Luke

15:1-10

The teachings of Messiah, 9:51-19:44

4. Who enters the kingdom? 13:22-16:13

v] Repentant sinners - a joy for God. 15:1-32

a) The lost sheep

In the context of tax collectors and sinners associating with Jesus, and the Pharisees and scribes becoming somewhat perturbed at the company Jesus was keeping, Jesus relates two teaching parables, the parable of the lost sheep and the parable of the lost coin.

God joyfully accepts all repentant sinners into his kingdom.

i] Context: See 13:22-30. Jesus' teaching on Repentant sinners, 15:1-32, is the fifth episode in the section dealing with the question, Who enters the kingdom?, 13:22-16:13. In the age of the great reversal, when the first are last and the last first, many will find themselves unexpectedly outside the kingdom, 13:22-14:35, but at the same time, many will find that through repentance, their place before a joyous God at the kingdom's festive banquet, is secure, 15:1-32.

ii] Structure: Repentant sinner, the source of God's joy:

iii] Interpretation:

iv] Synoptics:

v] Exposition: A simple exposition of this passage may be found in the linked pew-level Sermon Notes.

Repentance - the source of God's joy, v1-32: i] The setting, v1-2. Luke sets the scene by describing how the Pharisees and Scribes are offended by Jesus' association with people who are religious outcasts. These "sinners" were not the type of people the righteous would want to include in their fellowship. The term "sinner" here describes those who do not keep the religious ceremonies dictated by the rabbis. They are therefore, unclean. As for tax collectors, they were regarded as traitors because of their association with the Roman authorities. Jesus "welcomed" (received) them - welcomed their coming to him.

de "now" - but/and. Transitional, indicating a step in the narrative; "Now ....."

hsan ... eggizonteV (eggizw) pres. part. "were [all] gathering around" - there were drawing near to. Periphrastic imperfect construction, possibly emphasising aspect, eg., iterative, repeated action, implying that tax collectors and sinners were constantly coming to Jesus. Marshall suggests it depicts a general circumstance; what tended to happen.

autw/ dat. pro. "-" - him. Dative of direct object after the participle "drawing near to."

panteV adj. "all" - all [the tax collectors and sinners]. Possibly "were everywhere in the habit of coming to him", Weymouth, or "all the tax collectors ...." If "all", the sense would be "very many", TH.

akouein (akouw) pres. inf. "to hear" - to hear. The infinitive is adverbial, final, expressing purpose; "in order to hear him."

autou gen. pro. "Jesus" - him. Genitive of direct object after the infinitive "to hear."

te .... kai "[the Pharisees] and [the teachers of the law]" - [and] both [the pharisees] and [the scribes]. Coordinate construction.

legonteV (legw) pres. part. "-" - [were complaining] saying. Attendant circumstance participle identifying action accompanying the main verb "grumbled / murmured / complained", so "complained and said", "complained of this, remarking", Phillips, but really pleonastic (redundant), therefore left untranslated as NIV. See legwn, 4:35, for the different ways to approach this common Semitic construction, eg., here, adverbial, manner.

oJti "-" - that. Here introducing a dependent statement, direct speech; possibly interrogative.

ouJtoV pro. "this man" - this one. Nominative subject of the verb "to receive." Usually a contemptuous way to refer to another person.

prosdecetai (prosdecomai) pres. "welcomes" - receives [sinners]. So "associates with"; "this man is friendly with sinner", CEV, even worse, he "eats with them." "Has good will toward", Nolland.

autoiV dat. pro. "[eats with] them" - [and eats with] them. Dative of direct object after the sun prefix verb "to eat with."

ii] The parable of the lost sheep, v3-7. Jesus now relates the parable of the lost sheep, or probably better titled, The parable of the Seeking Shepherd. In v7, Jesus applies the parable. For a loving God, the outpouring of his grace in forgiveness upon a repentant and broken sinner is a joy for him. God is not filled with joy at the compromised goodness of the seemingly righteous, those who think they do not need to repent, think they "have no need of a physician." As Jesus said, "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance", 11:31,32. So, that which is a joy to God is the key by which we unlock the gate to the kingdom of heaven, namely, repentance, our turning to, and relying on Jesus.

