15:1-7 What is Jesus illustrating here in this parable of a lost sheep?

This is called the parable of the lost sheep. It illustrates how the Father heart of God is directed toward sinners. Jesus told it in response to the Pharisees' murmuring about Him fraternising with sinners in V2 (cp V2).

The Pharisees had no concept of a God who loved sinners and sought to reconcile them to Himself. Their view was that God loved the righteous, but hated sinners. The discrepancy between Christ's actions and the Pharisees' concept of God, raised the question of what God's attitude was toward sinners.

The question was so vital that Christ went into great detail in Lk 15 to provide the answer, illustrating by three parables again three aspects of the one central truth. The other two parables - we will study them all separately - are the parable of the lost coin in Lk 15:8-10, and the parable of the lost son in Lk 15:11-24. In the parable of the lost sheep Jesus compares sinners to a sheep which has gone astray (cp Isa 53:6).

The focus of the parable is on the effort expended by the shepherd, and the joy experienced when the sheep is found. In the context of the controversy over His relationship with sinners, Jesus illustrates by the parable that His ministry is one of seeking and saving sinners, and He emphasizes the joy that abounds in Heaven even if just one sinner repents and is saved.

The friends and neighbours who rejoice with the shepherd when the lost sheep is found, is illustrative of the members of the local assembly, whose joy also abounds when a sinner repents and is saved. The ninety-nine just persons in Lk 15:7 are the righteous who have already repented and been saved (cp V7). This parable is also found, though in a slightly different setting, in Mt 18 (cp Mt 18:11-14).

In the parable of the lost coin Jesus again shows how the Father heart of God is directed toward sinners, and how He diligently seeks to save them, only this time Jesus uses a woman and a coin to make His point (cp Lk 15:8-10).

Just as the woman diligently set about to find the lost coin, so too God diligently sets about to find a lost sinner, and just as the woman rejoiced with her friends when the lost coin was found, so too God rejoices with the local church when a lost sinner is saved (cp Lk 15:11-24).

This is the parable of the lost son, also known as the parable of the prodigal son, so-called because prodigal means recklessly wasteful, which is what the son was.

This parable simply teaches another aspect of the same central truth as the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin. All that is taught throughout scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, is a running commentary on this parable. It proclaims the good news of the gospel.

The Father's compassion toward His repentant son in the parable portrays God's infinite love and forgiveness toward every repentant sinner, and as the father joyfully celebrated His son's return, and restored him to his position of sonship in the family, so too God rejoices over every sinner who repents, and restores them to sonship with Him (cp Jn 1:12; 8:14-17; Ga 4:5-7; Php 2:14-15; 1Jn 3:1-2).

Luke:-