When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’
Luke 15:5,6
When was the last time you lost something that you loved? Maybe one of your favorite socks went missing and you finally found it after much searching? How did you feel? Happy? Relieved? Better with two socks than just one? Today we are considering the story of the lost sheep. It is an interesting look at the dynamics of the lost and found within a theological context.
First, if we agree with Dr. Levine that parables should challenge its hearers, then how does the lost sheep story affect us? What action or reaction does this seemingly straightforward story produce? Let’s start with the premise that a shepherd knows all his sheep and can identify that one out of a hundred is missing. Unless this is His favorite sheep, the shepherd must count to identify that one is missing. His herd is incomplete. His charges are not taken care of. In other words, the shepherd is irresponsible because he has allowed one sheep to wander off. Did you know that sheep are herd animals? They stay together for protection. Wandering off is not in their DNA. God made sheep to stay together, so why would a sheep leave 99 others? One story about Moses as he was tending sheep is that he searched for a lost sheep who sought out water. He found the lost sheep getting a drink. It seems Moses had not cared for the needs of his sheep.
Sheep do not want to wander off on their own, but like cattle, they stray for a lot of reasons usually associated with getting food or water. The cowboys’ job is to keep them together and go get them when they stray. Today we need to be the cow-people who keep the church together and tend to straying Christians. We should know our people and actively seek them out to return them to the flock. Did you notice the shepherd carried his lost sheep back, perhaps because it did not want to leave its “greener pastures.”
Finally, maybe the shepherd in our story was filled with joy because he successfully did his job and got the herd back together. He wanted people to celebrate with him so they would know he did a good job and would therefore keep his shepherding job (if he was a hired hand) or was just a responsible person with his flock.
I hate to lose things. It makes me feel bad to know that I could not keep up with my keys or a coat or even a dog or cat or snake. I’ve lost all three of those last animals over the past year or two and I hate it. Our family is incomplete when pets go missing. Our church family is not complete if we have people missing. It is up to us to go looking for the lost sheep and get them back into the fold. Let’s not be responsible for losing God’s sheep!
Scripture: Luke 15:1-7
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