Luke 15:1-10 (NRSV)
Read Luke 15:1-10 on biblegateway.com
Chapter 15Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. Verse 2And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them." Verse 3So he told them this parable: Verse 4"Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? Verse 5When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. Verse 6And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' Verse 7Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Verse 8"Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? Verse 9When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' Verse 10Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
Devotion
I grew up in rural Montana in a ranching family and so I have many memories of sheep. But it wasn't until I really began to understand scripture that the images of sheep, of lost sheep, of God's concern and passion for the lost sheep, made sense. For many in urban settings sheep are an unknown. They couldn't have been that bad, could they? They don’t really just wander off, do they? And who are shepherds, or as my uncle said, sheepherders? He employed the sheepherder to spend months in the spring through fall in the mountains to watch over the sheep—to move them to new grass for grazing, to keep them from poisonous weeds, to protect them (along with his dogs and rifle) from wild animals, to nurse sick ones back to health—basically to not leave them alone. It was a lonely existence. But the sheepherder's job was to care for the sheep, to seek and find the ones who wandered off and to do all he could for them. We humans really are like sheep; but thankfully, we have a good shepherd.
Prayer
Good shepherd, you love us in spite of who we are and how we are. For that we give thanks and praise. Amen.