“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭15‬:‭4‬-‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Jesus told three stories about lost things…a sheep, a coin, and a son. 

The sheep was one of a hundred, the coin one of ten, and the son one of two. Does this mean that these lost things were ascending in value? For example, was the son more valuable than the coin, or the coin more valuable than the sheep? No to the owner!

I don’t think that the value of the lost thing was more important to the owner than its condition. The sheep, the coin, and the son were lost to their condition and their purpose and needed to be found and restored. 

The sheep was one of a hundred sheep in the farmer’s flock. When it wandered away, the flock was incomplete. Not only that but the sheep was in danger and needed to be rescued. The farmer was restless, knowing that his sheep was vulnerable to serious accident or death by wild animals. He had to do something to find it and bring it back to safety. 

God often used the imagery of sheep to describe His relationship with His people. Sheep are precious but foolish. They follow…they need to be led. They wander after food, not concerned about their safety. They are vulnerable…unaware of their environment or of danger. They need constant care to stay alive. 

Jesus’ story was not only about the sheep but about the shepherd. As a true shepherd, he kept tabs on his sheep. One lost sheep meant immediate action. He left his flock to search for the lost one and refused to give up until he found it. 

The shepherd’s mission accomplished, he called his neighbours to celebrate with him. So, Jesus insisted, if a lost sheep that was found was the cause for celebration in the farming community, how much greater is the celestial joy when a lost sinner is found and brought home. 

It’s important to understand what “lostness” means. In the Bible, lostness is what sin does…leaves us wandering away from the path that leads us to the Father and into the wilderness where we are in danger of dying without shelter, food, and water or being devoured by “wild animals”.  

The shepherd goes out to “find” the sheep and bring it back to the path from which it wandered. 

The whole human race has wandered away like lost sheep, away from the truth about God…His live and purposes for us…about us, and about the danger we are in when we leave His way to follow our own. Our destiny will be the rubbish heap of wasted lives. 

“We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭53‬:‭6‬ ‭NIV‬‬

So, Jesus came to earth to find the lost sheep and bring them back to God’s “way”. 

“Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭19‬:‭9‬-‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Jesus fell foul of the religious leaders of His day because He kept company with the “lost” people whom they despised. So, His story led from lost sheep and a lost coin to the son who had no compassion for his lost brother and who, like them, despised his brother because of his “lostness”. 

To be continued…