Who were the 99 sheep in Jesus' parable?

Most of us would be familiar with the Parable of the Lost sheep in Matthew 18 and Luke 15:

15 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

I saw someone asking an interesting question I have not thought of before. Who were the ninety-nine in this parable? These are my own thoughts:

Maybe they are saints in heaven/us the redeemed because there cannot be anyone on Earth who doesn't need repentance.
Jesus was being sarcatic. Those 99 were the self-righteous who didn't recognize their needs for repentance.
The 99 doesn't represent anything, it's just there to help people understand the magnificence of God's love for us.

I myself leaned forward to the first explanation because it's true the 99 (us) truely are very joyful when a soul is saved and welcome back to our midst.

What do you think about this?

Posted May 23, 2023, 6:03 AM UTC

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Technical-Arm7699Roman Catholic•3 yr. ago

They are just faithful people who were serving God

Towhee13•3 yr. ago

The 99 are those amongst Israel who remained faithful and obeyed God's commandments. They are also represented by the older brother in the prodigal son parable.

Maybe they are saints in heaven/us the redeemed

Nobody was in heaven. Jesus wasn't talking about people who didn't exist, that wouldn't make sense.

because there cannot be anyone on Earth who doesn't need repentance.

That's obviously not true. If you don't murder anyone you don't need to repent of murder, right? If you are obeying God there's nothing to repent of. Jesus says it right in the parable, and you put it in bold, it's surprising that you missed it. Here's an example,

In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.

John the Baptist's parents didn't need to repent of things they hadn't done. They were righteous. There's also Simeon from Luke 2 who was "righteous and devout".

Jesus was being sarcatic. Those 99 were the self-righteous who didn't recognize their needs for repentance.

Some people have a hard time accepting the things Jesus said, so they make it as though Jesus didn't mean what He said. That makes no sense. Jesus was talking about real people who were faithful to God.

I myself leaned forward to the first explanation because it's true the 99 (us) truely are very joyful when a soul is saved and welcome back to our midst.

Jesus didn't say anything about people here on earth rejoicing when a lost sheep is found. He said "more rejoicing in heaven". It was in the Scripture you quoted.

velocipede80Christian ingrafted Israelite•3 yr. ago

Those were people who were walking in God's ways, according to the commandments, and were mature enough to keep walking in the right direction. Not that all people don't need occasional correction, but with growth and maturity, we should see fewer and fewer donations from the course. Not everyone is running away and getting lost at the same time. Now, it might be you today who is off track, and it might be me tomorrow. It happens. But Jesus will bring us back.

Kanjo42Christian•3 yr. ago

They're sheep that are where they're supposed to be. They're safe. They're fine. We don't need to worry about those sheep. They might wander later, as sheep are prone to do, but at the moment, we just have one problem sheep.