08/22/2022 – Day 176 – Luke 15 -16 / A movie analogy to “The Parable of the Lost Sheep” and more…
Chapter 15 – The Parable of the Lost Sheep (15:1 – 15:7):
“Leaving the ninety nine with the hope of saving just one that is lost”: I haven’t heard references to this but one movie that I think the movie “Saving Private Ryan” exemplifies this parable. In the immediate aftermath of capturing the Omaha beachhead from the Germans with heavy American losses, a single platoon is asked to rescue one single Private Ryan who is with an Airborne unit behind German lines , with his exact location or even if in fact whether he is alive unknown. All to save one man who had lost all his brothers (four?) within a very short period .
At the very end of the movie, the platoon commander’s last words to Private Ryan before he died were: “Earn this!” Well, that was an impossible task, no? One sees an aged Private Ryan, walking through the Normandy military graveyard, stopping at that Lieutenant’s headstone. His wife walks over and he asks her as he is tearing up : “Tell me I have been a good husband dear.”
In “Saving Private Ryan” , excepting the platoon sniper perhaps, who prays for good aim as he is firing at Germans, we don’t know if the rest are “saved” at that point. But I submit with Jesus’ concluding sentence noting the “99 righteous persons who do not need to repent”, there is no question saving that one lost sheep is more than worth it: For just one saved soul. Such is the unfathomable love and grace of God. And if the 99 weren’t saved, in part or in whole, it still possibly holds, for God is sovereign, and his ways are so beyond our understanding at times.
Think of this as a “common grace” illustration perhaps: U.S. special forces have had an uncompromising tradition of “never leaving a fallen comrade behind.” So have there been instances where a soldier (s) life was sacrificed in order to bring back the the body of a fallen brother? I would expect there are multiple accounts.
The unfathomable truth – Jesus would have died on the cross just for you!
Thoughts?
Other sections:
Chapter 15 – The Parable of the Prodigal Son: (15: 11-31)
Most of us I expect have heard this from the pulpit, sunday school classes through the years, and even book (s) on this one parable! I remember one sermon where a different approach was taken, namely, to cover the entire sermon from the perspective of the older brother that had been “faithful” to his father, in contrast to the prodigal. As an older brother myself, it is an instruction lesson in: “check your pride at the door always!” Pride is the root of so many other sins. In other words: It is not about you!
Chapter 16 – The Parable of the Shrewd Manager (16: 1-15):
Jesus’ moral lesson here has been confounding to me. (remember – His ways are so behind ours.) How can the the manager taking upon himself to drastically reduce the debt of two of his master’s debtors without his approval? Matthew Henry, in his commentary, posits the idea that he knew this would ultimately benefit his master, perhaps aware there was no way they would be able to ultimately pay back the entire amount. His master commends him for his actions, for presumably he went to him immediately after forgiving the debt. But still, it is puzzling. Even if he prayed about it before hand, you better be sure that the fact that you personally benefitted by keeping your job didn’t get into the way of discernment from the Holy Spirit. If this were a real life example, there would very likely be circumstances we weren’t fully aware of.
Soli Deo Gloria!