Gold or silver
Luke 15:1:7
Rabbi Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz
1 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near Jesus to listen to Him. 2
And both the Pharisees and the scribes began to complain, saying, “This man receives
sinners and eats with them.” 3 And so He told them this parable, saying, 4 “What
man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave
the other ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one that is lost, until he
finds it? 5 “And when he has found it, he puts it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 “And
when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them,
‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost!’ 7 “I tell you that in
the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than
over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.
Chapter 15 of Luke’s Gospel begins with what seems like a simple parable—the parable
of the shepherd who has 100 sheep, loses one, and then goes out to find the one that
was lost. There are many interpretations of what this parable might mean, and that is a
good thing. Jesus’ parables were the best of the best. Rabbis had used parables for
centuries—and still do today—to teach their students and disciples what God’s Word
is all about. So, it is only fitting that Jesus used parables.
One of the beauties of Jesus’ parables is that they can carry multiple layers of meaning.
To see them clearly, one must look for the cultural twist—the part of the parable that
would make the original listeners stand up and say, “That doesn’t happen in our
society!” When you recognize the cultural twist, the deeper meanings of the parable
start to emerge.
In this case, the parable is about shepherds. Throughout church history, the image of
the shepherd has been used to describe Jesus as the Good Shepherd of us all. It’s a
wonderful and comforting image, especially today when people long for guidance and
care. Yet in Jesus’ day, a parable about a shepherd searching for a lost sheep would have
made people sit up and wonder why He was talking about shepherds.
Interestingly, in the Old Testament, shepherds were highly respected. David himself
was a shepherd, and the Hebrew Scriptures speak often—and positively—about
shepherding. But somewhere between the Babylonian exile and the time of the Second
Temple, shepherding became a low-class job. Today, we might compare it (loosely) to
jobs like sewer maintenance or garbage collection. There’s nothing wrong with these
jobs—they are essential—but they’re not the jobs children typically dream of doing
when they grow up. I don’t mean to demean anyone’s work; I’m simply trying to
illustrate why Jesus’ listeners would have reacted strongly when He used a shepherd as
the hero in His story.
It’s interesting that the early church embraced the shepherd theme so fully. When
Christianity shifted from being centered in Jerusalem to being centered in Rome, it
absorbed aspects of Roman culture and imagery. In Roman society, shepherding was
not considered lowly. It was a necessary and respected task. Wealthy individuals owned
flocks, but they hired young men to tend them. These shepherds were trusted and
valued. It makes perfect sense, then, that the church would adopt the image of Jesus as
the Good Shepherd.
So, what does this parable teach us? Jesus is asking us to consider what we value. The
shepherd valued all 100 of his sheep equally. When one became lost, it was as though
he had lost the entire flock. He had to go find that one. People often ask, “Who took
care of the 99?” Shepherds always had assistants, and those assistants would watch the
flock. But if something happened—say, a fox attacked—the lead shepherd was
responsible. This meant the shepherd placed a great deal of trust in his assistants while
he searched for the lost sheep.
The parable challenges us with a simple but profound question: What do you value
most in life? Jesus, the Great Shepherd, values each one of us deeply—both individually
and as a community. He valued us so much that He was willing to give His life to bring
us the message of God’s love—that the Kingdom of God is for everyone, and that God
wants us with Him. Jesus valued us to the point of dying a horrific death on the cross
to demonstrate God’s love.
In this parable, He is saying, “I value you this much. How much do you value God?
How much do you value Me?” Many people are baptized but spend the rest of their
lives never thinking again about God or Christ’s sacrifice. But if you are listening to this
message—or reading it online—you are likely consider the gift of salvation as
something truly valuable.
People value gold and silver. In late January 2026, as I was preparing this message, the
price of gold and silver skyrocketed. It’s always difficult to pinpoint exactly why, but
when gold jumps from $2,000 an ounce to over $5,000 in two months, someone clearly
sees value and is willing to invest heavily in it.
Now imagine if we could ignite that same sense of increasing value in every person who
attends church—if people valued their salvation and God’s gift two-and-a-half times
more than they do now. Silver increased more than fourfold. Imagine people pouring
their time and energy into being disciples, serving others, and sharing the gospel because
they valued their salvation so deeply. And these are people who already recognize some
value in their salvation simply because they’re in church to begin with.
Right now, however, we are facing not only the issue of people being baptized and
never returning to worship until their funerals—we also have widespread apathy within
our congregations. Let me give an example. A woman in one of my congregations
arrived at 10:00 AM one Sunday for the annual business meeting. Worship that day was
at 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM. She normally attended the 9:00 service. I said to her, “I
missed you at the 9:00 worship.” Her response was, “I only go to church one hour a
week.” She chose her one hour to be the business meeting instead of worship. That
interaction told me exactly what she valued, and it certainly was not God.
There are 24 hours in a day and seven days in a week. You already know that. If we
subtract sleep, meals, and daily responsibilities, most of us still have about 12 usable
hours a day. If you work, you may have only three or four, but even so, across a week
that gives you around 21 to 28 hours of discretionary time.
If you tithed your time—giving just 10% of those hours to God—your weekly gift
would be 2.1 to 2.8 hours. Are you giving that much to God? It does not mean you
must spend all of that time in church. It might include reading your Bible, devotionals,
prayer, serving others, or learning. But many people give God only one hour a week
out of the 168 hours He gives them.
How much time and energy you give to God reveals what you truly value?
So, take a moment and ask yourself: How much time do I give to God’s work? Does it
reflect how much I truly appreciate and value the gift of salvation? Which he gives you.
