Commentary on Luke 15:1-10

The people of God are called to experience and embody the heart of God. In this week’s lectionary reading, we learn that the heart of God involves, in the words of the late Bishop Barbara Harris, seeking “the least, the lost, and the left out.”¹ This is not something new in the ministry of Jesus. Luke has signaled God’s heart for the outsider repeatedly, even as early as the call of the tax collector Levi into Jesus’ community of disciples (Luke 5:27–32). In our divided and divisive times, this passage reveals that God is a God whose heart is insistent on closing chasms.

God’s radical embrace

To begin, it is crucial to pay attention to the opening words of the passage. “Tax collectors and sinners” are coming to Jesus (Luke 15:1). Preachers may need to unpack these terms for listeners. Tax collectors were often-despised individuals who gathered income on behalf of the Roman Empire. For many, they represented morally compromised people who were aligned with the oppressor of the Jewish people. “Sinners” is a rather general term to refer to individuals who are not included among the upright or righteous followers of God’s law.

These outcasts are welcomed by Jesus. Indeed, Jesus practices table fellowship with them—a significant theme already developed in Luke’s Gospel (see also 5:29–30; 11:38–42; 14:1–24). As one who “welcomes sinners and eats with them,” Jesus is declaring that the wayward are acceptable to God and find a home in God’s reign (15:2). Surprisingly, while the text later speaks of repentance, it is clear from the opening context that to be enfolded in God’s embrace is more about God’s decisive action in turning toward us than about us turning toward God (15:7, 10). Here, there is no obvious outward change among those Jesus welcomes and accepts—although this is not the case elsewhere in the Gospel of Luke (see, for example, 19:1–10).

Jesus’ radical hospitality leads to “grumbling” among the religious elite, described as “the Pharisees and the scribes” (15:2). The Pharisees and scribes were disciplined law-keepers. As individuals who sought to carefully follow Jewish teachings, they would’ve understandably been scandalized to see Jesus, in the words of the psalmist, sitting in the company of “the wicked” (Psalm 1:1). In this context, Jesus begins to tell “them” a parable (15:3).

While the lectionary focuses on 15:1–10, it is helpful to keep in mind that Luke intends for the entire chapter to be read as a single unit, which is why the word “parable” is singular. Still, the text clearly includes three parables or stories that demonstrate God’s radical embrace. Though these stories are commonly described as the parable of the lost sheep (15:4–7), the lost coin (15:8–10), and the lost son (15:11–32), they might also as easily be depicted as stories of the faithful shepherd, the desperate woman, and the prodigal father. In each one, something valuable is lost, found, and celebrated. Given the boundaries of the lectionary text, I will only comment on the first two stories.

God as faithful shepherd

In the first story, Jesus asks the audience to consider which of them, as a shepherd with 100 sheep, would leave 99 to find one that has strayed (15:4). In an agrarian society, a person with 100 sheep would be a person of modest means. Hence, while there is some scholarly debate, it is likely that Jesus expects that no one in his audience would do what the shepherd in the parable does.² The loss of one sheep is, in many ways, inconsequential if one still has 99.

However, Jesus is a different kind of shepherd. Building on the common image of God as shepherd in the Hebrew Scriptures (see also Psalms 23; 78:52; 80:1; 100:3; Ezekiel 34:11–16), Luke presents Jesus as one who refuses to rest while a single sheep strays from the flock. Even more, God rejoices over finding the lost sheep. The shepherd in the parable invites “friends and neighbors” to share in his joy (15:6).

The picture is quite extravagant. Why throw a party to celebrate finding one sheep? However, Jesus’ parable is meant to invite the religious leaders—the religiously devout pastors and preachers—to move from “grumbling” to “joy” (15:2, 7). The parable suggests that a cosmic celebration erupts over a sinner who repents, and everyone is invited to join the party.

God as desperate woman

The second story is similar, yet different. In 15:8, Jesus inquires, What woman with “ten silver coins” would fail to search for one that was lost? Women often didn’t have much status in the ancient world, and the one depicted in this story seems to be a poor woman. She has 10 silver coins or drachmas, which amount to about 10 days of wages for a common laborer.

Preachers might draw attention to how the intensity of the search for what is lost is more vivid in this story than in 15:4–7. For one, the woman lights “a lamp” (15:8). This isn’t the modern equivalent of simply turning on a light switch; rather, it involves ensuring that oil is replenished in a lamp so the candle stays lit. Two, given the arid conditions of the Mediterranean world, the woman decides to “sweep” what likely was quite a dusty and dirty floor (15:8). Third, Luke presents the persistence of the woman’s search. She looks “carefully until she finds” the silver coin (15:8, author’s emphasis).

Jesus describes his commitment to welcoming the outcasts by offering this striking portrait of a desperate woman who relentlessly searches for lost money. However, what is surprising is that when the lady finds the coin, she chooses to spend it, and likely the rest of her money, on throwing a party with “her friends and neighbors” (15:9). The picture is even more outrageous than the modest shepherd’s celebration. God is a God who celebrates finding the lost, without restraint.

Sermonic possibilities

Preachers might consider many questions as they engage this passage sermonically. For one, who will your preaching audience most identify with in the lectionary reading? Jesus is speaking directly to the Pharisees and the scribes, but this may or may not be the only audience to focus a sermon on. For example, who might be those deemed “tax collectors and sinners” in your midst? And what does “lostness” look like among your listeners?

Second, related to this, how might the sermon offer a vivid picture of what it means to embody God’s expansive embrace as individuals and as a community? It may be helpful to offer an actual or aspirational example of enacting God’s embrace of the outsider. For the courageous, it may even be worthwhile to create a communal time for prayerful reflection where people share how the Spirit might be leading them to embody God’s heart in our times of social and political fragmentation.

Notes

1. Martha Simmons and Frank A. Thomas, eds., Preaching with Sacred Fire: An Anthology of African American Sermons, 1750 to the Present (W. W. Norton, 2010), 696.
2. See Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke (Eerdmans, 1997), 641; and James R. Edwards, The Gospel According to Luke (Eerdmans, 2015), 591.