Three Parables, One Message

Please turn with me to Luke 15. We're going to look at this chapter tonight, and I know it's a very familiar chapter, but I want to take a look at it and bring some things out that I pray will bless you and see this chapter in a different light. Most of the time when Luke 15 is taught, the primary focus is on verses 11 through 32 and the parable called the prodigal son.”

But when you look at Luke 15, two other parables come before the parable of the prodigal son. But that parable gets the most attention. But, you have to look at all three parables together to get the impact of what the chapter is saying, and so tonight that's what we're going to do.

But before we do that I was thinking about the relationship between Jesus and the Pharisees. Jesus was the person the Pharisees hated because he was rocking the boat. They had everything set up the way they liked it. The people looked to them for leadership. The people looked to them for religious thoughts and behavior. The people gave money them and they enjoyed having this “power” over the people.

Jesus, on the other hand, came talking about a God that they should have known and recognized but didn't. I almost look at look at the Pharisees as if they are the mafia. When Jesus comes in he is essentially taking over their territory. He's taking over their hearts and minds because they are seeing God in a different way by what He preaches and teaches.

The religious leaders are constantly looking for ways to sabotage Jesus, to discredit Him, and to minimize Him. And we're going to see Jesus, in Luke 15, once again teaching them what the Kingdom of God is really about. and this is something you should So, we're going to pick the record up in Luke 15, verse one.

(1) Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.

The publicans were the tax collectors, so Jesus was already in the mud in the eyes of the Pharisees and scribes. And not only do you have the tax collectors, you have the sinners – those who are considered wicked and don’t know God. And the religious leaders have no concern for either one. And that’s the key to this chapter.

(2) And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.

The Amplified Bible says, “they kept murmuring and indignantly complaining against Jesus.” So even before Jesus began teaching, the religious leaders were already on attack.

These first two verses set the whole context for the chapter. In these parables, Jesus is going to help the religious leaders see who they truly are compared to who they think they are.

One of the most important things about this chapter is that there are three different parables, but they are not three separate parables. There are three parables that have one message, and it is the same message.

(3) And he spake this parable unto them, saying,

(4) What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

Now, picture the Pharisees and scribes nodding their heads in agreement with Jesus.

(5) And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

We're talking about a wayward sheep. So, the sheep has run away, and we see that the man has found it and has it his on his shoulders. The reason he has the sheep is on his shoulder, and this is not pretty, is because he has broken the sheep’s leg. He wants it to be dependent on him.

And notice that the verse says the man put the sheep on his shoulder, not anyone else’s shoulder. It’s not the shoulder of one of the folks who worked with him. The wayward sheep would be on his shoulder until its leg was healed. And once the leg healed, the sheep would be just like a baby, following the man everywhere he went because the man had taken care of him, the man had fed him, the man had given him water, the man had cleaned him up, etc. The sheep knew that the man would take care of him and he would never run away again.

(6) And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.

(7) I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.