Understanding The Parable of The Lost Sheep

The parables of Jesus teach object lessons about the kingdom of God. And three parables in particular, the Parable of the Lost Sheep, the Parable of the Lost Coin, and the Parable of the Prodigal Son, specifically teach about God’s unconditional, redemptive love.

Here we’ll walk through the “Lost Sheep” parable specifically. We’ll look at the purpose and context behind the story, as well as the encouraging and profound lessons we can learn from it.

We’ll cover:

• What happens in the Parable of the Lost Sheep
• Meaning and purpose
• Context
• 3 Takeaways
• What it means for us today

It might look to be a fairly simple, short, straightforward parable. But there’s a lot packed into it.

What happens in the Parable of the Lost Sheep?

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The Parable of the Lost Sheep can be found in the New Testament, in Matthew 18:10-14 and Luke 15:1-7.

It can be helpful to look at these passages for yourself before we walk through it here.

We’ll start with a summary.

The story begins with a shepherd who has exactly 100 sheep. But one day, the shepherd notices that one of his sheep has run off.

Instead of cutting his losses, the shepherd decides to leave his flock of 99 sheep to head out after the missing one. After combing the mountains and wilderness, the shepherd finally finds his missing sheep.

We’re not told how long his sheep was missing. It might have been hurt or hungry—certainly frightened. But instead of being angry at the sheep for making him go out of his way to find it, the shepherd is filled with relief and joy.

He tenderly places the sheep on his shoulders and takes it home.

The shepherd is happier to see his missing sheep than the 99 sheep that had remained in his pasture. He’s so happy he can’t keep it to himself. He calls his friends, his neighbors—everyone he knows—to tell them the good news and celebrate with them.

His missing sheep is home at last.

In the version in Matthew, Jesus closes the parable by telling listeners that:

“In the same way, it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should perish” (Matthew 18:14, CSB).

In Luke’s version, He ends by saying:

“I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over the ninety-nine righteous people who don’t need repentance” (Luke 15:7, NKJV).

How did Jesus go from talking about missing sheep to talking about sinners and salvation?

Let’s look closer at what the story means and who these characters represent.

What is the meaning of this parable?

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This cute little story is an analogy for God’s compassion toward every single human being—even those who struggle to follow Him, and even those who have turned away from Him. His desire is still to restore them and save them, just because they are His.

In the parable, Jesus is the shepherd. The 99 sheep are those who faithfully follow God. And the one lost sheep represents anyone who either gets led astray, confused, or decides to go their own way for a bit.

John 10 helps us make these connections.

In it, Jesus refers to Himself as “The Good Shepherd.” He uses this title to describe His intimate understanding, care, and devotion to His “sheep” (John 10:11).

This is a fitting symbol. Like sheep, we are ultimately helpless. We depend on Jesus to help us navigate our daily lives, challenges, and spiritual growth.

We also have a tendency to be led astray.

Some might get distracted and lose sight of Jesus. Others might decide they know an easier or more interesting/fun/exciting/luxurious path and try to go their own way. They might believe the grass is greener on the other side of the pasture, but when they wander away, they see that not only is the grass no better than the grass they had, but now they’re lost—alone and vulnerable in the dangerous world around them.

We’ve all been a lost sheep at some point.

Like the lost sheep in the story, the further we wander away from Jesus, the deeper we’re led into the influences of sin, which usually manifest in a self-serving way. But they never lead us to peace, love, or joy that lasts.

But no matter whether we’re currently clinging to God or wandering away from Him, we can count on Jesus when we call upon Him, just as sheep can count on their shepherd for protection, provision, and guidance.

Even though we can be quick to give up on others (and ourselves) after a series of mistakes or bad decisions, Jesus won’t. Ever.

He does everything in His power to come after us and save us because He loves us so much.

The endings of this parable recorded in the Gospel accounts all but confirm this lesson of God’s desire to save sinners (i.e., everyone). We learn that God doesn’t want any single person to be lost, that nothing would make Him happier than a lost person being found and restored to their place at His side (Matthew 18:14; Luke 15:7).

This message is crucial for everyone to understand, but it bore special relevance to the issues of Jesus’ time.

The context behind this Bible story

The Parable of the Lost Sheep is found in two places in the Bible— Matthew 18:10-14 and Luke 15:1-7.

