In the Wrong Place

I am so used to thinking of The Parable of the Lost Sheep as part of the cycle of stories in Luke 15 that to see it in Matthew 18 was a bit of a stunner. I didn’t know that was there too! The nuances are instructive.

Luke uses this story up next to the parables about lost coin and lost sons. Matthew doesn’t. As a matter of fact, Matthew has an entirely different series in which he inserts this narrative block. Though both of these perceptive saints contemplated the same illustrative tale, neither felt compelled to use it as his fellow Gospel writer did.

When our hearts listen to God’s affirmation in Luke’s telling of the lost ones, you and I have little trouble sensing the value of the individual to The Father. That is exactly the point.

With Matthew there is a different message intended. The needs of the individual are front and center. He answers, “What guidance can be offered the needy individual?’

What do I walk away from this with? One fine example of how God uses each precious one of us to communicate uniquely to her/his audience what God has spoken to them personally. It is another biblical truth stated elsewhere in Scripture that God is at work in me to accomplish His purpose in a one-of-a-kind way. Isn’t His plan magnificent!

Tim Gramly
Education Pastor
SHBC
October 21, 2008