One Sheep

(Matthew 18.12-14)

15 ^(A) Tax collectors^[a] and sinners were all crowding around to listen to Jesus. ² So the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law of Moses started grumbling, “This man is friendly with sinners. He even eats with them.”

³ Then Jesus told them this story:

⁴ If any of you has 100 sheep, and one of them gets lost, what will you do? Won't you leave the 99 in the field and go look for the lost sheep until you find it? ⁵ And when you find it, you will be so glad that you will put it on your shoulder ⁶ and carry it home. Then you will call in your friends and neighbors and say, “Let's celebrate! I've found my lost sheep.”

⁷ Jesus said, “In the same way there is more happiness in heaven because of one sinner who turns to God than over 99 good people who don't need to.”

One Coin

⁸ Jesus told the people another story:

What will a woman do if she has ten silver coins and loses one of them? Won't she light a lamp, sweep the floor, and look carefully until she finds it? ⁹ Then she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, “Let's celebrate! I've found the coin I lost.”

¹⁰ Jesus said, “In the same way God's angels are happy when even one person turns to him.”

Two Sons

¹¹ Jesus told them yet another story:

Once a man had two sons. ¹² The younger son said to his father, “Give me my share of the property.” So the father divided his property between his two sons.

¹³ Not long after that, the younger son packed up everything he owned and left for a foreign country, where he wasted all his money in wild living. ¹⁴ He had spent everything, when a bad famine spread through that whole land. Soon he had nothing to eat.

¹⁵ He went to work for a man in that country, and the man sent him out to take care of his pigs.^{[b] 16} He would have been glad to eat what the pigs were eating,^[c] but no one gave him a thing.

¹⁷ Finally, he came to his senses and said, “My father's workers have plenty to eat, and here I am, starving to death! ¹⁸ I will go to my father and say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against God in heaven and against you. ¹⁹ I am no longer good enough to be called your son. Treat me like one of your workers.’ ”

²⁰ The younger son got up and started back to his father. But when he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt sorry for him. He ran to his son and hugged and kissed him.

²¹ The son said, “Father, I have sinned against God in heaven and against you. I am no longer good enough to be called your son.”

²² But his father said to the servants, “Hurry and bring the best clothes and put them on him. Give him a ring for his finger and sandals^[d] for his feet. ²³ Get the best calf and prepare it, so we can eat and celebrate. ²⁴ This son of mine was dead, but has now come back to life. He was lost and has now been found.” And they began to celebrate.

²⁵ The older son had been out in the field. But when he came near the house, he heard the music and dancing. ²⁶ So he called one of the servants over and asked, “What's going on here?”

²⁷ The servant answered, “Your brother has come home safe and sound, and your father ordered us to kill the best calf.” ²⁸ The older brother got so angry that he would not even go into the house.

His father came out and begged him to go in. ²⁹ But he said to his father, “For years I have worked for you like a slave and have always obeyed you. But you have never even given me a little goat, so that I could give a dinner for my friends. ³⁰ This other son of yours wasted your money on prostitutes. And now that he has come home, you ordered the best calf to be killed for a feast.”

³¹ His father replied, “My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. ³² But we should be glad and celebrate! Your brother was dead, but he is now alive. He was lost and has now been found.”

Isaac Blesses Jacob

27 Isaac was old and almost blind, when he called in his first-born son Esau, who asked him, “Father, what can I do for you?”

² Isaac replied, “I am old and might die at any time. ³ So go hunting with your bow and arrows and kill a wild animal. ⁴ Cook some of that tasty food that I love so much and bring it to me. I want to eat it once more and give you my blessing before I die.”

⁵ Rebekah had been listening, and as soon as Esau left to go hunting, ⁶ she said to Jacob, “I heard your father tell Esau ⁷ to kill a wild animal and cook some tasty food for him before he dies. Your father said this because he wants to bless your brother with the Lord as his witness. ⁸ Now, my son, listen carefully to what I want you to do. ⁹ Go and kill two of your best young goats and bring them to me. I'll cook the tasty food that your father loves so much. ¹⁰ Then you can take it to him, so he can eat it and give you his blessing before he dies.”

