Luke 15:1-10I saw a great story about a woman who wants to train Ravens to help with search and rescue for finding lost hikers. She was working with a Raven, hiding things, and then the Raven would find them. She was amazed that the Raven would look in places that she hadn't thought to hide the items.
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them." So he told them this parable: "Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and 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. "Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
Apparently Ravens have a large brain for a bird their size, and are considered quite intelligent. It crossed her mind that perhaps she could get Ravens to help in search and rescue.
Alas, she is having trouble getting funding.
Finding lost hikers isn't held in high regard, I guess. Unless you're a lost hiker.
I wonder at the point of these parables.
Is it to have us see ourselves as lost, and to know that God, the Hound of Heaven, is seeking after us? That's usually what I've preached on this text?
or
Is it to inform us of the parties in heaven? To get us to see that the party is about our being rescued?
or
Is it an invitation to see "others" rescued, and to hear an invitation to us to join in the celebration?
2 comments:
Quote by Wingren - translated by some Englishman I suspect, thus the English spelling - as the saying goes, Great Britain and the US are two countries divided by a common language
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The community which finds its centre in the Gospel can never shut itself off from the world or turn itself against the waiting world of men for which it is responsible. The centre of the fellowship is the gift which Christ gave to all the nations, and when this gift is enjoyed, the doors of the Church are open for others to enter and share it too. Wingren. Gospel and Church
and this is good too
The Christian church is not a society of integrated personalities, nor of philosophers, nor of mystics, nor even of good people. It is a society of broken personalities, of men and women with troubled minds, of people who know that they are not good. The Christian church is a society of sinners. It is the only society in the world, membership in which is based upon the single qualification that the candidate shall be unworthy of membership. Charles Clayton Morrison
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