Bible scholars believe the parable in Matthew and the parable in Luke were given on two separate occasions during Jesus’ ministry.¹

Matthew’s version is believed to have been recorded in Galilee, either near Cana or Capernaum, during Jesus’ retirement from public ministry (that is, from the third Passover of A.D. 30 to Autumn of A.D. 30), possibly the same day Jesus advised Peter to pay the temple tax.²

Meanwhile, Luke’s version is believed to have been recorded in Peraea during Jesus’ ministry in Samaria and Peraea (that is, from Autumn A.D. 30 to the Passover in A.D. 31), possibly two months before the crucifixion.³ However, no exact time or location is known for certain.

Whatever the case, it’s worth noting that both versions share a similar message but occur in different contexts.

Matthew’s version is given as part of Jesus’ counsel for working together as a body of believers. While in Luke, it is given among a series of parables that all point to God’s desire to reunite all sinners with Himself.

Let’s look at the specific context behind each version.

Matthew’s version

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In Matthew’s version, Jesus is talking to His disciples (Matthew 18:1).

The disciples had been arguing about who would have the highest rank in Heaven.⁴ But instead of answering their questions about rank, Jesus directs their attention to a child.

He tells them to adopt the nature of children (Matthew 18:1-4). In other words, He asks them to focus on relying on and trusting in Him, the way children trust their parents or parental figures.⁵

While He’s on the subject of child-like faith, He warns the disciples not to cause “little children,” or new or struggling Christians, to stumble into sin or fall away from the truth as a result of how they regard or interact with them (Matthew 18:5-6, 10-11).⁶

Then, Jesus gives the Parable of the Lost Sheep. The closing lines of the parable (Matthew 18:14) explain why these believers should not be made to stumble— because God values the salvation of every human being, just as the shepherd values every sheep.

This was an important lesson for the disciples but also for the entire Jewish nation.

Because they were God’s chosen people for so long, tasked with representing God to the rest of the world, the Jews often saw themselves as superior to Gentiles (i.e., any other people group).

High-ranking Jews like the Pharisees even saw themselves as superior to other Jews—especially those who struggled with more obvious, publicly-shunned things, such as tax collectors and prostitutes (Luke 18:10).

These attitudes were problematic for a multitude of reasons. Primarily, any person or group of people that see themselves as superior to others naturally causes division while simultaneously feeding pride.

That caused a significant rift in what could have been a community of believers who worked together to represent God.

So, since the disciples were starting to show signs of this mindset, there was a serious concern that they could discourage new believers from following Jesus.

The fact that Matthew wrote his account of the Gospel to teach the Gospel to Jews⁷ provides some insight as to why his book focuses on how new believers are to be treated. This had been a longstanding problem among his people.

Luke’s version

In Luke’s version, Jesus addresses a group of Pharisees and societal outcasts with this story.

Let’s set the scene.

Jesus was eating with a group of tax collectors when Jewish religious leaders, or “Pharisees and scribes,” began to “grumble” among themselves. They were shocked and offended that Jesus would be showing kindness to and spending time with people they thought of as “sinners” (Luke 15:1-2).

Apparently they had forgotten the fact that everyone is a sinner.⁸

Jesus was fully aware of their attitude toward these people who were considered outcasts. He knew they thought they were morally and spiritually superior. And He’d seen the way they look for opportunities to condemn, punish, or judge others instead of offering forgiveness or grace.

This kind of attitude and behavior was founded on pride, which often conflicts with unconditional love.

And so, in response to their comments, Jesus tells the Parable of the Lost Sheep. In contrast to the contempt of the Pharisees, this parable paints a picture of God’s love for every human being—no matter what label they carry or what they’ve done (John 3:16-17). Jesus drives this point home by following this parable with two more parables on the same subject.

First is the Parable of the Lost Coin—a short story of a woman with 10 silver coins who loses one, searches for it with all her effort, and rejoices over finding that single lost silver coin (Luke 15:8-10).

After that, He tells the Parable of the Prodigal Son—a story of a father who celebrates the return of his lost son, who initially left his father’s house for blatantly selfish reasons (Luke 15:11-31).

Both stories further emphasize the joy God feels when anyone who has gone astray, for whatever reason, turns back to Him.

Going back to the Parable of the Lost Sheep, we can see Jesus’ closing line (Luke 15:7) does two things.

1. It points out the joy God feels when any of His children want to return to Him
2. It states that God rejoices over a repentant person more than those who “need no repentance” (ESV).

What could Jesus mean by this? Does it almost sound like He’s saying that He loves some more than others? Or that those who never leave Him aren’t as appreciated or celebrated?

