Who owns you?

Luke 15:1-10

All the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them."
So he told them this parable: "Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, `Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

"Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, `Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

I can own a sheep. I can own a coin. But there is a disconnect between me and Jesus 1st listeners, they could and did own people.

Slavery was not a peculiar institution in the 1st century, it was as much a part of the world as money or animal husbandry. Jesus knew that, his hearers knew that. We no longer know that.

Lets make no mistake. These parables are about property. The sheep, the coin and the sinner are all the property of the one who looks for them. We are not accustomed to think of ourselves as being owned by God.

God however clearly sees it differently.

In Baptism, we say "you are marked as Christ's own forever." Are you?