Submitted by Pastor Reggie Koop, Watson Baptist Church

Rejoicing over one. Rejoicing over one when you still have many. This is what we see happening in two parables that Jesus tells the multitudes in Luke 15:1-10. At this time the Elite, the Pharisees and Scribes, couldn’t understand why Jesus would associate with sinners. So Jesus gave them two parables.

Jesus told the first parable about a shepherd who lost one sheep. Just one sheep out of 99 others. Should he waste his time looking for just that one? If he goes then the other 99 may scatter. But this one was still valuable. Yes, valuable. The sheep were sold to people at the Temple for a sacrifice. Remember that word for later, sacrifice. When the shepherd found his lost sheep, he rejoiced greatly in that he threw a small party with his friends and neighbors. He rejoiced!!

And in the second parable a widow lost a silver coin out of 10. She was devastated. She cleaned the whole house until she found it. And she too rejoiced over the one coin, inviting her friends and neighbors over. In both of these parables, one person celebrated over one, over just one.

Have you ever lost something and went into a frenzy trying to find it? Looking under all the cushions, under all the furniture, in all the clothes pockets that are in the laundry, getting more and more anxious over your lost item. Then finally, after a few hours the item is found. Relief, relief. You are so relieved and tell everyone in the house you found it.

In the parables the one item is a lost sinner. Jesus will search for that one lost sinner until He finds them. And there will be rejoicing in Heaven over the one sinner that repents. We as Christians are to do the same. We can not give up. What if you are that one? That ONE? We need to keep telling the story of salvation to the lost. Keep going, keep going, keep going. That ONE is valuable. Yes, that ONE is valuable. As Christians, we cannot quit. We need to keep going and going until God calls us home or until all sinners are found.