Conversation Points for Luke 15:1-10

Study Format:
1. Read passage aloud. What did you notice in the reading? What words or phrase caught your attention?
2. Read passage aloud a second time. What questions would you ask the text?
3. Read passage aloud a third time. What do you hear God calling you to do or be in response to this text?

Interesting Ideas to Consider:
• Once again, in the style of Luke, we see two paralleled parables. First about a man, then balancing, about a woman. Both follow the same structure: 1) a question, 2) a story of losing and finding, 3) a celebration with friends.
• Chapter fifteen opens with the results of the meal stories of chapter fourteen, the Pharisees grumbling because Jesus “welcomes sinners and eats with them,” a violation of purity codes.
• The word translated “grumbling” is in the Greek diagongyzō, the same word used in the Septuagint for the Israelites “murmuring” in the wilderness against Moses (Exodus 16:7-12). It also shows up in similar contexts in Luke 5:30 and 19:7.
• The first parable about a sheep reflects the agrarian lifestyle, and calls to mind the description of God as a shepherd in the Old Testament (Isaiah 40:11, among others).
• In contrast to the positive image of shepherds in scripture, first century shepherds had the reputation of being shiftless, thieving, and untrustworthy. Shepherding was listed among the despised trades by the rabbis, so Pharisees would have had an especially low view of the profession. Especially considering Jesus responded to their critiques about tax collectors and sinners by telling a story where the hero was a shepherd.
• Verse 7 connects the parable to the Pharisees’ experience. The shepherd’s joy in finding the sheep mirrors God’s joy in the ones the Pharisees found contemptible. While they could see themselves as part of the 99, their “righteousness” did not make God rejoice, because it had become a barrier separating them from others.
• The coin referenced in the second parable is a drachma, worth about a day’s wage. So ten drachmas, while noticeable to a subsistence income, would not have been a significant amount of money. This is important, the point of the parable would have been lost if the woman was searching for a large amount of money.

Works Sourced:
Culpepper, R. Alan. “The Gospel of Luke.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume IX. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995.