Forgiveness doesn't happen without someone getting hurtPastor-Teacher Forgiveness doesn't happen without someone getting hurtGod’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, (1) the audience
The ninety-nine are left in the wilderness, the place of isolation and testing. The lost sheep is found, rescued and brought home. 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 other device (and it complements repetition) is to have small bites of information that come one after the other and are ABC ABC ABC CBA 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 Our Lord intentionally built this rhetorical structure by including this speech that parallels the earlier ABC. The climax is 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, When the shepherd sets out to find his lost sheep, he is taking his life in his hands. |