Because I Was the One

Because I Was the One

“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? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders.” — Luke 15:4-5

There was a time when someone asked me, in so many words, why I spend so much time going after the one.

Why go to the hospital?

Why answer the phone when someone is falling apart?

Why make the extra visit?

Why keep praying for someone who has wandered away?

Why invest so much time in one hurting person when there are ninety-nine others who seem to be doing just fine?

My answer is simple.

Because there was a time when I was the one.

I know what it is like to be lost.

I know what it is like to wander.

I know what it is like to need someone to care enough to come looking.

And I know what it is like for Jesus to find you.

That changes how you see people.

Jesus tells us about a shepherd who had one hundred sheep and discovered that one was missing. Ninety-nine were still there. Ninety-nine were accounted for. Ninety-nine were safe.

But one was gone.

And to the shepherd, one mattered.

That is the heart of Jesus.

The shepherd did not say, “Well, ninety-nine percent isn’t bad.”

He did not write the missing sheep off as foolish.

He did not say, “It wandered away. Let it find its own way home.”

He went after it.

And notice what Jesus says: the shepherd went after the lost sheep “until he finds it.”

That phrase gets me.

Until he finds it.

Not until the road gets hard.

Not until darkness falls.

Not until the sheep has been gone longer than expected.

Not until the shepherd becomes frustrated.

He keeps looking.

Sheep rarely wake up one morning and decide to become hopelessly lost. Most of the time, they wander.

Their heads stay down.

One patch of grass leads to another.

Then another.

Then another.

And eventually the sheep looks up and discovers the flock is nowhere in sight.

People can drift from God the same way.

It often does not happen all at once.

One missed prayer.

One compromise.

One disappointment.

One hurt.

One season away from church.

One unanswered question.

One step becomes another, and before long someone looks up and realizes they have wandered farther than they ever intended.

That is why I am careful not to look down on people who have drifted. 

I have lived long enough to know that any one of us can wander if we stop watching where we are walking.

No one is here to live up to my expectations.

And I remember when I needed grace.

I remember when I needed someone to pray for me.

I remember when I needed the Shepherd.

That is one reason ministry can never simply be about crowds, numbers, programs, attendance, or how many people we can fit into a room.

Jesus sees individuals.

He sees the one sitting alone.

The one who has stopped showing up.

The one whose family is falling apart.

The one lying in a hospital bed.

The one who feels forgotten.

The one carrying grief nobody else can see.

The one fighting a battle behind a smile.

The one who believes nobody would notice if they disappeared.

Jesus notices.

The world may count people.

Jesus knows them.

And there is something else in this passage we should never miss.

When the shepherd finally finds the sheep, he does not beat it back to the flock.

He does not stand over it giving a lecture about how foolish it has been.

He lifts it onto his shoulders.

He carries it.

What a picture of grace.

The sheep that wandered does not even make the trip home under its own strength.

The shepherd carries it.

There have been seasons in my own life when I did not need someone standing over me telling me how badly I had failed. I already knew.

What I needed was grace.

I needed someone to remind me that God had not abandoned me.

I needed the Shepherd to carry what I could not.

That is the Jesus I have come to know.

And because He came after me, I can never be comfortable forgetting the one who is still out there.

Sometimes the “one” is not rebellious.

Sometimes they are wounded.

Sometimes they are confused.

Sometimes they are grieving.

Sometimes they are afraid.

Sometimes they have been hurt by people who claimed to represent God.

Sometimes they simply wandered farther than they realized.

Whatever brought them there, our response should look like Jesus.

Go.

Look.

Love.

Pray.

Listen.

And when possible, help carry them home.

There is a danger in becoming so comfortable among the ninety-nine that we forget the heart of the Shepherd.

Church was never supposed to become a place where the found congratulate one another while the lost are forgotten.

We were found so that we could join the Shepherd in His work.

That does not mean we can save anyone. We cannot.

Jesus saves.

The Holy Spirit draws.

The Father changes hearts.

But we can go.

We can pray.

We can love.

We can refuse to give up on people simply because they wandered.

And perhaps today you are not among the ninety-nine.

Maybe you are the one.

Maybe you have drifted.

Maybe you have gone farther than you ever intended.

Maybe shame has convinced you that God is angry, disappointed, or finished with you.

Hear the words of Jesus today.

The Shepherd is still looking.

You have not wandered beyond the reach of His grace.

You are not forgotten.

You are not just another number.

You matter to Him.

And when He finds His sheep, heaven does not respond with condemnation.

There is joy.

So why do I still go after the one?

Why make the call?

Why visit the hospital room?

Why pray with the brokenhearted?

Why reach out one more time?

Why keep believing someone can come home?

Because I remember something I never want to forget.

There was a time when I was the one.

And Jesus came looking for me.