La parábola de la oveja perdida es una de las parábolas de Jesús . Aparece en los Evangelios de Mateo ( Mateo 18: 12-14 ) y Lucas ( Lucas 15: 3-7 ). Se trata de un pastor que deja su rebaño de noventa y nueve ovejas para encontrar la que se perdió. Es el primer miembro de una trilogía sobre la redención que cuenta Jesús después de que los fariseos y líderes religiosos lo acusan de recibir y comer con "pecadores". [1] Las dos parábolas que siguen (en el Evangelio de Lucas) son las de la moneda perdida y el hijo pródigo . La parábola delGood shepherd, a pericope found in John 10:1–21, derives from it Matthew.[according to whom?]
Narrative[edit]
In the Gospel of Luke, the parable is as follows:
He told them this parable. "Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep, and lost one of them, wouldn't leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, until he found it? When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing. When he comes home, he calls together his friends, his family and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!' I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance."
— Luke 15:3–7, World English Bible
Interpretation[edit]
The parable shares themes of loss, searching, and rejoicing with the Parable of the Lost Coin.[1] The lost sheep or coin represents a lost human being.
As in the analogy of the Good Shepherd, Jesus is the shepherd, thus identifying himself with the image of God as a shepherd searching for stray sheep in Ezekiel Ezekiel 34:11–16.[1] Joel B. Green writes that "these parables are fundamentally about God, ... their aim is to lay bare the nature of the divine response to the recovery of the lost."[2]
The rejoicing of the shepherd with his friends represents God rejoicing with the angels. The image of God rejoicing at the recovery of lost sinners contrasts with the criticism of the religious leaders which prompted the parable.[2]
An alternative interpretation would be that the species of man is 'lost' after its fall from the garden of Eden. As such, the species must be recovered and the Christ's main function is to attempt the recovery it. Carlos Castaneda's book The Active Side of Infinity (universe), in the chapter "Mud Shadows" tells this story:
"What is it, don Juan?" I asked. "I see fleeting black shadows all over the place." "Ah, that's the universe at large," he said, "incommensurable, nonlinear, outside the realm of syntax. The sorcerers of ancient Mexico were the first ones to see those fleeting shadows, so they followed them around. They saw them as you're seeing them, and they saw them as energy that flows in the universe. And they did discover something transcendental." He stopped talking and looked at me. His pauses were perfectly placed. He always stopped talking when I was hanging by a thread. "What did they discover, don Juan?" I asked. "They discovered that we have a companion for life," he said, as clearly as he could. "We have a predator that came from the depths of the cosmos and took over the rule of our lives. Human beings are its prisoners. The predator is our lord and master. It has rendered us docile, helpless. If we want to protest, it suppresses our protest. If we want to act independently, it demands that we don't do so."
These verses have been used in the United States in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. A common refrain from the political right, which is commonly Christian in the US, is to retort "All Lives Matter" to diminish care for violence against black people. However, the Parable of the Lost Sheep shows that care should be given first to those who are in immediate need.
Depiction in art[edit]
The image from this parable of the shepherd placing the lost sheep on his shoulders (Luke 15:5) has been widely incorporated into depictions of the Good Shepherd.[3] Consequently, this parable appears in art mostly as an influence on depictions of the Good Shepherd rather than as a distinct subject on its own.
Hymns[edit]
While there are innumerable references to the Good Shepherd image in Christian hymns, specific references to this parable can be recognised by a mention of the ninety-nine other sheep.
Perhaps the best-known hymn describing this parable is "The Ninety and Nine" by Elizabeth C. Clephane (1868), which begins:
There were ninety and nine that safely lay
In the shelter of the fold.
But one was out on the hills away,
Far off from the gates of gold.
Away on the mountains wild and bare.
Away from the tender Shepherd's care.
Away from the tender Shepherd's care.[4]
See also[edit]
- Five Discourses of Matthew
- Life of Jesus in the New Testament
- Ministry of Jesus
- The Sheep and Goats
References[edit]
- ^ a b c Richard N. Longenecker, The Challenge of Jesus' Parables, Eerdmans, 2000, ISBN 0-8028-4638-6, pp. 201–204.
- ^ a b Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke, Eerdmans, 1997, ISBN 0-8028-2315-7, p. 526.
- ^ Walter Lowrie, Art in the Early Church, Pantheon Books, 1947, ISBN 1-4067-5291-6, p. 69.
- ^ The Cyber Hymnal: The Ninety and Nine.
External links[edit]
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to Good Shepherd. |
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to Parable of the Lost Sheep. |
- Biblical Art on the WWW: The Lost Sheep
- The parable in the book of Luke, NIV version
- The parable in the book of Matthew, NIV version
- Jesus Declares the Parable of the Lost Sheep from the Mormon Channel
- The Parable of the Lost Sheep from The Poem of the Man-God
