a beautiful mess

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus.

2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3 Then Jesus told them this parable:4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’

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.

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you know you’re reading GOD’s words when the same passage you’ve already read a dozen times before reveals a glaring obvious truth. glaring, i do declare!

how many of you have read this parable from luke 15? at least two of you, right? okay good. and myself makes three.

did you ever notice what happens to the ninety-nine sheep!?

be honest.

they get left in the “open country” – which is a really fancy way of saying, the wilderness! and by left, i mean, after the shepherd finds the ONE, he goes…HOME!

the wilderness/eramos/open country carries the meanings of solitary, lonely, desolate, uninhabited. and wouldn’t you know it, leaving sheep in the wilderness untended is a sheep-herding no-no from day 1. rattlesnakes, wolves, and just the fact that sheep are dumb, is enough for any shepherd to know better.

(and besides, let’s be honest: if you actually have a hundred sheep – count them, one-puffy-white-lamb-loving hundred! – do you really need to find one!?)

but back to my point. may we all come to see that the 99 is really just an elaborate hoax of sorts.

i mean. think about it. yeshua clearly says “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.” . and tell me, have you ever known anyone without the need for repentance?

no. they don’t exist. and neither do the 99 sheep. it’s a hoax. it’s a tell-all mirror. if you think you are righteous, then you are gravely mistaken. likewise, if you think you’ve been left behind, then you are, in fact, lost. and friends, if you’re lost, then you’re just like the one single sheep. we all are! we’re all lost. only when we deceive ourselves do we think we are righteous on our own: only when we deceive ourselves do we think we exist as the 99. the 99 don’t exist.

and another thing. this parable (and the next) is not about repentance. haha! is that not ridiculous? and grace-laden? and completely baffling because doesn’t jesus say the key “r” word right there at the end of the parable!?

yep. he does. but we’re so dense most of the time (like sheep?) that we miss it.

i mean, seriously, read that joker. did the one, lost, scared, dumb-founded little lamb actually do anything in the story? nope. not a single thing. s/he gets lost. and s/he gets found.

it’s not about repentance. it’s about GOD. it’s the same scandalous story of grace: GOD comes to us. and what’s more, he’s willing to leave behind (or…to not consider equality with GOD…) everything else in order to seek out and rescue us (for bar nasha came to seek and save the lost.)