The unclean, dangerous, excitement of seeking out the lost.

What a great dissection of the Parable of the Lost Sheep. This parable is one of my favorite passages in the Bible. Reading it through Bailey's peasant eyes serves a brand new perspective for me. I love the way that the shepherd is described (especially as a punch in the face to the Pharisees -- aka me). Dissecting further, this story is a tale of the unclean, dangerous, excitement of seeking out the lost.
Unclean: The shepherd is a common (good) symbol found throughout the Bible: describing Moses, kings, God even, as shepherds. However, in Pharisee eyes, these are the lowly servants who are unclean. Moral of the story here: God uses the unclean, the lowest of the low, to represent His Kingdom. Amen! Focusing on summer, I think of the phrase "God doesn't call the equipped, he equips the called". One could rephrase this to say "God doesn't call the perfectly pure or cleaned, he cleans the sinful and broken". Amen again! Thanks, God, for using a sinner like me.

Dangerous: Upon recognizing that the sheep is lost, the shepherd leaves the ninety-nine in the wilderness and goes deeper into the wild in order to find the lost. Wow. Stepping away from comfort, diving into the unknown, risking himself in order to bring back one who has wandered. Again, here I see drivers, barneys, admin leaving the others behind in order to follow the lost. Completely surrendering their "normal life"/work/school in order to be purposefully led into the darkness in order to bring back one life. Just one. If even just one camper returns to Jesus this summer, then that in itself is worth it -- JOY and JOY and JOY! Side note: Bailey explains that the sheep is blameless. The shepherd takes blame for the loss of the sheep. That's so powerful! This is how God sees us as we stray -- blameless.

Excitement: Kyle mentioned this already but through the ENTIRE process overwhelming joy is found. Joy in finding the sheep, joy in the burden of restoration, joy in the return home. At every step, even through the darkness, God is working and therefore we rejoice!! One of my favorite music lines (found in Seasons by Hillsong) goes "If You're not done working, God I'm not done waiting". Amen to that! We rejoice constantly in the suffering because it's all for the glory of God.

In all, what a great image of how counter-cultural God is, how houseboats radiates God's glory, how we should be seeing the joy in every single moment. Good stuff, Bailey!!

Comments

  1. Reid DelgadoFebruary 13, 2018 at 10:07 AM

    Lauren, I like your "jumping off" points (Unclean, dangerous, excitement).

    ReplyDelete
  2. Miriam HamiltonFebruary 15, 2018 at 2:42 PM

    Lauren, I love your line "Completely surrendering their 'normal life'/work/school in order to be purposefully led into the darkness in order to bring back one life." I love that you highlight the PURPOSEFUL nature of being LED into darkness - and that there is JOY in this!

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownMarch 1, 2018 at 9:40 AM

    Lauren, I love your "God doesn't call the perfectly pure or cleaned, he cleans the sinful and broken" comment. He cleans. He purifies.

    ReplyDelete

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