New Testament · Gospel

Luke 15:6

Lost and Found

comes home, and calls together his friends and neighbors to tell them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep!’ Luke 15:6 · Berean Standard Bible

What It Means

Luke 15:6, in plain English

The shepherd is so happy he calls all his friends and neighbors: 'Celebrate with me! I found my sheep that was lost!'

Why it's here

His joy is so big he can't keep it to himself. This is a picture of how heaven responds when someone comes back to God.

Who's speaking

The shepherd invites his community into the celebration — recovery is a shared joy.

Where it sits in the story

It's a party over one sheep. That's how much each lost one matters — enough to celebrate when they come home.

A Closer Look

The scholar's commentary

The shepherd summons friends and neighbors (tous philous kai tous geitonas) to share his joy, demonstrating that the recovery of the lost creates communal celebration, not private relief.

Language and setting

The communal celebration anticipates the heavenly joy described in v.7, creating a parallel between earthly festivity and divine rejoicing.

Voice

The shepherd calls others to celebrate, and his words model the appropriate response to recovering what was lost.

Significance

The shepherd can't contain his happiness — he calls everyone together for a celebration, declaring that his lost sheep has been found.

In context

Luke 15:4–8

4“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the pasture and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?

5And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders,

6comes home, and calls together his friends and neighbors to tell them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep!’

7I tell you that in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous ones who do not need to repent.

8Or what woman who has ten silver coins and loses one of them does not light a lamp, sweep her house, and search carefully until she finds it?

Read all of Luke 15 — Three things go missing — a sheep, a coin, a son. The father's response in the last story is the heart of the gospel in a single embrace.

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