the "lost" belong to Him, too

The parables of Jesus are a wonder to me, like a kaleidoscope, I see something different nearly every time I read them. This week I have been thinking about the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son in Luke 15.
I realized, for the first time ever, that each parable begins talking about ownership;

"If any of you has 100 sheep..."(v.4)
"What will a woman do if she has ten silver coins..." (v. 8)
"Once a man had two sons..." (v.11).

Why would Jesus talk about what a person owns? Property. Money. Relationship.
Why would Jesus tell these parables as a response to the Pharisees' and Sadducee's' grumbling; their judgement against who He ate with?

The Pharisees and Sadducees had much. They understood a person's feelings toward what they owned. Jesus spoke to them of owning much property (100 sheep). He spoke to them of owning some money (10 coins). And He spoke to them about having cherished sons.

In the parables each of the main characters losses a portion of their welth; the shepherd looses 1%, the woman 10%, the man 50%. Jesus reminded his accusers that if a person cares enough to go out and look for that which has been lost, whether it is little or much, then they will rejoice when they have found it because it BELONGED to them.

Jesus is telling us that He came because those who belonged to HIM are lost. He ate with tax collectors, prostitutes, Samaritians, the unclean...because they belonged to Him.

It is not only those of us who "have it all together"or "do it all right" who belong to God, but also those of us who mess up, who "go down the wrong path" and who are "one of those". The lost belong to Him, too.