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Summary
The assigned study materials for week four of NBST 515 is a study of the Gospels of
Luke and John, with a concentration on the parables of Jesus. Dr. Stacey, in his short presentation
about Jesus’ parables, explains how parables could be compared to analogies in that they are a
teaching method to talk about something complicated or unfamiliar to the listener by using the
terms of something that is familiar. But that itself presents a dilemma, as Stacey said, “in the case
of parables, the thing about which the analogy is being made is always, always the Kingdom of
God. That’s what all the parables are about. But what in this world can we point to and say,
‘That’s the Kingdom of God?’”1 Elwell and Yarbrough summarized Jesus’ use of parables by
saying their “purpose was to reveal just enough truth to raise intense curiosity, promising more if
listeners followed but also concealing enough of the truth so that the complacent could walk
away uninspired.”2
Jesus bluntly responded to his detractors by explaining, “You are of this world; I am not
of this world” (Jno. 8:23). Earlier in John’s Gospel, as Jesus was explaining the new birth and
Nicodemus was having trouble understanding, Jesus said, “If I have told you earthly things and
you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things” (Jno. 3:12)? The only way
humanity can understand the parables of Jesus is with the assistance of the Holy Spirit first
providing “ears to hear” and then progressively teaching those who are receptive (Luke 8:8; Jno.
14:26). One tool Jesus used in His parable to get and keep attention was by employing what
1 Robert Wayne Stacey. The Parables of Jesus. https://canvas.liberty.edu/courses/455224/pages/watch-the-
parables-of-jesus?module_item_id=53811139 . 0:45
2 Walter A. Elwell and Robert W. Yarbrough, Encountering the New Testament: A Historical and Theological Survey,
Third Edition., Encountering Biblical Studies (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 126.
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Stacey refers to as “a hook,” a deeper meaning that “on second look is shocking, disturbing,
unsettling, causing you to learn all over again what you didn’t know, you didn’t know.”3
Application
This student has chosen the short but beloved Parable of the Lost Sheep found in Luke
15:4-7, in which Jesus said:
What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the
ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And
when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he
calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have
found my sheep that was lost.’ Just 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
(English Standard Version).
Israel, like many cultures in those times, were agrarian, highly dependent on the cultivation of
crops and farmland. Sheep and goats were especially valuable for how they “provide meat, milk,
wool, manure, and leather.”4 However, a characteristic commonly noted about sheep is how
pathetic they are at surviving and thriving on their own, thus shepherding sheep was a perennial
and necessary occupation for the good of the society.
Any shepherd who took his job seriously would go after the lost sheep, for the ninety-
nine have a higher chance of surviving together even though they are in “the open country,” than
the one sheep that wandered away. Although the determination of the shepherd to find the lost
sheep may have sounded a little odd to the original audience, it was not surprising to them that
the shepherd did indeed search for the lost sheep. What may have started to confuse some of
Jesus’ listeners was the amount of joy the shepherd displayed upon finding the sheep, happily
carrying the sheep back to the flock and then inviting his friends to come celebrate.
3 Robert Wayne Stacey. The Parables of Jesus. https://canvas.liberty.edu/courses/455224/pages/watch-the-
parables-of-jesus?module_item_id=53811139 2:32
4 University of Pennsylvania Museum. 1999. https://www.penn.museum/sites/canaan/Animals.html
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In this parable Jesus was primarily speaking to and against the Pharisees and scribes who
had been grumbling that Jesus was being friendly to tax collectors and other noted sinners (Luke
15:1-2). The tax collectors and sinners had evidently been agreeing with Jesus’ teaching and
repenting of their sin, but the Pharisees and scribes did not see any sin in themselves from which
to repent. The reason the shepherd was so determined to find the lost sheep and then elated when
he found the sheep was because the sheep represents the “sinner who repents,” the shepherd
represents Jesus, and the party represents joy in Heaven. The Pharisees already did not believe
Jesus was the Christ (Jno. 10:26), so to the original audience the Parable of the Lost Sheep serves
as a scathing summary of the passivity of those who think they “need no repentance.”
To those, however, that do recognize their need to repent, the parable is good news. The
shepherd sets out on his mission, not stopping “until he finds” the lost sheep. Here the
imagination of the listeners is allowed some freedom; the lost sheep potentially could have
wandered miles away through thorny, muddy, dangerous places, and yet the Shepherd is
undaunted. If the hard search were not enough, the Shepherd does not force the sheep, once
found, to walk home; the Shepherd carries the sheep on His shoulders, an elevated position of
rest the once lost sheep could not have enjoyed on his own.
To modern readers, Jesus’ application at the end is quite a hook: all it takes it repenting of
ones’ sins and they will be carried by the Shepherd until they hear “joy in heaven.” The lack of
specificity for how and why the sheep wandered away allows a broader audience to relate with
the sheep’s wanderlust. Peoples’ Sins may be different by degree or exact form, but they all earn
the same wage (Rom. 6:23). No matter the wage, the remedy is the same, repenting. Elwell and
Yarbrough beautifully summarize not just Jesus’ parables but everything Jesus said:
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Jesus’s words were offered not as general moral axioms or eternal truths open to the
unaided insight of human thought, but as part of the gospel message that required faith,
obedience, and acceptance of the kingdom he offered. Ultimately, in order to understand
the things that Jesus said, we must heed Jesus’s call to repent of our sins, trust in his death
and resurrection for our salvation, and place our lives at his command.5
5 Walter A. Elwell and Robert W. Yarbrough, Encountering the New Testament: A Historical and Theological Survey,
Third Edition., Encountering Biblical Studies (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), 127
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Bibliography
Stacey, Robert Wayne. The Parables of Jesus. https://canvas.liberty.edu/courses/455224/pages/watch-
the-parables-of-jesus?module_item_id=53811139
Elwell, Walter A. and Yarbrough, Robert W. Encountering the New Testament: A Historical and
Theological Survey, Third Edition., Encountering Biblical Studies (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker
Academic, 2013)
University of Pennsylvania Museum. Daily Life: Animals. 1999.
https://www.penn.museum/sites/canaan/Animals.html
