NONE IS LEFT OUT

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Matthew 18:11 What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?

The parable of the hundred sheep is one that has often left me in two minds: whether the shepherd was greedy to abandon ninety-nine in search of one or the wisdom would have been to let the one go in favour of the greater number still remaining.

As I read it again today, another layer came to mind: Jesus in John 10, presents himself as the door of the sheep, and the good shepherd who knows his sheep. Unlike a hireling, the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. Thus, there would have been adequate measures in place to ensure that the ninety-nine remaining sheep were well hedged and protected before the one was chased after.

Otherwise, it would end up a fool’s chase to go running after one stray sheep at the risk of losing all the others on your return. Any joy gained from the find, would have been cut short. In life, it can become very easy to get tunnelled vision – to set one’s eye purely on a single target that any and all peripheral vision is ignored.

A car may have a giant front windscreen – but the reason it has smaller side and rear view mirrors are to tell us that that is also a need to look around and behind every now and again. And you can be assured that the good shepherd would not leave the ninety-nine unhedged and unprotected to go find the one because all hundred are required for the herd to be complete.

#sly