6 December 2016 - love for the lost

 

[ Today's Readings ]

What is your opinion?
If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray,
will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills
and go in search of the stray?

What is our opinion? Do we really pursue the one lost sheep? Or are we content with the ninety-nine we still have? Do we give special attention to the ones who really need our love? Or are we content to love only those who are easy for us to love? We are called to have a special love for those who are lost.

And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it
than over the ninety-nine that did not stray.
If a sheep is not so much lost as obstinately going its own way it may be difficult to lead it back. It may not want to come. But at least for those who are genuinely lost we must be courageous enough to risk much for their sake.

In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father
that one of these little ones be lost.
Some in this world are obstinate. But many, even many who seem obstinate, are just lost, looking for their way home. Unfortunately, we sheep aren't very smart. Without the voice of the shepherd to guide we often wander and place ourselves in ever increasing danger.

It is true that we don't have much to offer the sheep on our own. If we go on our own we simply have two lost sheep instead of one. We have the blind leading the blind. But we don't go alone. We go with the LORD. He has the power to save any sheep that is lost. In fact, the reason Jesus comes is to seek and save the lost (see Luke 19:10). Without him we are all lost.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all (see Isaiah 53:6).

The LORD is not content to see any of us wander astray. He wants to seek out each and every sheep. We need to cry out to each and every person that wanders lost in the wilderness that the LORD is coming to seek for them. He wants to bring all of us home.

Here comes with power
the Lord GOD,
who rules by his strong arm;
Here is his reward with him,
his recompense before him.
Like a shepherd he feeds his flock;
in his arms he gathers the lambs,
Carrying them in his bosom,
and leading the ewes with care.