Learnings About Lost Sheep

Scripture: When he has found it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders, and coming home, he calls his friends and neighbors together, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’ Luke 15:5-6

Observation: One of the best-known parables of Jesus, the lost sheep is a metaphor for a lost soul - a lost person - and God is seeking them. He celebrates their recovery, which doesn't mean he doesn't love the 99 sheep that didn't wander away, but that the finding of this sheep was special. It was only just this week, however, that it was explained to me the deeper implications of finding a lost sheep.

Sheep are ... dumb herd animals. A sheep doesn't just up and wander away from the rest, but rather there must be something wrong with it. Often, the issue is physical. Wounded animals will find isolation in order to die, and a blind animal will wander without knowing it. Sheep can even have mental issues that cause them to behave differently. A sheep can also just be foolish and get stuck on a fence or thorny bush, or fall into a crevice from where it can't get out.

Therefore, in this parable, when one sheep wanders off, that sheep is a weakened, at-risk, damaged animal. It is that sheep that the shepherd celebrates when he finds it ... the weak and defective and damaged and lame and blind and foolish and wounded and unlucky and hurting sheep. It is the one sheep that probable has less actual earthly value, and thus is the one likely to be missed the least economically, but due to its issue has a tender spot in the shepherd's heart.

Application: I can attest to this, that when I wandered away from the Lord I was very, very hurt, and every subsequent hurt drove me further away. If I can understand this so easily, then I must apply it to others whom I see wandering.

My wife and I are struggling with the suicide seven days ago of a person we knew. She was a young woman who was immensely sweet and caring and in every way lovely. She had also told many of her struggles and hurts ... from harmful relationships, to failed career goals, to her father's own suicide, to the mental health challenges she carried inside. We have both wondered, together and individually, if she had ever known Jesus and accepted him into her heart. She was a lost sheep, but had she at one time belonged to the shepherd? And yes, she was clearly now wandering, isolating herself, and was not found in time for an earthly celebration to occur. Yet we hope and pray that she had, at one time, been part of the flock.

There are so many more wandering. Whether I can see it or know about it, do I understand that they are wandering due to their hurt and pain and innocent defects? Can I help Jesus find them in the midst of that weakness and confusion? Do I have empathy to look past such issues and only see the person that the tenderhearted shepherd cherishes and wants to celebrate?

Prayer: Lord, in my pain, you came for me. As I learn to love others more, may I understand the truth about the wandering and lost, and know of their pain and hurt even when I can't see it. If I can aid in the searching for others, here I am. Amen.