"The God Pause Daily Devotional" from The Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States for Thursday, 8 September 2016 with Scripture: Luke 15:1-10

"The God Pause Daily Devotional" from The Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States for Thursday, 8 September 2016
with Scripture: Luke 15:1-10
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Luke 15:1 The tax-collectors and sinners kept gathering around to hear Yeshua, 2 and the P’rushim and Torah-teachers kept grumbling. “This fellow,” they said, “welcomes sinners — he even eats with them!” 3 So he told them this parable: 4 “If one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, doesn’t he leave the other ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? 5 When he does find it, he joyfully hoists it onto his shoulders; 6 and when he gets home, he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Come, celebrate with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’ 7 I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who turns to God from his sins than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to repent.
8 “Another example: what woman, if she has ten drachmas and loses one of these valuable coins, won’t light a lamp, sweep the house and search all over until she finds it? 9 And when she does find it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Come, celebrate with me, because I have found the drachma I lost.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is joy among God’s angels when one sinner repents.”[Complete Jewish Bible]
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I grew up in rural Montana in a ranching family and so I have many memories of sheep. But it wasn't until I really began to understand scripture that the images of sheep, of lost sheep, of God's concern and passion for the lost sheep, made sense. For many in urban settings sheep are an unknown. They couldn't have been that bad, could they? They don't really just wander off, do they? And who are shepherds, or as my uncle said, sheepherders? He employed the sheepherder to spend months in the spring through fall in the mountains to watch over the sheep--to move them to new grass for grazing, to keep them from poisonous weeds, to protect them (along with his dogs and rifle) from wild animals, to nurse sick ones back to health--basically to not leave them alone. It was a lonely existence. But the sheepherder's job was to care for the sheep, to seek and find the ones who wandered off and to do all he could for them. We humans really are like sheep; but thankfully, we have a good shepherd. 
Good shepherd, you love us in spite of who we are and how we are. For that we give thanks and praise. Amen.
Peggy Paugh Leuzinger, '88
Rivers of Faith Lutheran Parish, Livingston and Wilsall, Mont.
Luke 15:1 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him.
2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them."
3 So he told them this parable:
4 "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?
5 When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices.
6 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.'
7 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.
8 "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?
9 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.'
10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." [New Revised Standard Version]
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