Forgiveness doesn't happen without someone getting hurt

Pastor-Teacher
John Farley
Friday,
February 19, 2010

Forgiveness doesn't happen without someone getting hurt

God’s plan throughout all the ages is that He might be glorified by the grace that He dispenses to undeserving creatures.

the lost sheep, LUK 15:4-7,
the lost coin, LUK 15:8-10,
the lost sons, LUK 15:11-32.

(1) the audience
(2) the conflict or the problem
(3) the unity of three stories provides one response to the problem at hand

The Pharisees and scribes were in much worse shape spiritually than the tax collectors and the sinners and they did not know it!

The ninety-nine are left in the wilderness, the place of isolation and testing.

The lost sheep is found, rescued and brought home.
The ninety-nine are still in the wilderness.

Hebrew parallelism recognizes patterns in Bible passages that match how an ancient Jewish speaker or writer would have organized his material to aid the hearer in understanding the meaning.

The main concept in Hebrew parallelism is repetition.

The main concept in Hebrew parallelism is repetition.

The main concept in Hebrew parallelism is repetition.

The other device (and it complements repetition) is to have small bites of information that come one after the other and are
structured the same way
to make it easier
to receive the new information.

ABC ABC
“step parallelism”

ABC CBA
“inverted parallelism” or “chiasm”.

It is an important literary form to master, because it is used a lot in the Bible.

Inverted parallelism - indeed any parallelism - also provides a powerful way to introduce surprise.

Literary structure contributes to our understanding of the meaning in our parable.

LOST
    FIND
        REJOICE
            RESTORE
        REJOICE
    FIND
LOST

Our Lord intentionally built this rhetorical structure by including this speech that parallels the earlier ABC.

That way it creates a climax
in the center.

The climax is
the joy of restoration
that the shepherd wants
to share!

This teaching is an arrow of grace and it is meant to pierce your stubborn stony heart. Change your mind about Me!

In some mysterious way,
He has decreed things
in this way
so that He can share with us
His unfathomable joy.

When the shepherd sets out to find his lost sheep, he is taking his life in his hands.