The Parable of the Lost Sheep is one of Jesus’ well-known parables. In Luke, it appears in chapter 15 as part of a triumvirate of parables—Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, Prodigal Son.
Within the parable, there are three major players:
- The Shepherd
- The Lost Sheep
- The Ninety-Nine (Loyal) Sheep
Typical interpretation of the parable makes Jesus out to be the Shepherd, the sinner to be the Lost Sheep, and believers to be the Ninety-Nine. I wonder if this is the only way to interpret this parable.
While Jesus’ parables are typically likening the Kingdom of Heaven to Earth in some fashion, they usually do so in the third person (correct me if I’m wrong here). In this case, Jesus sets his audience in the shoes of the shepherd. It is not a king or some woman or a wealthy landowner of some kind. It is “you.”
Is it possible that at different stages, in different situations and times, we are all three characters in this parable? Sometimes we’re the shepherd, going after lost sheep. Sometimes we’re the ninety-nine faithful who hang back. Sometimes we’re the lost sheep who has gone astray.
I suppose there could even be a fourth character in the parable: the friends who rejoice with the shepherd when he returns. Perhaps we’re they too.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I always thought the 99 lost sheep represented the pharisees and teachers of the law and the lost sheep the sinners and Jesus the shepherd going after the sinners and outcasts. It just seemed most likely to me given the context.
Blessing,
Bryan L
Bryan,
I have heard that interpretation too. It could certainly make sense, given that in Luke Jesus says the parable as a response to the grumblings of the Pharisees and Scribes. However, if the 99 are the Pharisees and teachers of the law, then how do you take verse 7 where these folks do not need repentance? In Matthew 18 the same basic parable is told, but there are no Pharisees to be found. Perhaps I’m guilty of conflating these two into one. Still, I think that Lk 15:7 is problematic…unless Jesus is being sarcastic…which is definitely possible.
Thanks for the comment!
stephen
Truthfully I haven’t thought about it much(the pharisees and teachers of the law not needing repentance). Verse 7 doesn’t really seem to cause a problem to the view that he’s speaking about the pharisees since he also says elsewhere “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” So he elsewhere refers to them as both healthy and righteous.
I would say then that 15:7 is probably a mix of sarcasm and popular perception. Anyway that’s just my perception about it but again I’ve never really studied it.
Blessings,
Bryan L