Well, let’s unpack things a bit further. The Bible says in many places that no human being is righteous by their own efforts (Mark 10:18; Romans 3:10-12). But the Pharisees sure thought they were.⁹

Jesus speaks of “righteous people” ironically, using it to describe the way the Pharisees thought of themselves to make a point—that God is happier about repentant sinners than “righteous” people who think they don’t need to repent.¹⁰

While this parable works to correct the erroneous and harmful perspective of the Pharisees, let’s not forget—the “sinners” Jesus had been eating with were listening to the parable, too.

They would have heard Jesus describe the shepherd’s love for the lost sheep—the way he searched for it, placed it on his shoulders, and brought it home to celebration. Given that Peraea was a land of sheep fields, many of them might have been shepherds themselves and may have been particularly moved by Jesus’ story as they thought of their care for their own herds.¹¹

Even if many of the Pharisees ultimately disregarded the parable, Jesus also wanted to give hope to the others around Him. Even though it seemed like everyone else in their society had given up on them, He wanted them to know that God had not given up and would always be there to guide them.¹²

Even the fact that this version shows up in Luke’s account of the Gospel, which was written more for a Gentile audience,¹³ suggests that this parable was given to encourage those who felt lost, or like they weren’t good enough.

Altogether, both versions of the parable provide many surprisingly profound, timeless lessons. This story is just as relevant today as it was then.

3 Key takeaways—What does this mean for us today?

Besides its overall message of God’s unsurpassable, unconditional love, the Parable of the Lost Sheep teaches us about human value and redemption. It helps us better understand how we’re supposed to regard and treat one another.

1) Jesus won’t give up on you

Jesus won’t give up on any one of us, just as the shepherd didn’t give up on the lost sheep.

The shepherd wasn’t satisfied with having 99% of His sheep in their pasture. He wanted to make sure every single one of them was safe and sound.

He traveled through the wilderness on his own, with no guarantee that he would find his sheep. Others might have even tried to discourage him, asking him if finding one lost sheep was really worth all the trouble.

But yes, it was worth it to the shepherd. Every one of his sheep was valuable to him. He knew them all personally.

Think about loving parents of a big family who leave their house to look for one lost child. The size of their family, or the number of kids they have, is irrelevant to the fact that one of their own is missing.

And when the lost child is brought back home, the siblings will no doubt join their parents in celebrating the return. And it’d seem rather petty for the children who remained at home to demand the same level of rejoicing just because they didn’t run away.

(Sure, there are broken homes and troubled families all over the world who don’t always show this kind of perfect love. But this kind of unconditional, familial love is widely recognized and upheld.)

All this is fitting because we are God’s children, and we all lost our way, ever since “the fall” in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3).

And Jesus came to live among humanity at great personal risk Himself. He was willing to die to save us with no assurance that we’d each accept His salvation (John 3:16). The lengths He was willing to go to save us were so great that to someone with earthly values and expectations, it might even seem foolish (Romans 5:8).

But we are each worth it to Him (Isaiah 43:4; Luke 12:24).

He knows us all by name (Isaiah 43:1). He loves us so much that He’d be willing to die for us even if there was only one sinner in the world who turned back to Him.¹⁴

Others might try to discourage us by telling us we’re unworthy of Jesus’ love or that we’ve strayed too far or too many times for Jesus to come and save us again.

But the truth is, Jesus won’t ever give up on you. No matter how others have treated you. No matter what others have said to you. No matter what you’ve done or how often you struggle or make mistakes (2 Corinthians 1:10).

Lost people are just people Jesus is looking for (Mark 2:17).

His greatest desire is to restore our relationship with Him, and eventually, for us to experience the kingdom of heaven with Him.¹⁵

Jesus loves you, and nothing could ever change that.

He’ll always keep pursuing us (Jeremiah 31:3).

2) Jesus does the saving

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Jesus doesn’t expect us to find our way back to Him on our own any more than the shepherd expected the lost sheep to find its way home.¹⁶

After all, the lamb is the one that got lost in the first place. How was it going to find its way back without the shepherd’s help?

Like the good shepherd, Jesus is the one pursuing us (1 John 4:14; Acts 4:12).

As the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary points out:

“God has taken the initiative in effecting men’s salvation. Salvation consists, not in man’s search for God, but in God’s search for man. …man of himself can never find God. The glory of the Christian religion is that it knows a God who cares for man so much that He left everything else in order to ‘seek and save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10).”¹⁷

While we are helpless to save ourselves, we do have a choice in whether we allow Jesus to help us. We can run away from or refuse Christ’s efforts to save us.

