Lost Sheep Matter

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Then Jesus told them this parable:



“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: 3-7, NIV)

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Google “Parable of the Lost Sheep” and you’ll find any number of takes on this story: from cartoons to sermons, from chalkboard illustrations to video re-enactments. Most commonly, commentary ties it to the Parable of the Lost Coin and the Prodigal Son story, all directed toward the pharisees and the teachers of the law and in the presence of "sinners and tax collectors" (we’re told in verses 1 & 2). Most commonly as well, it’s discussed as a lesson to the leadership that their looking down on these “lost sheep” and scolding Jesus for eating with them is not God’s way.

(You might well ask, “Well, who are the real sinners here and who needs to repent?” But that’s another story.)

A social media post applies the parable to the “Black Lives Matter,” “All Lives Matter” memes. Of course, all lives matter—the argument goes—but the needy ones who long to be found at this time are the African-Americans who are "lost" in the indignities of discrimination and prejudice. 

So let’s say the lost sheep in the parable is black, is caught in a thorn bush and is waving a sign saying, “Lost Black Sheep Matter” and the 99 white sheep respond with “All Sheep Matter.” Jesus' parable says that the shepherd’s mercy focuses on the lost sheep until it's found, not on those who are already safe in the sheep fold.

We need to be careful not to try wringing too much out of a parable or passage, however.

The principle, seems to me, though, is germane to the “Black Lives Matter” crusade. You don’t set up soup kitchens for the well-off; the mercy of donated food is extended to the hungry. By the same token, the church doesn’t exist primarily to provide comfort for believers, but to deliver the good news to those who need it.

This new “winter of our discontent,” COVID 19, has revealed to us that many fellow citizens who were already living on the knife edge of food and shelter insecurity are approaching desperation. Who the lost sheep in our midst are is being revealed to us, as well as the identity of those who will continue to be lost unless the 99 of us in the safety of the sheepfold catch at least a bit of the spirit of the merciful shepherd.

I don’t know much about sheep, but I suspect they wouldn’t raise a fuss if the lost one got attention for a time while they didn’t. Not always so among us human sheep, where the 99 routinely downplay the peril of the lost ones, complain when governments give them a boost not given to everybody, forget that just to survive, the poor often have to work harder day-in, day-out than we do, and that under a cloud of stress and anxiety. 

We may wonder what the good shepherd in the parable would do if the lost sheep were to repeat his wandering-off folly regularly. Would he risk his own safety repeatedly knowing that he might have to do it again tomorrow, and the day after, etc, etc., possibly?  Maybe the forgiving of a brother 70 X 7 times applies here? 

Think about it. 




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