Matthew 18:10-14 the lost sheep
10 “See that you do not despise one of these little
ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my
Father in heaven. [11] 12 “What
do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will
he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that
wandered off? 13 And
if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about
the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not
willing that any of these little ones should perish.
Wow, God so loves us that God will find us. God so loves us that he will leave the 99 in
order to find the 1 that is lost. God so
loves us that in order to save us God sent Jesus and Jesus was able to tell us
this parable. God so loves us that God
seeks us out! Wow. And to think we still turn away from this! We still wander off and away! Much of the time we wander off it is the
feeling inside us of longing that draws us back to God. That silent push inside our souls to
reconnect with the Divine.
Time and time again I worry about Jesus’ connect between us and
sheep; only because the individuality is taken away with this metaphor. But we must remember that Jesus was speaking
to people and during a time when being a shepherd was the thing; and everyone
understood the language he was speaking.
He was not saying that humans are supposed to always act like sheep but
instead reminding us that the Lord is our shepherd. The Lord is our shepherd! A shepherd that cares about all of the
flock! Let us give thanks that we are a
part of God’s flock.