thn parabolhn "[this] parable" - [but/and he told this] parable. The singular may imply "parabolic discourse", Marshall, but the voice should not be pushed, cf., 5:36, so "these parables."

proV + acc. "-" - toward [them]. The preposition is used here to introduce an indirect object instead of a dative.

legwn (legw) pres. part. "-" - saying. Attendant circumstance participle, redundant; "he told ..... and said". For the classification, adverbial, means, see legwn, 4:35; "Jesus told them this parable by saying."

tivV "Suppose" - what. Interrogative, introducing a rhetorical question. The use of the negation ou implies a positive answer; "everyone" would go looking for a lost sheep (having first secured the other 99).

ex (ek) + gen. "of" - [man] from [you]. Here used instead of a partitive genitive.

ecwn (ecw) pres. part. "has" - having [one hundred sheep]. The participle is adjectival, attributive, limiting "man"; "a man ..... who has a hundred sheep". "Which of you men", Weymouth, but better, "which one of you", NJB.

apolesaV (apollumi) aor. part. "loses" - [and] having lost. The participle is possibly conditional, "which one of you with a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them", Moffatt, but is likely to be adjectival, "a man ..... who has a hundred sheep and who loses one of them."

ex (ek) + gen. "[one] of" - [one] from [them]. Here used instead of a partitive genitive.

en + dat. "in [the open country]" - [is not leaving the ninety nine] in [the wilderness]. Local, expressing space / place. Matthew has, "hills / mountains." Possibly "in the wilderness / desert", Barclay, although this implies lack of care, so better, "In the pasture land", TH. So, "leaves the remaining flock grazing by itself", "leaves the other 99 sheep alone", NCV.

epi + acc. "[go] after" - [and goes] upon. Spatial, probably with the sense of movement toward a place, so, goes out into the country looking for the lost one; "search for", Barclay.

to apolwloV (apollumi) acc. "the lost sheep" - the one having been lost. The participle serves as a substantive.

eJwV + subj. "until" - until [he may find it]. Introducing an indefinite temporal clause, time up to, as NIV.

euJrwn (euJriskw) aor. part. "when he finds it" - [and] having found it. The participle is adverbial, probably best treated as temporal, as NIV.

cairwn (cairw) pres. part. "joyfully" - rejoicing. The participle is adverbial, modal, expressing the manner of his putting the lost sheep on his shoulders, as NIV.

epi + acc. "on [his shoulders]" - [he puts it] upon [the shoulders of him]. Spacial; "down upon."

elqwn (ercomai) aor. part. "goes [home]" - [and] having gone [into the house]. The participle is probably adverbial, temporal, given the presence of kai, "and when he gets home", Moffatt, but possibly attendant circumstance, expressing action accompanying the verb "to put"; "places it joyfully on his shoulder and returns home", TNT, as NIV. "And when he comes home, he calls together his friends .......", ESV.

sugkalei (sugkalew) pres. "he calls ...... together" - he calls together [the friends and the neighbours]. Historic present tense for dramatic effect. Possibly "gathers together for a formal celebration", cf., Jeremias Parables.

legwn (legw) pres. part. "and says" - saying. Attendant circumstance participle expressing action accompanying the verb "calls together", as NIV. For the classification, adverbial, manner, see legwn, 4:35; "he calls together his friends and his neighbours, saying to them", ESV.

autoiV dat. pro. "-" - to him. Dative of indirect object.

sugcarhte (sugcairw) aor. imp. "rejoice with" - rejoice together with. The aorist tense here expressing immediate, urgent action.

moi dat. pro. "me" - me. Dative of direct object after the sun prefix verb "to rejoice with."

oJti "-" - because. Here introducing a causal clause explaining why the friends and neighbours should rejoice with him.

to apolwloV (apollumi) perf. part. "lost [sheep]" - [i have found the sheep of me,] the one having been lost, The participle is adjectival, attributive, limiting the noun "sheep"; "the sheep which was lost", as NIV. The position is emphatic; "my sheep that was lost", NJB.

