Why Would Jesus Leave 99 Sheep to Find 1?

MY FRIEND: How far, there’s something really confusing I found in one of Jesus’s parable o

ME: What’s that?

MY FRIEND: Both Matthew 18 and Luke 15 record Jesus’ parable about a shepherd who leaves 99 sheep in the fold to go in search of one that had wandered away. Biko, what’s the sense in that?

ME: Well, I wish I could tell you that this doesn’t make sense humanly speaking but only spiritually speaking but the truth is even humanly speaking it does if we understand the context well.

MY FRIEND: OK, maybe you should make the context clearer then, because it’s not making sense to me humanly speaking.

ME: Jesus gave this illustration in response to the Pharisees who were incensed that Jesus “welcomes sinners and eats with them” (Luke 15:2).

MY FRIEND: Yes, I know that!

ME: Consider the shepherd leaving the 99 to find the 1 this way: a father and his five children are asleep in their home when the smoke detectors go off. The father awakens to find his house filled with smoke and the sound of flames and crackling timber coming nearer. Panicked, he races to his children’s bedrooms and begins to rouse them. Calling to some and carrying others, he stumbles down the stairs and out the front door. He deposits the sleepy children on the grass a safe distance away and then turns. Gasping for air, he squints through the smoke to count kids: “Tim, Sally, Angel, Jojo—where’s Lilly!” He is missing his youngest, three-year-old Lilly. Four children are safe, one is not. What will you do if you were this father?

MY FRIEND: Is that even a question? Ofcourse I’ll do what any reasonable parent should do.

ME: Which is?

MY FRIEND: Enter the fire and go get my child before the fire consumes him.

ME: And leave the other 4 kids? What’s the sense in that?

MY FRIEND: But the other kids are safe, they’re out of the fire. Supportive neighbours are probably attending to them and all, the one in the fire is the one in need of help.

ME: Exactly what Jesus is saying. The 99 sheep are safe, out of the fire. What’s the sense in staying with them at the expense of the 1 who is about to be lost to the fire.

MY FRIEND: Hmmmm. But come to think of it, aren’t we as Christians today staying with 99 while abandoning the 1?

ME: That’s why we must all repent. We must go beyond the wall of our church building and beyond enjoying quality Sunday dance to reaching out to that one soul that may be eternally lost.