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Do you ever have those moments when you read the title and you are excited about the content? When I see that Jesus is about to tell us a story entitled ‘The Lost Sheep’ I know the words that are about to reach my ears will be comforting, and encouraging:

‘What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.’ (Matthew 18:12-14)

At first glance I can see three important aspects to this parable that ought to be addressed.

The 99 left over

Now, let’s begin with this statement: this parable is about the one that went astray. I was born and brought up in a Christian household, yet rebelled a bit when I was in my teens, because that’s the trendy thing to do. I was the one that went astray, and yes, Jesus did indeed find me when I was 19. I had turned away from him, was trying to pursue my own pleasure without realising that true satisfaction is only found in God. But when I read this parable, as well as feeling so grateful for the grace and mercy of God, I can think only of the 99 sheep left without the shepherd. Jesus asks the question: ‘If a man has 100 sheep and loses one, does he not leave the 99 to find it?’ And my response is: ‘No! Of course not! Take better care of the 99!’ But that is not God’s way; he cares for the individual sheep, and the 99 will be ok; here’s why:

The clue is in the location of the 99: ‘on the mountains’. Why is this important? ‘The mountain’ is often in Scripture describing the mountain that Jerusalem and the temple are built upon. Therefore in the Old Testament use of ‘the mountain’ often refers to the church, for example in Isaiah 2:2: ‘the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it’. The whole point of this parable is that God goes after the one that is not a member of the church, in order to bring him or her into the church. Let’s take this to its logical conclusion, therefore: every single one of the 99 left on the mountains were once the one lost sheep that needed rescuing. Let’s not pretend that this parable is saying that God never ministers to large crowds – he does, but he does it on a such personal level that he would do the same if you were the only person on the whole planet.

Rejoicing

Jesus’ words here are often quoted to encourage church congregations to cheer as someone hesitatingly puts his or her hand up to respond to a call to salvation. Whether or not you agree with that particular sentiment, I adore the practical application of this verse. When I had that moment of realisation that this whole Jesus thing is all really real, there was joy in heaven! Angels flew across to one another, saying something along the lines of ‘God just saved Sam!’ God himself had an enormous grin on his face as it pleased him to lavish his grace upon me, and a party popper went off in the background – there was genuine rejoicing, even over little old me. And there was genuine rejoicing over you too! This is an encouragement; our salvation is secure. We are not Christians because we’re cleverer than the illogical atheists. We’re not Christians because Jesus’ moral code is the best. We’re Christians because we are in a relationship with our loving Father in heaven, who loves to rejoice over his children coming home!

The perishing little ones

But let’s finish on a bombshell. Jesus says that God does not want even one little one to perish. Now by saying ‘little one’ he was referring to a child he was using to illustrate his point (see parallel account of this parable, Luke 18:15), and the Greek word he used to say ‘child’ was brephos. Now I know that you will want to know why Greek words are appearing now, but this is important. The exact same word, brephos, is used by the same author, Luke, when describing the unborn John the Baptist in the womb (Luke 1:41). So when Jesus was describing God’s attitude to even one of these ‘little ones’ we can be sure that the biblical assumption that the gospel authors made is that Jesus saw no difference in personhood between an unborn child and a child that was old enough to walk.

Just think on this for a while. Jesus, our God, said this: ‘it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that even one of these little ones should perish.’ In the present day, the most dangerous place for a child to be is in the womb; 1 in 5 babies are aborted. Approximately 1,000,000 babies are aborted every year in the US alone. This genocide is not in the will of God; he does not want even one to perish.

So please, today, pray for babies in the womb; pray for their parents, that they would not disobey God, but would enable their child to have life, so that they can be the one lost sheep that God finds. If you have been involved in an abortion then repent; do not explain it away as a hard yet necessary decision, but confess your sin to almighty God, and thank him that his grace is enough to cover every sin. And as you repent, there will be mighty rejoicing in heaven!

"God's Words For US" from Cecelia Lester

Trusting God Yields Happiness