepherd in the article “I Am the Good Shepherd.”