The 99
3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I 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. (Luke 15:3-7)
Who are the 99 righteous people who don't need to repent and where do we find them? Jesus was speaking to religious leaders who thought they were righteous, but we know that we are all sinners. Even if we are sheep in the fold of faith, we sometimes wander off and become lost in some aspect of our lives. It is this realization of our perpetual lostness that should keep us from excluding other lost souls. It is this realization that should propel us to actively seek those experiencing lostness - even if we haven't been lost in exactly the same way. Even if some sheep never choose to make a home in the same pen where we reside, we can ensure that all recognize it as a safe place to receive care, direction, nourishment, and love.
22 "For my people are foolish, they do not know me; they are stupid children, they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but do not know how to do good." 23 I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light. 24 I looked on the mountains, and lo, they were quaking, and all the hills moved to and fro. 25 I looked, and lo, there was no one at all, and all the birds of the air had fled. 26 I looked, and lo, the fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid in ruins before the LORD, before his fierce anger. 27 For thus says the LORD: The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end. (Jeremiah 4:22-27)
As those who intend to be faithful, who seek after a rightness with God, we are the 99 attempting to live righteous lives. And just as we are blessed with the security of knowing the Shepherd's care for us, we are responsible for spreading that blessing. People are not the only lost that we are charged with searching out and discovering. In our own lostness, our sin hasn't only resulted in harm to ourselves and others, but also in harm to our planet. Selfishness, greed, and short-sightedness have depleted resources, ravaged land and sea, annihilated species and made inhospitable and uninhabitable areas that were once teeming with life and bountiful in natural beauty.
All is not lost! We have within our power the ability to make life-restoring, life-sustaining, life-creating choices that can breathe the breath of life back into all of the lost, desecrated, places of this world and its inhabitants.
May God help us to choose well and wisely.
5 Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me. 6 You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. (Psalm51:5-10)
