Which one of you, having a hundred sheep
and losing one of them,
does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness
and go after the one that is lost until they find it?
—Luke 15.4
None of us, of course.
Which makes God’s love all the more radical.
God will find you no matter how lost you are.
But wait. This is not about you.
(How readily we center ourselves
in Jesus’ stories, make them about us,
and make them comforting…) But.
Jesus is talking to us privileged insiders,
describing God’s joy in finding truly lost sheep—
“those people”—others—not us.
You are not the lost sheep. They are.
The kid entangled in gangs, drugs and violence.
The junkie glazed in the street.
The MAGA nut paranoid about bogeymen.
The CEO who couldn’t care less about people.
The person who just can’t believe. Nope. No way.
God is more delighted in the love
of people who are truly lost
than in those who already have it right.
Find yourself in that.
________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net