The One That Wandered Away -
Matthew 18:12-14 “What do you think? If any man
has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the
ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is
straying? If it turns out that he finds
it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine
which have not gone astray. So it is not
the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.
God is not like so many people who
work very hard at keeping what they have.
Of course, God would leave the ninety-nine to find the one. The ninety-nine WERE that one at one
time. And they know that this is who God
is. They are glad about that, for God came for them. To stretch the metaphor a
bit more, Jesus, in effect, invited the more mature sheep to join him in
looking for the lost one.
I’m glad God comes looking when I
wander off. I’m amazed that He even
notices that I’m gone. That is a part of the significant beauty of this story
Jesus tells. The story on the surface
seems to describe God as one who is biased toward the lost. After all, he will
leave the flock behind to find them. But
under the obvious surface is a God who NOTICES when one wanders away. That means God is carefully watching all the
sheep. God notices the straggler, the self-willed, the clueless, and the
rebellious wandering away. You and I are
noticed by the God of the universe.
Another striking feature of this
story is the joy of the find. Because
God is soooo about finding the lost, God is also soooo consumed with the joy of
the find. Again, the ninety-nine aren’t
upset about this as long as they remember how consumed with joy God was when He
found them. God is, in fact, biased
toward the lost, but we tend forget that we were ever lost. I sometimes don’t even notice when I’m lost
now. But, in this moment, I’m comforted
by the thought that even when I don’t notice, God does and God will be so happy
when I’m found. The same is true for all
of you and for everyone else too. That’s
what God’s divine bias looks like.
Question: What do you
see in this beautiful story that Jesus tells?
Prayer: Lord, we are
all the object of your biased love and concern.
Thank you for that! Amen.
Prayer Focus: Pray
for those that have wandered away from faith.
Song: One of my favorites from Audio Adrenaline. I think
they sound like the Beatles in this one:
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