Wandering Sheep

Matthew 18:12-13: The Parable of the Wandering Sheep

What do you think? 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, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.

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Don: After nine years, we are about halfway through our study of the Book of Matthew, in a search for answers about ourselves, about the human condition, about the nature of God, and about our relationship to God.

The metaphor of sheep and shepherd is a richly embellished form starting in Genesis and recurring through the Bible all the way to Revelation. Many of the heroes of the Bible—Abraham, Moses, etc.—were all involved in the business of herding sheep. We will consider the passage from Matthew in the context provided by Luke 15. The parable points us to several other biblical passages that talk about sheep and shepherds. What does it say about us as people, and about God as our shepherd?

Last week we talked about the significance of the 99 sheep left un-shepherded on the mountain versus the single sheep that strayed. Why is the one so important? And what did it stray from? What is it lost from? What do the sheep and the goat metaphors (also used in the Bible) mean in terms of what these ruminants can tell us about ourselves?

Ezekiel 34 has a long discourse on bad shepherding vs. good shepherding and on sheep behavior, and that discourse embellishes the metaphor. In John 10, Jesus talks about himself as the Good Shepherd, and he mentions “other” sheep that are not of his (the shepherd’s) fold—what does that mean?

A website on sheep husbandry gives some characteristics of sheep that might help us understand the metaphor: They have strong flocking and herding instincts. This survival technique may have importance for us in a spiritual way. It makes it harder for predators to destroy the group. Sheep follow their leader (usually, a ram) even to the point of death if the leader walks over over a cliff. They are very social and they need to see each other. Their eyes can see a little bit to the rear, as well as to the front and sides, which helps alert them to predators predators and keeps them aware of the rest of the flock behind them. However, they lack depth perception.

The flocking instinct makes it easy for humans to control herds. Sheep are so docile and domesticated that they probably could not survive in the wild.

The animal husbandry website says that a sheep that becomes isolated from the flock is probably ill. It would be against its nature to deliberately leave the flock. This has relevance to the healing ministry of Jesus and its relationship to the forgiveness of sins.

In contrast to sheep, goats can get violent with their herd mates. They seek to establish dominance, to establish their position in the herd. Goat herds have a pecking order—c.f., the disciples’ question, just asked before the parable: “Who will be greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” There’s no way to stop the fighting—it just has to be allowed to run its course.

With regard to the apparent recklessness of leaving the 99 sheep on the mountain: Left to their own devices when the shepherd takes off after the stray, the inclination of the 99 will be to stay together, and by doing so they will remain relatively safe. Note that in Luke, the implication is that the lost sheep WILL be found; Matthew implies only that the sheep MIGHT be found. In Luke, there is a coerced return to the fold. The sheep is lifted bodily, put over the shepherd’s shoulder, and taken back. What does this say about free will?

Harry: Human nature would be to save the 99 because 99 has much greater value than one, and we would not risk the 99 for the one. So the parable is diametrically opposite to our human inclination and values.

David: The message in the parable is simply that God rejoices at the return of those who have strayed. There is a danger of missing this simple lesson, this main message, if we over-analyze the parable. Ramesh agrees: the message is simply that Jesus saves the lost.

What is the sheep lost from? What is the danger to the sheep? Harry: Luke 15 gives more context. At the time it was written, everybody in the audience was a Jew. Jesus was there to tell the poor and disenfranchised—sinners in the eyes of the Pharisees and scribes—that they are not sinners, they are just lost. The passage implies that the other sheep—the flock of Pharisees and scribes—are the real sinners. [Harry I may well have misunderstood/misrepresented you here.]

[Speaker?] Luke 15:7 has a possible answer to the question “What is the sheep lost from?” and an explanation for why there is more joy in heaven over the lost one that repents than over the others. We are simply unable to see God for who he is, to see his character. We humans are like the goat – we want to be dominant. The parable is to get us to relate back to the shepherd, and to the flock, and to being sheep.

Don: In the passage, it may be significant that the sheep never becomes a goat. It is puzzling why Jesus would use the sheep metaphor for repentant sinners. But surely Jesus didn’t just deliver this parable for nothing. There is something about pressing together as a herd that is a spiritual lesson here. Our spiritual safety rests in our pressing together. In the Sermon on Mount, Jesus stresses being responsible for one’s brother [one’s fellow sheep?] is primary, and that personal piety and even one’s relationship with God/the shepherd takes second stage to that primary responsibility [to the herd.] The overwhelming need of the sheep is to press together with the flock. The ruminants that don’t make it are either sick, or they are goats. A sheep is a sheep; it is part of the flock—of the Kingdom—period. It may be ill, but that’s all. It’s all very puzzling.

David: Surely Jesus meant to teach us, not to puzzle us.

Ramesh: The parable is very comforting. It shows his concern and affection.

Harry: The lost sheep didn’t ask to be found. The flock didn’t go looking for it. But the sheep had a changed way of thinking—a repentance—when it was found. So the message is that it doesn’t matter how far you stray, God will save you.

Alice: Sheep’s instinct to flock leads them to become agitated if they are separated. Sometimes we feel agitated, out of balance—something feels wrong. We don’t know the what or the why, but it is enough to get us to ask for God’s help, and when we do, God is right there, ready to help us without any demands on us. We are spiritually sick, but he cures us. Perhaps such agitation, such lostness, is the precursor to, or the impetus for, repentance.

Odessa: Once felt she was missing something in life. But she did not go looking for God. In fact, it was the other way round: God came looking for her, and of course he found her, and he healed her.

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