Parable of the Straying Sheep
The parable of the straying sheep should be treasured as a motto
in every household. The divine Shepherd leaves the ninety and nine,
and goes out into the wilderness to seek the one that is lost. There
are thickets, quagmires, and dangerous crevices in the rocks, and the
Shepherd knows that if the sheep is in any of these places, a friendly
hand must help it out. As He hears its bleating afar off, He encounters
any and every difficulty that He may save His sheep that is lost. When
He discovers the lost one, He does not greet it with reproaches. He
is only glad that He has found it alive. With firm yet gentle hand He
parts the briers or takes it from the mire; tenderly He lifts it to His
shoulders and bears it back to the fold. The pure, sinless Redeemer
bears the sinful, the unclean.
The Sin Bearer carries the befouled sheep; yet so precious is His
burden that He rejoices, singing: “I have found My sheep which was
lost.”
Luke 15:6
. Let every one of you consider that your individual
self has thus been borne upon Christ’s shoulders. Let none entertain
a masterly spirit, a self-righteous, criticizing spirit; for not one sheep
would ever have entered the fold if the Shepherd had not undertaken
the painful search in the desert. The fact that one sheep was lost was
enough to awaken the sympathy of the Shepherd and start Him on His
quest.
This speck of a world was the scene of the incarnation and suffering
of the Son of God. Christ did not go to worlds unfallen, but He came
to this world, all seared and marred with the curse. The outlook was
not favorable, but most discouraging. Yet “He shall not fail nor be
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discouraged, till He have set judgment in the earth.”
Isaiah 42:4
. We
must bear in mind the great joy manifested by the Shepherd at the
recovery of the lost. He calls upon His neighbors: “Rejoice with Me;
for I have found My sheep which was lost.” And all heaven echoes
the note of joy. The Father Himself joys over the rescued one with
singing. What a holy ecstasy of joy is expressed in this parable! That
joy it is your privilege to share.
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