I love Luke chapter 15 where Jesus tells three parables that are incredible windows into the heart of God and His mission to the world. Three stories about something valuable that was lost and the depth of the effort that went into its recovery. There was a woman who lost a coin, a father who lost a son, and a shepherd who lost a sheep.
But while reading this passage recently my attention was drawn to the fact that the shepherd left the 99 to search for the one that was lost. As a church leader and under-shepherd I understand the natural tendencies to herd them up periodically and count noses. I was not surprised that he would miss one out of a hundred, after all, he knows them all by name. What caught my attention this time was in the opening rhetorical question, the shepherd left the 99 “in the open country” to go after the one that was lost (Luke 15:4). While it’s obvious from the parable that Jesus’ audience would agree with him that any good shepherd would do that, I was saddened to think that we as under-shepherds don’t often have that heart.
I know we must be careful not to push the application of parables too far because their illustrative power breaks down quickly and Jesus was using these to describe the love of God for the lost and His unrelenting passion for them to be returned to Him and His family. However, Jesus told these parables to the scribes and Pharisees, the shepherds of the flock of Israel (Luke 15:1-3). They were upset with Jesus because he associated and ate with tax collectors and sinners but there is no mention in the story of why the sheep was lost. That didn’t play into the shepherd’s reasoning to go search for the one or the celebration after it was found. The lost one was valuable to the shepherd. It didn’t matter why or how it became lost. All that mattered was that it was found (Luke 15:5-6).
But why would the shepherd leave the 99 “in the open country?” That doesn’t seem like a “good” shepherd to me but what is not obvious to us in our modern world was common knowledge in their agrarian/pastoral culture. Shepherds of smaller flocks would often travel together. The shepherd would not have been seen as abandoning or endangering the 99. Their care and protection would have been entrusted to the other shepherds. The 99 had the same value as the one that was lost but they were safe, they were in the flock. The lost one was alone, unprotected, vulnerable.
There will always be leaders in the church that are merely hirelings but we at NineSevenZero Church purpose to develop under-shepherds that not only diligently care for those in the fold but also seek out those we’ve lost along the way and those who wander in the wilderness that have lost touch with their flocks or have grown up in the wild. As under-shepherds we want to reflect the owner and His heart for the lost (Luke 15:7).
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