{"id":2670,"date":"2023-06-02T07:41:55","date_gmt":"2023-06-02T11:41:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=2670"},"modified":"2023-06-02T07:42:59","modified_gmt":"2023-06-02T11:42:59","slug":"lost-and-found-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/02\/lost-and-found-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Lost and Found"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to this reflection as a podcast, <\/em>click here<\/a>.

It\u2019s not easy being a lost sheep.

In one of his most famous stories (Luke 15:4-7), Jesus helps us imagine what it might be like to be a shepherd.

\u201cSuppose one of you has 100 sheep and loses one of them.  Does he not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?\u201d

Tellingly, shepherds from Jesus\u2019 own time would almost certainly have answered, \u201cNot exactly.\u201d<\/em>

Kenneth Bailey, who spent almost all his life in the Middle East delving into the richness of Bible backgrounds, suggests that his listeners probably expected Jesus to ask a different question \u2013 perhaps this one:  “Which of you, owning a hundred sheep, if a report came to you that one was lost, would not send a servant to the shepherd responsible and threaten him with a heavy fine if he didn’t find the sheep?”  In other words, if something is lost, somebody else is going to have to pay.  But Jesus says, “No, think again.  You<\/em> are responsible.  You<\/em> own a hundred sheep and you<\/em> lose one of them.”

Looking for a lost sheep in Palestine was (and still is) no walk in the park.

The land is extremely dry.  Bailey remarks that more than once he witnessed a Holy Land tourist leave his bus, wander off the path with a camera and a bottle of water, only to be brought back two hours later on a stretcher.

Most shepherds who are alone in such conditions will think to themselves:  \u201cI hope I find the sheep\u2026and I pray that it\u2019s already dead.\u201d That way the shepherd can bring back an ear or a foot and say, \u201cHere it is.  I found it.  Job over.  We don\u2019t have to do anything else.\u201d

But that\u2019s not what happens in Jesus\u2019 parable: \u201cAnd when he finds it [very much alive], he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home.\u201d

I grew up in a church where there was a beautiful painting of Jesus with a sheep draped around his neck.  It never occurred to me to wonder what that must feel like.  Imagine walking on a wilderness path with an awkward, heavy animal \u2013 its four feet bound together \u2013 wrapped like a pretzel around your shoulders.

Restoring the one who is lost \u2013 whether the new arrival in the neighborhood who doesn\u2019t yet know anyone, or the man who is disillusioned by organized religion, or the woman who\u2019s been rejected by friends and family, or the teenager ready to give up on life \u2013 almost always requires significant commitment.  There may be a high price to pay. 

But the shepherd who has on his or her heart what the Good Shepherd has on his heart is willing to search, find, and restore.

The parable ends with this interesting twist:  The shepherd \u201ccalls his friends and neighbors and says, \u2018Rejoice with me.\u2019\u201d 

To us, it might seem strange to dial up everyone on the block and announce, \u201cYou\u2019ll never believe it, but I finally found my paint roller.  It was right behind my snow shovel the whole time!  How about coming over for some burgers this evening to celebrate?\u201d 

It turns out that in Palestine at least 10 to 20 families would jointly own a flock of sheep.  So if one sheep became lost, it was everyone\u2019s loss.  And if that sheep were found, it became everybody\u2019s reason to rejoice.

Jesus is saying that God\u2019s heart always goes out to the one who is most in need of help, most in trouble, or most neglected.  And the closer we ourselves draw to God, the more we will feel a stab of happiness when something wonderful happens to someone else – even if we don’t get any special credit or attention.  

Jesus says in verse seven: \u201cI tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.\u201d 

That\u2019s because God has engineered the universe in such a way that the best parties always happen when the one who is \u201cout there somewhere\u201d finally makes it home.

In the kingdom of God, after all, everybody counts.

And we always count by ones.  <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to this reflection as a podcast, click here. It\u2019s not easy being a lost sheep. In one of his most famous stories (Luke 15:4-7), Jesus helps us imagine what it might be like to be a shepherd. \u201cSuppose one of you has 100 sheep and loses one of them.  Does he not leave the 99 in the open country… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2671,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[177],"class_list":["post-2670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-parables"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2670"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2673,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2670\/revisions\/2673"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}