Or we, like the lost sheep, can trust in Jesus and allow Him to carry us (Proverbs 3:5-6).

What does it mean to let Jesus carry us?

It doesn’t mean that we expect to coast along with ease. It’s more that we’re letting Jesus do all the legwork when it comes to salvation and sanctification. We’re not trying to earn forgiveness or make ourselves holy by the things we do or say.

Instead, Jesus is the one responsible for getting us from point A to point B. We accept the salvation He offers—but Jesus’ assistance doesn’t stop there.

Along our Christian journey, we’re called to continue trusting in Him. We submit our lives to Him and ask Him to guide us, allowing Him to transform our hearts so we may produce the fruit of a Christian character—becoming kinder, more patient, more loving, peaceful, gentle, faithful, and self-controlled.

We trust Him not to give up on us, and we trust in Him to lead us to a better way of life even when He works in ways we don’t understand.

And this level of trust, well, it’s not always easy for us to put so much faith in someone else. We’re usually more comfortable relying on ourselves, especially if people have broken our trust before.

But even though other people may fail us, Jesus never will (Isaiah 42:16). He is more than worthy of our trust—He proved exactly how devoted and loyal He is to us when He died for all of humanity on the Cross.

We don’t have to worry about being “good enough” to come to Jesus. He’s already there.

3) Nothing but rejoicing

Like the shepherd, when Jesus saves us, He can only think of how happy He is to have us back.

He doesn’t scold, judge, or punish us. Once He saves us, all our sins are forgiven and forgotten (Ezekiel 18:22; Isaiah 43:25).

That’s not to say Jesus is incapable of remembering what we did before. It’s just that everything we did pales in comparison to the joy He feels at our return.

Think back to the idea of having a son or daughter run away.

Distraught, you search everywhere for them, desperate to get them back and to keep them from harm. Then, maybe days later, they’re standing on the doorstep.

What would your first thoughts be?

Would your mind automatically go to all the times they argued with you or disobeyed?

Or would you be overcome with relief, wrap them up in your arms, and tell them you’re glad they’re okay?

Sometimes we struggle with letting go of the past. And when people in our family or in our community become hostile or estranged, it makes sense to feel the ripple effects of that. And if they come back, we might be tempted to focus on the things they’ve said or done before that caused confusion, frustration, or pain.

(The same can be true of the way we feel about ourselves.)

But while it can be difficult for us to put the past behind us, Jesus already has. It’s only the present that matters, because that’s when choices can be made. That’s when paths can be corrected. That’s when connection can happen.

If anyone has a reason to remember our sins, it’s Jesus, who died because of them. But because Jesus has forgiven us, we are enabled (and encouraged!) to forgive ourselves and others (Romans 8:1).

We can move on to embrace the new life Jesus has to offer us with joy and celebration.

And if you want to learn more about the incredible love of Jesus, learn more about the other two parables that were told alongside this one—The parable of the prodigal son and the Parable of the Lost Coin.

The Parable of The Lost Sheep

Matthew 18:10-14, CSB:

See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.

 

What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray?

 

And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

Luke 15:1-7, CSB:

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

 

So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’

 

Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”

1. Nichol, F.D., Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary And Bible Students’ Source Book, vol. 5, Seventh-day Adventist Church (1956), p. 815. [↵]
2. Ibid, p. 198, 221, 445. [↵]
3. Ibid, p. 198-199, 223, 814. [↵]
4. Ibid, p. 445-446. [↵]
5. Ibid, p. 446. [↵]
6. Ibid. [↵]
7. “Study Resources—Intros to the Bible—The Gospel of Matthew,” Blue Letter Bible. [↵]
8. Psalm 14:2-3; 51:5; 53:2-3; Ecclesiastes 7:20; Isaiah 53:6; Isaiah 64:6 [↵]
9. Nichol, p. 814. [↵]
10. Ibid, pp. 814, 816. [↵]
11. Ibid, pp. 814-815. [↵]
12. Ibid, p. 815. [↵]
13. The Remnant Study Bible, Remnant Publications, 2009. p. 1205. [↵]
14. Nichol, p. 815. [↵]
15. 1 Timothy 2:3-4; John 14:2-3; 2 Peter 3:9. [↵]
16. Nichol, p. 816. [↵]
17. Ibid, p. 447. [↵]

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