Jesus now applies the parable making the simple point that repentance prompts divine joy, and thus by implication, divine grace and favour. As for those "who need no repentance" and are therefore not the cause of rejoicing in heaven, other than Jesus they don't exist, but if they did, there would be no need to rejoice for their salvation is already secure; see dikaioiV below.

uJmin dat. pro. "[I tell] you" - [i say] to you. Dative of indirect object. A typical introduction for an application, serving to put a stress on the following words; "Count on it", Peterson.

oJti "that" - that. Introducing a dependent statement, indirect speech.

ouJtwV adv. "in the same way" - in like manner, in just this way, in just that way. Demonstrative adverb, expressing both manner and comparison. "I tell you it is thus in heaven", Rieu.

estai (eimi) "there will be more [rejoicing]" - there will be [joy]. The future tense is logical, gnomic, stating what is, rather than what will be, so "there is joy in heaven because of ...." "More", "greater", REB, is supplied, on the assumption that there is at least some joy in heaven for the righteous; but see below. Such a translation is possible, but it is not what the text says. The only righteousness worthy of divine pleasure is the righteousness of Christ, and our willingness to access his righteousness through repentance. "I tell you that in the same way there will be rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents rather than over ninety nine ......" TNT.

en + dat. "in" - in [heaven]. Local, expressing space / place. Typical Hebrew deference toward God, so also the reference to "angels" in v10. So, it is God, our creator, who rejoices.

epi + dat. "over" - upon = because of. The meaning of this preposition is very fluid, but a causal, rather than a spatial sense, seems best here; "there is more happiness in heaven because of one sinner who turns to God", CEV.

metanoounti (metanoew) pres. part. "who repents" - [one sinner] repenting. The participle is adjectival, attributive, limiting "sinner". The word "repentance" amounts to a change of direction, a turning away, a turning around, a turning to; the humble act of seeking divine mercy / forgiveness. Lit. "to change one's mind", cf., 3:3, 8, 5:32.

h] "than" - or / than. Here as a comparative, either "rather than / instead of", or a graded comparative, in which case "more" must be supplied, as NIV and most translations, "more than". "Rather than" is to be preferred; see above.

epi + dat. "over" - over = because of. Probably again causal.

dikaioiV adj. "righteous persons" - [ninety-nine] righteous, just. The adjective is used as a substantive. Does Jesus mean "self-righteous / seemingly righteous"? This sense is possible, so Jesus means "righteous", in the same sense as Zechariah and Elizabeth "were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord", 1:6. If so, are there actually people "who do not need to repent"? Surely everyone needs to repent! The whole point of this parable is to identify repentance as the key with which a person accesses God's grace. So, it is possible that the phrase is facetious (an ad hominem argument); "those who think they do not need to repent", so Stein. Yet, it is far more likely that the comparative serves only to improve the argument by exaggeration, so Fitzmyer, Creed. Plummer puts it nicely when he says "the ninety-nine represent a hypothetical class, an ideal which since the Fall has not been reached." So, we could add a qualifier if we wanted to; "of course, no such person exists."

metanoiaV (a) gen. "to repent" - [who have no need] of repentance. The genitive is usually treated as verbal, objective, as NIV; "have no need for repentance", Phillips. It could be viewed as attributive, in that it limits by description / definition, "need"; "they have nothing of which they need to repent."

iii] The parable of the lost coin, v8-10. This second parable, "the weeping woman", Ellis (nice alliteration, but probably better, "the searching woman"), reinforces the first parable. The interpretation in v10 repeats that of v7. It is possible that the whole parable is in the form of a rhetorical question, so Jeremias, Parables. Some have argued that the coins were attached to a braided headdress, possibly a dowry, and that the loss of one of these coins is like losing an integral part of a piece of jewellery.

