Luke 15:5, “And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.”
This is repentance; this is the foundational reason that the repentance of v.7, and 10, and the “coming to himself” of v.17 take place. If one who has been fleeing from the Lord stops and returns to Him—whatever the attendant circumstances may be—it is only because the Good Shepherd who has come to seek and to save the lost (v.19:10) has found them and placed them on His shoulders with joy.
And, of course, Jesus accomplished this seeking and saving once for all when He carried all of His wayward flock on His shoulders at Calvary…..When that rough, wooden beam was laid on His flayed shoulders so that splinters sank into flesh and muscles quivered from pain and effort, and when He—our Lord and our God—began to walk to Calvary, carrying His own cross….verse 5 was happening. That was our Shepherd having found us, laying us all on His shoulders, rejoicing….rejoicing…..
And at the cross, when He hung suspended as mediator and reconciler between heaven and earth, our sin—all of our rebellion, and, in a sense, we ourselves—were borne in His own body, borne on His own shoulders…..He found us….He found us…..and He laid us on His shoulders, rejoicing.
And then, on Easter morning, when He rose up from the grave, He carried us on His shoulders into the heart of the Father, into the true Green Pastures and Still Waters; He carried us up out of the briers and thorns of our lostness, of our death, and out into the bright, spring airs of home and of life. And, Oh, the Father’s joy! Oh, the Triune joy! As the Son who went into a far country and spent Himself for prostitutes, the Son who lost Himself in their lostness and gave His life in their death, the Son who was lost and is now found, and who was dead and is now alive, Oh, the joy as He leads an innumerable procession of wayward sons and daughters home to their Father’s heart! Hallowed be His Name!
