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In telling the story of the shepherd searching for a single lost sheep, Jesus is undoubtedly playing off the prophetic indicments of Israel's shepherds in such passages as Jeremiah 23 and Ezekiel 34. That gives his parable a much sharper edge than is usually recognized. Jesus' question in Luke 15:4 demands a positive answer, but the leaders/shepherds of Israel have a long history of ignoring lost sheep, in fact a history of actively scattering them. As in John 10, Jesus is implicitly contrasting His own shepherding with that of the scribes and Pharisees.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Saturday, January 17, 2004 at 12:17 PM
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