¹¹ “My brother Esau is a hairy man,” Jacob reminded her. “And I am not. ¹² If my father touches me and realizes I am trying to trick him, he will put a curse on me instead of giving me a blessing.”

¹³ Rebekah insisted, “Let his curse fall on me! Just do what I say and bring me the meat.” ¹⁴ So Jacob brought the meat to his mother, and she cooked the tasty food that his father liked. ¹⁵ Then she took Esau's best clothes and put them on Jacob. ¹⁶ She also covered the smooth part of his hands and neck with goatskins ¹⁷ and gave him some bread and the tasty food she had cooked.

¹⁸ Jacob went to his father and said, “Father, here I am.”

“Which one of my sons are you?” his father asked.

¹⁹ Jacob replied, “I am Esau, your first-born, and I have done what you told me. Please sit up and eat the meat I have brought. Then you can give me your blessing.”

²⁰ Isaac asked, “My son, how did you find an animal so quickly?”

“The Lord your God was kind to me,” Jacob answered.

²¹ “My son,” Isaac said, “come closer, where I can touch you and find out if you really are Esau.” ²² Jacob went closer. His father touched him and said, “You sound like Jacob, but your hands feel hairy like Esau's.” ²³ And so Isaac blessed Jacob, thinking he was Esau.

²⁴ Isaac asked, “Are you really my son Esau?”

“Yes, I am,” Jacob answered.

²⁵ So Isaac told him, “Serve me the wild meat, and I can give you my blessing.”

Jacob gave him some meat, and he ate it. He also gave him some wine, and he drank it. ²⁶ Then Isaac said, “Son, come over here and kiss me.” ^27 (A) While Jacob was kissing him, Isaac caught the smell of his clothes and said:

³⁰ Right after Isaac had given Jacob his blessing and Jacob had gone, Esau came back from hunting. ³¹ He cooked the tasty food, brought it to his father, and said, “Father, please sit up and eat the meat I have brought you, so you can give me your blessing.”

³² “Who are you?” Isaac asked.

“I am Esau, your first-born son.”

³³ Isaac started trembling and said, “Then who brought me some wild meat right before you came in? I ate it and gave him a blessing that cannot be taken back.”

³⁴ Esau cried out in great distress, “Father, give me a blessing too!”

³⁵ Isaac answered, “Your brother tricked me and stole your blessing.”

^36 (C) Esau replied, “My brother deserves the name Jacob,^[a] because he has already cheated me twice. The first time he cheated me out of my rights as the first-born son, and now he has cheated me out of my blessing.” Then Esau asked his father, “Don't you have any blessing left for me?”

³⁷ “My son,” Isaac answered, “I have made Jacob the ruler over you and your brothers, and all of you will be his servants. I have also promised him all the grain and grapes that he needs. There's nothing left that I can do for you.”

^38 (D) “Father,” Esau asked, “don't you have more than one blessing? You can surely give me a blessing too!” Then Esau started crying again.

^39 (E) So his father said:

⁴¹ Esau hated his brother Jacob because he had stolen the blessing that was supposed to be his. So he said to himself, “Just as soon as my father dies, I'll kill Jacob.”

^42 (G) When Rebekah found out what Esau planned to do, she sent for Jacob and told him, “Son, your brother Esau is just waiting for a chance to kill you. ⁴³ Now listen carefully and do what I say. Go to the home of my brother Laban in Haran ⁴⁴ and stay with him for a while. When Esau stops being angry ⁴⁵ and forgets what you have done to him, I'll send for you to come home. Why should I lose both of my sons on the same day?”^[b]

(A psalm by David for the music leader.)

A Prayer for Victory