Like Lost Sheep

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

~Luke 15:1-7 (ESV)

As a kid I remember helping to care for our families small flock of sheep. Early in the morning we would take turns going out to the barn with Dad to feed and water the sheep. During lambing season we would wait with excitement to see if any new lambs had been born the previous night. We would wash them and wrap them in blankets and feed them from a bottle until they were strong enough to be with the rest of the flock. Caring for the sheep required a great deal of gentleness and compassion. From time to time a lamb or even a full grown sheep might get stuck in an opening in the wire fence and need to be freed. At other times they might wiggle their way all the way through an opening and roam free, at risk of being struck by a car or falling into a ditch and injuring themselves. On top of that, even if they found their way back to the pasture, they couldn't figure out how to get back inside the fence they had escaped from. Typically someone would call our house to tell us that one of the sheep was out and we would go and find them, and lead them or carry them back inside the fold.

I have been reading and re-reading this passage from St. Luke's Gospel for about four months now and am continually amazed by what it says about God, about his love and his commitment to finding us when we get ourselves lost and in harm's way. I am grateful that elsewhere Jesus says that he is indeed the Good Shepherd (Jn 10:11,14).

So often we are like sheep, trying to escape from the pasture only to find ourselves afraid, alone, lost and in harm's way. We think that by leaving the pasture we will find freedom and wholeness and "self-actualization." The reality is we are made for the pasture, we are made for the sheep fold. We are made to be tended by the Shepherd of our souls.

Blessed are You, O Lord, teach me Your statutes.

The choir of the saints has found the fountain of life and the door of Paradise. May I also find the way through repentance, the sheep that was lost am I, call me up to You, O Savior, and save me.

~Evlogetaria for the Dead