What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them
would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert
and go after the lost one until he finds it?
Many of us might actually choose to be content with our best effort and with a result that seems close enough. When we do get most of the way to a goal, but then go on to insist on perfection, we often seem to put the ninety-nine percent we managed to get right at risk. But it is not so for God. God is able to respond to each individual as if they were the only one on earth. He did not die for a faceless mass of humanity but rather for unique and irreplaceable women and men. He would have died for any of us even had we been the only person on earth. In this world of so many he is nevertheless able to give us his complete and undivided care and attention without putting the rest of his flock in peril.
And when he does find it,
he sets it on his shoulders with great joy
and, upon his arrival home,
he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them,
'Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.'
The neighbors might not have understood the joy that the shepherd took when a single lost sheep was found and returned home. They could potentially see this joy as a lack of appreciation for what he already had, as though this one was somehow more than all the others. But for God, ever sheep whose heart becomes his inspires this joy in him. He rejoices over each sheep that is his own as though it were his only one. Just as his death was not for a generic multitude, neither is the joy he takes when lost sheep return to him. The new life of the resurrection and the gift of the Spirit are given to each individual heart. Yes, they come from his Church. Yes, they make us a part of a bigger mystical Body. But they don't diminish our value as individuals in God's eyes. Rather, than are evidence of it.
there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents
than over ninety-nine righteous people
who have no need of repentance.
There is no risk that God will lose us in the multitudes or the faceless masses. But there is a risk that we will lose ourselves there, not approaching our shepherd through the lens of our unique individual relationship with him, but only as part of fitting in with a larger group. We might never notice the specific ways in which we need Jesus to heal our hearts. We might never notice the ways he uniquely gifts us to help us spread his Kingdom. We are parts of his Body, but unique parts, not all having the same function. If had the experience of this lost sheep, being brought home and celebrated after being lost, we might prefer to blend in with the crowd. It might be embarrassing to realize just how much Jesus loves us specifically, in spite of our weaknesses and tendency to wander. But rather than pretending we were never lost, and avoid letting ourselves be found, we need to let the Good Shepherd love us and lead us, helping us found our place within his flock.
I myself will pasture my sheep;
I myself will give them rest, says the Lord GOD.
The lost I will seek out,
the strayed I will bring back,
the injured I will bind up,
the sick I will heal,
but the sleek and the strong I will destroy,
shepherding them rightly.
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