Steven Tini

CPO 801
February 16, 2012

One of the themes in the gospel of Luke is the redemption that Christ offers sinners. We
know from other books and authors in the New Testament that Jesus came into the world to
sacrifice His blood for sinners (John 3:16; Heb 9:22; 1 Cor 15:3&4) in order for man to be saved
(John 1:12) and God to be glorified (John 17:1). Luke then takes this idea of Jesus and portrays
Him in the role of the shepherd and seeker of souls. This entire concept reaches its pinnacle at
Luke 19:10 where Jesus claims that the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was
lost. Howard Marshall concurs with this thesis by claiming [Jesus] mission is summed up as
that of the shepherd who goes out to look for and to rescue those who are lost (138).
To get accurately, historically, and theologically to this point though, it is important to
start at the beginning of Lukes gospel. First, Luke wanted to accurately record the gospel.
Alfred Plummer notes in The Gospel According to S. Luke Luke begins at the very beginning,
far earlier than any other Evangelist; not merely with the birth of the Christ, but with the promise
of the birth of the Forerunner And he goes on to the very end: not merely to the Resurrection but
to the Ascension (xix). Second, historically Lukes goal is to demonstrate several things by the
extended telling of Jesus lines. In relation to this idea, the theology of Jesus as the shepherd
seeking any and all men begins from the very beginning.
After Luke introduces the book and the purpose he has in writing, he goes into the
account of Jesus birth in chapter 2. In correspondence as a type to Jesus as The Shepherd,
generic shepherds from the nearby fields are told of the appearance of Jesus into the world (2:8).

In type characteristics, the shepherds go and seek out the baby as they were told about. After
visiting the baby Jesus, the shepherds left rejoicing and praising God (note the glory to God that
is accomplished by this work in the manger) for the things they had seen (2:20). It should be
noted that shepherds were part of Gods plan of the people who would greet the baby. Matthew
Henry in his timeless commentary on the Bible notes the fact that shepherds were of the lowest
group in society of the Jews. Because of their profession, they were not able to keep the
cleansing laws and were often distrusted and considered thieves. The testimony of a shepherd
would not stand in a court of law. This is the type of people Jesus came for. Even from birth,
Jesus came to be the ultimate shepherd and the seeker of souls.
Luke is not hesitant about quickly and prominently stating the idea that Jesus is seeking
the lost. Jesus is spending time around people the Jews categorized as extremely of limits
socially. Jesus approaches a publican and eats at his home along with a great company of
publicans and of others (5:29). The Pharisees see Jesus and complained against His disciples.
Jesus clearly let the people know in 5:32 that He was not there to get a following of the righteous
people, but rather to call sinners to repentance.
This scene draws a direct tie to the context of Luke 19:10. Jesus is continuing to not only
mingle with the people of cast off groups, but He is the one who takes the initiative to form these
relationships. As the shepherd, He does not wait for the sheep; He goes right to Levi and
Zacchaeus and puts Himself in their company where He is able speak to them and call them into
His fold. As in the other events chronicled in Luke 4:31-5:32, Jesus reaches out to all types of
needy people. All can benefit from the power of His healing presence (Osborne). If it were not
clear enough the picture of Jesus role that Luke paints, he continues on and on.

Some time later (there have been other supporting events during this time, but for the
sake of brevity they have been left out) Jesus and His disciples are heading toward Jerusalem and
were passing through Samaria. From the Gospel of John, we know Jesus view of the Samaritans
was not the same as other Jews of the day. When the disciples went ahead to prepare a place for
Jesus to stay, the village would not have Him because He desired to go through to Jerusalem.
When the disciples returned and reported this to their master, they were very displeased and
asked if it He wanted them to call down fire from Heaven and consume them all. Jesus, fulfilling
the role Luke set out to convey, did not desire the people to perish, but He did not wish them to
perish for the Son of man is not come to destroy mens lives, but to save them (9:56).
Thielman points out that Jesus is not for only the Jews, or only the Greeks, He is for every
person regardless of race, gender, or background. Luke makes the case that this new people
called Christians represents the fulfillment of Gods purpose for His people Israel, and for all
humanity, as Israels Scriptures describe it (Thielman 132). This is yet another example of
Jesus seeking after the lost paralleling 19:10. It is also interesting to note, as Thomas Schreiner
points out in his New Testament Theology text, Jesus was on His way to pay for the sin the
people in the town were committing. Even in the face of extreme pain, humiliation, and
separation from the Father, Jesus was loving, merciful, and desiring for the people to be drawn to
Him and not to perish (270).
In the first few verses of Luke 13 Jesus compares all men as equals in sin. Pilate was in
the act of killing Jews in the temple and letting their blood spill as a sacrifice to false worship
(Schwager). Jesus made the connection the disciples would have thought of, that it was because
of sin that these things happened to the Jews. Jesus assured them, in a terribly unreassuring way,
that except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish (Luke 13:3). Jesus claims that these

