Have you ever felt like you were beyond redemption, that your sins and lifestyle are most assuredly keeping you out of God’s good graces and crippling any chance of forgiveness? I would venture to say that in life, we all have days when we feel like a lost sheep and that nobody cares or is even looking for us. I openly admit that I have days like this, and during those wayward times, it’s easy to forget that I am a child of the King and that he will always pursue me, even when I feel lost, alone, and undeserving.
Did you know that there is a story in the Bible that very clearly shows Jesus’s love and compassion for every single person on this planet? It’s a parable told by Jesus that appears in the Gospel of Matthew and Luke and is in direct response to Jesus being under attack and badmouthed by the religious leaders because he ate with sinners. The hearts of these Pharisees were stuffed full of wrong motives and racial intolerance, and they could not believe that Jesus would spend time with these types of scalawags. Jesus steps in and begins to tell a story of how a lowly shepherd abandoned his flock of 99 sheep to go out and locate one lost sheep. Here is that parable from Matthew 18:12-14:
“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? 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. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.” (NIIV)
As I read these words, I can’t help but think of myself as that single solitary lost sheep, that God’s one and only Son, Jesus Christ, would set out to find me—loving me enough to bring me back to the fold and to the other 99 who probably didn’t even know I was missing. As a self-professed sinner, I am astounded that Jesus would seek me out and rejoice when I am found. What this tells us is that our good shepherd cares about us equally, and he will stop at nothing to find us, no matter the messy lives we live. Jesus’s heart is for us, not against us. He desires for us to be found, rescued, and reborn. This parable serves as a reminder to you and me that as Jesus cares for us, we have been called to love and care for those around us.
How cool is it that God’s kingdom is stuffed full of grace, so much so that each and every one of us is important to God, no matter how far we wander away or our status and position in the world around us? If we deviate from our path and make mistakes, it is comforting to know that we are never beyond second chances and redemption. I’m grateful to God for that, because in my life I’ve strayed and hit plenty of roadblocks by trying to do things on my own. That’s usually when I see Jesus approaching in the distance, searching for me until I am found, loving and accepting me when I don’t deserve it—and best of all, saving me when I feel unworthy and hopeless. If you have wandered away from the flock, I encourage you to allow Jesus, the good shepherd, to bring you back to the fold. He’ll keep searching for you until he finds you.
“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as my Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay my down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again.” (John 10:14, 15, 16, 17 NIV).
In spite of how far you and I may have wandered off, Jesus will, under any circumstances, pursue us to the ends of the earth. He loves us so much that he laid down his life for us on the cross to bring each and every one of his lost sheep back to the fold. That, my friend, is good news indeed!
Paul Smyth
