Luke 15:3-4 (NIV) Then Jesus told them this parable: “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?”

Jesus asked a question of the disciples while He was teaching them. He was talking about one sheep that belonged to someone that owned a hundred sheep. That one sheep wandered away. Jesus stated something in this parable that He saw as obvious. “Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?” In Jesus’ mind, of course he would. Not only would he go and look for that lost sheep, but he would then go back home, carrying that sheep on his shoulders. Then he would call his friends to celebrate that he had found his one lost sheep.

That’s a touching story, especially if you are an animal lover. But Jesus wasn’t really talking about sheep. He was talking about us. He was teaching His disciples how He feels about people that are lost in their sin. People who do not know Him are lost. They are not only lost while alive here on earth, but are lost for all of eternity. Jesus cares about and calls out to the lost of this world so that He can save them. That’s why He came. This story is also about those that have come to know Jesus, but then wander off. Have you ever done that? Have you ever failed Jesus in any way? Have you ever gotten away from Him and have done things that are sinful and that you thought you’d never do? Most of us have. But thank God that He does not give up on us. The Lord Jesus zeroes in on those that have wandered away and goes after them to rescue them. He doesn’t find them and beat them so that they will never wander again but instead, He tenderly lifts them up on His mighty shoulders, carries them home and then celebrates that this lost one has been found.

We owe so much to our Lord Jesus. We could never even begin to repay what He has done for us, but then again, He doesn’t ask us to. All He wants is for us to stay in the sheepfold until we are safe with Him in heaven for all eternity. I believe that there would not be many people who would make it unless there was a God who loves so much that He goes after us when we stray. There is a God like that, and His name is Jesus. Were you that lost sheep at one time in your life? Then along with me and everyone else, we own Him adoration and praise for the rest of our lives and then forevermore!

Pastor Joey Vazquez