I am tempted to rush on, but a couple of brief comments are warranted lest these parables fail to impact you the way they would have touched the hearts of their original hearers.

In those days, sheep so strongly bonded with those who tended to their needs that shepherds did not drive or herd their flock but led them and the sheep followed. Ponder, for example, the implications of Jesus’ words: “He calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out. . . . he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” (John 10:3-4). Moreover, this bonding was two-way. This can go to such extremes that when the prophet Nathan wanted to use a moving story to drive home his message to King David, a former shepherd, he said:

2 Samuel 12:3  . . . the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and raised. It grew up together with him, and with his children. It ate of his own food, drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was like a daughter to him.

Our equivalent would be a beloved pet dog, except that we go off to school or work, leaving our pet behind. Even if we stay at home, a pet is only briefly the focus of our attention. In contrast, shepherds devoted all day every day to looking after their sheep, plus their livelihoods depended upon the milk (Deuteronomy 32:14) and wool they produced. As with David killing a lion and a bear (1 Samuel 17:34), shepherds would not only devote almost all their waking hours to protecting their sheep (plus ensuring they were secure at night) they would literally risk their lives to do. To again quote Jesus, “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” In stark contrast, “He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd . . . sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees.” (John 10:11-12).

Were I not edgy about testing your patience, I could say still more about the depth of feelings that shepherds in Jesus’s day had for their sheep and all of it would come directly from the Bible. One reason for me saying as much as I have is to demonstrate how much insight is lost through devoting little time to probing the depths of even seemingly insignificant Scriptures and how the real context of any verse is not just the few preceding verses but the entire Bible.

In the second parable in Jesus’ trilogy is an example of God confounding misogynists by likening his feelings to that of a woman (Luke 15:8).

As demonstrated in the following, the Bible has no qualms about indicating that the tenderness and intensity of God’s love is shown not only in fatherhood but also in motherhood. Nevertheless, it insists that God’s love, is greater, not less, than the greatest human love:

Psalm 27:10 When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.

Isaiah 49:15 Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, these may forget, yet I will not forget you!

Matthew 7:11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Emphasis mine).