I Love You, Lord! (Klein—1978), Psalms 8:1 and 16:2.

My Shepherd met me in His green pastures and laid me down in Luke 15. The Mind of the Spirit engaged the spirit of my mind with the obvious observation that this chapter is God’s “Lost & Found.”

The lost sheep:

Luke 15:4 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?

The lost coin:

Luke 15:8 Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?

The lost son:

Luke 15:32 It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.

Along the still waters, I reflected on some general observations: it appears the first two parables (lost sheep, lost coin) are prefatory parables to the story of the lost son. The word either (Luke 15:8) connects the two parables as a set, followed by the story of “a certain man,” which we call the story of the Prodigal Son.

Jesus precedes the story of the prodigal with two illustrations of the point He is making with that historical anecdote. Otherwise, we might think the story Jesus related, which we call the prodigal son, should be read as the story of the two sons (Luke 15:11). The story is about a son who was lost and was found, which is made clear in the last verse of the Lost & Found chapter of Luke: “It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found” (Luke 15:32).

Each of the two parables begins with something lost, proceeds to the lost being found, and concludes with great rejoicing. The emphasis is on the reasonableness of turning one’s attention from what is safe to what is endangered, from what you have to what is lost, and the exceeding joy that occurs when what was lost is found. The historical anecdote raises the question of the unreasonableness of the elder brother.

Israel is the “elder brother,” provoked to jealousy by the Father’s affection for the lost Gentiles (Deuteronomy 32:21; Romans 10:19; 11:11). Instead of rejoicing with the Father, like Peter and Paul did, they despise the “common” Gentiles. Even today, the Jews reject the command of God to Peter: “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common” (Acts 10:15, 28).

But Jesus came first to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10:6). He said, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24). When the self-righteous “elder brothers” accused Jesus of sitting with “publicans and sinners,” and “publicans and harlots” (Matthew 11:19; 21:31-32), this included Jewish publicans, such as Matthew, and Jewess sinners such as Mary of Magdala, as well as Gentiles attracted to His grace and truth (John 1:14, 17).

Jesus spoke of “other sheep I have, which are not of this fold” (John 10:16), which refers to the believing Gentiles.

All of this encourages us to think that the “elder brother” is the misguided, self-righteous one who considers it uncomely for the Father, or His church, to devote so much attention, affection, and applause to the redemption of one retrieved from the world, with the smell of the pigs still on him.

And when all of this is taken together, it seems the message of this passage is directed to the self-righteous elder brothers. After all, the occasion of this message was the gathering of publicans and sinners to Jesus, and the Pharisees and scribes murmured against Jesus for receiving them, like the elder son murmured against his father for receiving the prodigal brother. The final summary of His lesson to the complaining elder son, saying, “It was meet (fitting) that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found” (Luke 15:32).

In the valley, I felt keenly that I knelt in the shadow where all sinners and saints meet eye to eye, and face to face. It was the same lesson He spoke to my heart yesterday: the message of the cross is central to the saving of sinners and the sanctification of the saint (See “In the valley,” THE CRIERS ON THE WALLS-20250909). If the “elder brother” had “denied himself,” he would not have denied his brother. The Spirit spoke: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

At the table, Jesus anointed my head with His oil and filled my cup with His grace. Goodness and mercy appeared at my Shepherd’s beckoning, and we walked into the harvest, goodness and mercy dutifully following. I think I heard mercy speak to goodness concerning the Shepherd and His found sheep that walked before them. However, I couldn’t make out what was said.

Praying for revival! 🙏

Going live asap:

https://rumble.com/v6yrbm0-shepherds-pasture.html

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©Jerry Scheidbch—Lighthouse Baptist Church, Santa Maria, CA