Galileans were not especially sinful, but since everyone is a sinner, they were as bad as them
unless of repentance (Osborne). Jesus certainly did not want the Jews or Galileans to perish and
as such, He warned time and time again to be sure to repent and believe.
The final peak of teaching that Luke very solidly places in the account, is Jesus parables
in chapter 15. The most particular of these, is the parable of the shepherd. In context, again,
Jesus is eating with sinners, in a culture, I should mention, that having a meal together meant
much more than it does in our culture today, and the Pharisees and scribes are murmuring
amongst each other over Jesus practices. The Pharisees continue to murmur from the beginning
of Luke all the way through 19:10. When Jesus finally decided to confront the Pharisees, He
spoke to them in a parable about Himself. Jesus paints Himself as the shepherd who goes after
the lost sheep. When He successfully recovers the sheep He set out for, He triumphantly returns
and a celebration is had in the Heavens. Jesus is trying to get His point across to the Pharisees
and scribes that He as the good shepherd desires for men to be saved, and not even live righteous
lives like the Pharisees claimed they were doing.
Marshall claims that the blind beggar and Zacchaeus are paradigms of response to
Jesus (138). When we look at Jesus interaction with the blind beggar, Jesus responds to the
mans call for mercy. Luke draws this out to drill into peoples minds the idea that Jesus is the
seeker of lost souls. Jesus moves from healing the man outside Jerichos walls to inside the gate
where He is already expecting His next target.
Lukes climax in establishing Jesus as the shepherd seeking souls is built up in a few
short verses. As He enters the city, the rejected of the rejected who wasnt even tall enough to be
taken seriously in his own virtually nonexistent social circle desires to see Jesus. We see nothing
to indicate that Zacchaeus is on the verge of believing, but Jesus walks up to where Zacchaeus is

nestled in the tree and declares that He would stay at his house. Immediately, two things happen.
Zacchaeus life is transformed as shown by his confession of sins and desire to make it right and
the people, not just the Pharisees and scribes this time, began to complain about Jesus action.
Jesus declares to all the people who are complaining and rejecting Jesus as the Samaritans did on
His way to Jerusalem, that He, the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost (Luke
19:10). From here on, Luke remains with the teaching point of Jesus seeking the souls of the
lost, but all of these references come back to this climax in the middle of the crowded street in
Jerusalem.
The blind beggar and Zacchaeus do in fact end up as paradigms of the response to Jesus.
Luke used these characters stories to bring out this whole idea of redemption. Not just
redemption through ones own self works as the Pharisees, scribes, and potentially crowds of
people thought, but through Christ Himself and the work on the cross that He fully knowing was
about to endure.

H e n r y, M a t t h e w. " M a t t h e w H e n r y' s C o n c i s e C o m m e n t a r y." B i b l o s . B i b l o s ,

n . d . Web .
Marshall, I. Howard. New Testament Theology, Many Witnesses, One Gospel. IVP Academic,
2004. 138. Print.
Osborne, Grant, ed. "The Gathering of Disciples." Bible Gateway. InterVarsity Press, n.d. Web.
16 Feb 2012.
Plummer, Alfred. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to St. Luke.
New York City, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1920. xix. eBook.
Schreiner, Thomas. New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ. Grand Rapids, MI:
Baker Academic, 2008. 270. Print.
Schwager, Don. "Suffering and Sin." The Gospel of Luke: a commentary & meditaiton. N.p.,
1999. Web. 16 Feb 2012.
Thielman, Frank. Theology of the New Testamant. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005. Print.