“What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?”
With the Shepherd
Jesus tells this parable to religious leaders offended that he spends time with people they considered unworthy of pursuit. His answer is not an argument. It is a story about a shepherd who leaves ninety-nine perfectly safe sheep to go after one that wandered off, and does not give up the search partway through discouragement. He goes until he finds it.
Notice the math does not make obvious sense by ordinary risk calculation. Ninety-nine sheep left in the wilderness while the shepherd chases one is not the efficient choice. But this parable is not describing efficiency. It is describing the specific, individual value the shepherd places on the one sheep that is currently lost, regardless of how many others are already safe.
If you have ever felt like the one, wandered off, distant from where the rest of the flock seems to be gathered safely, this parable was told for you specifically. The shepherd’s response to your distance is not indifference weighed against the safety of everyone else. It is pursuit, sustained, until he finds you.
And when he does find that sheep, the story says he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing, not scolding it the whole way home. If you are the one currently far off, this is the shepherd coming for you. Not with resentment for the search. With joy at finding you.
Follow His Voice
- Name any way you currently feel like the one sheep, wandered off from the rest.
- Receive today that his response to your distance is pursuit, not indifference.
- Let yourself be carried home rejoicing, not shamed for having wandered.
Prayer
Lord, I have wandered further than I meant to. Thank you for not giving up the search. Carry me home rejoicing, the way this parable describes, not with resentment. Amen.
Carry this today
He does not stop searching partway through. He goes until he finds.