Leaving the 99

My kids have a book about the parable of the lost sheep called "The Lost and Found Lamb."

It's a lift-the-flaps book, and they love lift-the flaps books because such books take longer to read and delay bedtime more.

Also, this book has a nice message about how Jesus seeks the lost, in keeping with the original parable, found in Matthew 18:12-14.

 (Image from http://www.amazon.com)

¹² “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost? ¹³ And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn’t wander away! ¹⁴ In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish."

Still, I've always had a little trouble with this parable, because of the 99 sheep that get left behind in it. Who's watching over them?

Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks this, as I recently read the following devotional essay:

"I don’t know about you, but when I think about the practical aspects of the parable of the lost sheep, I don’t understand it. Why would the shepherd leave 99 sheep unprotected just to look for one that was lost? Wouldn’t some of those 99 sheep wander off or even be attacked and killed by wild animals? Going after one sheep is simply not a practical solution to the problem. It seems to be a bad business decision. But ultimately, I don’t think this parable is intended as a practical solution to an everyday problem. I see it more as a description of the radical love that abounds in the kingdom of heaven. God loves us with such reckless abandon that God will ignore practicality in order to find us and bring us home. That’s astounding love."

(From "The Upper Room" devotional dated 22Jan 2013 by Doug Rolls.)

I like the way this author puts things. A parable is a parable and not meant to be taken literally. The story is simply a demonstration of how much God loves and cares for us, and how far He will go to bring us home. And the answer is: As far as He can! And there is no end to Him.

Besides, being infinite and omnipresent and all of that, He never leaves the 99 at all.

Astounding indeed!