Luke 15:1-10

This story was my best chance to keep Jesus spiritual and kind and gentle who lives in the nostalgia of my Sunday school days when we learned that Jesus was a kindly man who took us in his arms and carried us safely home.  I want that Jesus, forget the rest of the world.  I want to feel good and comfortable, forget the rest of the world.  I want Jesus to be my shepherd, and mine alone, though I would probably let a few family members and close friends into his kindly presence given the chance.

Sound familiar?  Such thinking has distorted Jesus’ message beyond recognition.  The Lost Sheep story was not some feel-good bedtime tale that puts us happily asleep but awakens us to the controversies swirling in Jesus’ day on who is in and who is out.  Jesus’ first line suggesting that Pharisees would tend sheep is a powerful attack on the religious gentry and the way they treat others.  Read between the lines to see how skillfully Jesus builds his case that crescendos with joy in the restoration of those kept outside the lines.

Having a hundred sheep and one gets lost is what we might remember about the story.  But if we see Jesus’ message underneath we will once again witness his unrelenting goal of  putting forth a God who will go to any length to save any of us and all of us.  We don’t hear this kind of message much these days.  I guess it is left to the followers of Jesus to make it loud and clear.  Even one missing is one too many.  Are you ready to start the search?