The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 2 — Section 40

not only declined their sympe.thy with the paths of righteousness to repento.nce, be- 1LOts of Jesus; they positively condemned his lieving that, though last, they might yet be works, hie efforts, his ieo.ching. first." Ver. 7.-I say unto you, that likewise Ver. 8.-Either what woman having ten joy shall be in heaven over one ■inner that pieo01 of silver, if she lose one pieoe, doth repenteth, more the.n over ninety and nine not light a oandle, and sweep the house, just persona, whioh need no repentanoe. and seek diligently till ahe find it? "But," .the Mneter went on t.o say, "what Another and very homely picture is painted I looked for in vain on earth, see, I have in this parable. This time the chief figure found in heaven. What men coldly refused is a woman, a dweller in a poor Syrian vii• me, the celestials have joyfully given. lage, t.o whom the loss of a coin of small These understand me. They love both me value out of her little store is a serious and my work, do the holy angels." This matter. In the story of the lost sheep the coldness, even opposition, on the part of the point of the parable turns upon the suffering Pharisees and the reli~ious men of Israel and the sin of man, under the image of a t.o himself and his works, to his teachings lost sheep searched for and restored by the of mercy and love, seems certainly t.o be Divine pity. Here,'in the second parable, the reason why Jesus emphasizes, both st.ory, the mined soul is represented as a here and in the next parable, the sympathy lost coin, and we learn from it that God which he receives, not on earth from men, positively misses each lost soul, e.nd longs but in heaven from beings, inhabitants of for its restoration to its true sphere e.nd another world. Men, have, however, asked place in the heaven life and work for which -Why do these heavenly beings rejoice over it was created. In other words, in the first the one more than over the ninety and parable the lost son! is viewed from man's nine? It is utterly insufficient to say that standpoint; in the second, from God's. If, this joy is occasioned by the getting back then, a soul be missed, the resnlt will be, scmetbing' that was lost. Such e. feeling is not only missing for itself, but something <'unceivable among men, though even here lost for God. it would be an exaggerated sentiment, but Vere. 9, 10.-And when she hath found in heaven, among the immortals, no such it, she oe.lleth her friends e.nd her neighboUl'II feeling could exist; it partakes too much of together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I the sentimental, almost of the hysterical. have found the piece which I had lost. This higher joy must be due to another Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the cause. Now, the shepherd, when he found presenoe of the angels of God over one sinner the wanderer, did not bring it back to that repenteth. Again, as in the parable the old fold, or replace it with the rest of of the lost sheep, we find this longing for the flock, but apparently (ver. 6) brought sympathy ; again the finding of this sym- it t.o bis own home. This would seem to pathy in heavenly places, among heavenly indicate that sinners whom Jesus he.a come beings, is especially recorded. There is a to save, and wh.om he has saved, are placed slight difference in the language of re- in o. better posf~n than that from which joicing here. In the first parable it was, they originally we.liqered. This gives us the "Rejoice with me; for I have found my clue to the angels' joy over the "found one" sheep which waa lost ; " here, " . . . for I morn than over those who were safe in the have found the piece which I had lo,t." In old fold. Tho Talmudists have taught- tlie first it was the anguish of the sheep and their teaching, no doubt, is but the which was the central point of the story; in reflection of what was taught in the great the second it wa~ the distress of the womllll. ro.bbinical schools of Jerusalem before its who had lost something; hence this differ- ruin-that a man who had been guilty of ence in the wording. "What gre.ndeu.- many sins might, by repentance, ro.ise him- belongs to the picture of this humble re- self to a higher degree of virtue than the joicing which this poor woman celebrates perfectly righteous man who had never with her neighbours, when it becomes the experienced his temptations. If this were transpa.rency through which we get a so, well argues Professor Bruce, "surely it glimpse of God himself, rejoicing with bis was reasonable to occupy one's self in en- elect and his angels over the salvation of a deavouring to get sinners to slart on this single sinner I" (Godet). noble career of self-elevation, and to rejoice Ver. 11.-And he said, A certain man had when in any instance he had succeeded. two sons: It seems probable that this e.nd But it is one thing to have correct theories, the two preceding shorter parables were and another t.o put them into practice. . . . spoken by the Lord on the same occasion, So they found fault with One (Jesus) who towards the latter part of this slow solemn not only held tuis view as an abstract doc- journeying to the holy city to keep his last trine, but e.oted on it, cmd sought t.o bring Passover. 'fhe mention of the publicans those who he.d strayed furtbe11t from the and sinners in ver. l seems to point to sowa  42 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. [OB. xv.1-32.