h] "or" - or. Disjunctive; cf., 14:31 for a similar introduction to a second parable making the same point as the first. "Or again, making the same point, ......"

ecousa (exw) pres. part. "has" - [what woman] having [ten drachmas]. Both Culy and Thompson take this participle as attributive, limiting "woman"; "What woman who has ten silver coins, if she loses ...." Weymouth. Nolland takes it to be attendant on the subjunctive "loses", so conditional; "What woman, if she has ten silver coins and [if] she loses one, ......"

ean + subj. "-" - if [she loses one drachma]. Introducing a conditional clause, 3rd class, where the proposed condition has the possibility of coming true; "if, as may be the case, she loses one drachma, then doesn't she light a lamp ...?"

ouci aJptei (aJptw) pres. "does she not light" - she will light not [a lamp, and sweep the house, and seek = search carefully, thoroughly]. The use of the negation ouci in a question assumes a positive answer. The imagery here is of a mud brick and earth / stone floor home consisting of a large single room, dark due to few windows, and in need of careful sweeping to find anything.

eJwV ou| + subj. "until" - until [she might find what she lost]. This construction introduces a temporal clause, time up to; "till the time when", TH; a little more emphatic that just eJwV, so Thompson. Culy notes that the construction, as an idiomatic relative phrase, can also take the sense "at which time."

euJrousa (euJriskw) aor. part. "when she finds" - [and] having found it. The participle is adverbial, usually treated as temporal, as NIV.

legousa (legw) pres. part. "and says" - [she calls together the friends and the neighbours] saying. Attendant circumstance participle, expressing action accompanying the main verb "she calls together"; "she gathers together her friends and neighbours and says." See legonteV v2.

moi dat. pro. "me" - [rejoice together with] me. Dative of direct object after the sun prefix verb "to rejoice with."

oJti "-" - because [i found the drachma]. Introducing a causal clause explaining why her friends and neighbours should rejoice with her; "rejoice with me for I have found", Moffatt.

h}n pro." [lost coin]" - [i found the drachma] which [i lost]. The relative pronoun "which" introduces an attributive adjectival phrase limiting "drachma"; "the drachma which I lost" = "the lost drachma." In v6, a similar adjectival sense is formed by the participle to apolwloV, "the having been lost"; "the sheep of me which were lost" = "my lost sheep."

Jesus now applies the parable in much the same way as he applied the parable of the lost sheep. What is it that pleases God, makes him happy? God is filled with joy when a person, who knows that their life is cursed, seeks the ever-flowing mercy of his forgiveness - his grace. For a loving God, the outpouring of his grace is a joy for him. As for "rejoicing in the presence of the angles", this means much the same as "rejoicing in heaven"; it is a deferential statement, an indirect way of saying that the repentance of a sinner is a joy to God. Given that even our most noble motivations cannot tolerate close inspection, repentance / faith is virtually the only response that prompts divine joy / that pleases God. As Paul notes, the rest is but "filthy rags."

ouJtwV adv. "in the same way" - in like manner, in just this way, in just that way. Demonstrative adverb, expressing both manner and comparison.; "it is the same in heaven", Phillips.

uJmin dat. pro. "[I tell] you" - [i say] to you. Dative of indirect object. The phrase serves to underline the following statement.

ginetai (ginomai) pres. "there is" - there comes to be [joy]. Here used instead of the verb to-be.

tou qeou (oV) gen. "of God" - [before = in the presence of the angels] of god. The genitive is adjectival, possessive. As noted above, "before the angels of God" is deferential, ie., a circumlocution for God

epi + dat. "over" - upon. Presumably a causal sense is again intended; "because of one sinner who repents."

metanoounti (metanoew) pres. part. "who repents" - [one sinner] repenting. The participle is adjectival, attributive, limiting "one sinner." As above, repentance, in the sense of a turning to God in Christ, is a decision to rest humbly on divine mercy, rather than just express sorrow.

Luke Introduction

Exposition

Exegetical Commentaries

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