The lost one

Consider the man having 100 sheep and having lost one leaves the 99 and goes and searches for the one until he finds it.

That is the premise of the opening parable of the 15th chapter of Luke.  Leave the 99; seek the one.  There is no indication that the shepherd has secured the welfare of the 99.  99 are put at risk in order to locate the 1.

We can barely wrap our heads around that when the parable concludes.....and having found the one, he brings it home rejoicing.  For I tell you there is more rejoicing in heaven over the 1 who is found than over the 99 who were never lost.


From a strictly economic point of view, the shepherd is foolish.  The shepherd risks 99 percent of his investment at the possibility of recovering a lost 1 percent.  This is a bad business decision; a gamble.

So just perhaps, the Divine Economy is different from ours.  Perhaps, in the divine economy, every single individual 'one' is critically important.  The goal is a perfect 100: the whole flock, with no one out there wandering around.  Until the whole 100 are together the flock isn't whole and there is no rest.

It is not about 'enough', it's about 'all'.  All is not well unless all are well.

To the 99 standing around waiting for the last one to be found it might appear foolish,
 but it is life to the one who stands in the wilderness.