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The Shepherd's Priorities

More often than not, when Jesus interjects “I tell you the truth” into His teaching, He follows it up with something that seems counterintuitive to us.  We can see that members of His immediate listeners usually struggled with His lessons and only with the benefit of hindsight are we able to get a clearer view of the issues.

In Matthew 18, we find Jesus speaking with His disciples: “"What do you think?” He says, “If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?  And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.  In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.”  (Matthew 18:12-14 NIV)

Christians, especially “old-timers” are often a little unsure about what to make of this passage.  We can understand that a shepherd would value all of his sheep, but to devote more personal energy to one wandering sheep than to the ninety-nine who are already where they should be, safe, and causing no problems seems a little misguided.

It only gets worse when we make the obvious jump from sheep to people.  We just don’t understand why God would be happier about chasing down and bringing back one ne’re-do-well wanderer than enjoying the obedience and fellowship of ninety-nine faithful believers.  Like so many of the “I tell you the truth” statements, this doesn’t fit well with our human tendencies

While, in the material realm, we often continually seek more, spiritually we are often relatively quick to be contented.  Jesus takes an opposite point of view confronting us with a different set of values, a different ethic.  For Him, adding one more wanderer to those safely inside is worth no end of trouble. 

Our problem is the inflated sense we have of our own personal value.  We don’t mind thinking that when we were wandering, lost, outside, that Jesus was diligently tracking us down, making no end of sacrifices to reach us.  However, once we’ve been found and brought safely inside the fold, we struggle to understand why Jesus attention seems to suddenly turn to another one who needs to be brought in, rather than staying focussed on us.  Truth be told, everyone whom Jesus has reached and rescued has been a source of imagination defying happiness for Him.  Instead of feeling “abandoned” by the Saviour’s interest in reaching others, we should learn to share His priorities and His heart.  Thus we can enter into a virtually perpetual state of shared happiness with Him as one by one, those He loves to death are delivered alive into the safety of the fold.

In this declaration of the truth, Jesus makes it clear that His priority is bringing as many as possible into Glory with him.  Too many of us who are already “in the fold,” are concerned mostly with each other, devoting most of our energy to interacting with and benefitting others who are already on the inside.  Jesus’ words about a shepherd who is happier about one new sheep than all the rest who are already safe shakes us up as we consider our own priorities.