Same parable, recorded by two different disciples that together brings out the fullness of Jesus teaching.
- if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.
12 “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? 13 And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. 14 Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. Matthew 18:12-14
- Look at the context of the parable in Matthew.
- Look how Jesus continues to explain what to do if a brother won’t listen.
15 “
Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ 17 And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. Matthew 18:15-17
- If he hears you, you have gained your brother.
- And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church.
- But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.
Likewise Luke records the same parable, in which the outcome is the same: If the person repents, he will be reconciled back to God.
If not, he will remain lost.
4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 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 which was lost!’ 7 I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance. Luke 15:4-7
- “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them
- likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.
Here is another example of the same parable recorded by Luke and Matthew, who use different wording to express the same truth of the parable of the sower: The ones on the rock
But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root,
who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Luke 8:13
20 But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no root in himself,
but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. Matthew 13:20-21