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Reflection: Today's Gospel always confuses me. No shepherd in his right mind would leave the 99 to chase 1 sheep, unless he had someone to tend the 99 in his absence. One explanation I heard was that a shepherd would only do that if the lost sheep was his favorite. Parables are supposed to cloud meaning, but on reflection reveal deep truths. I'm still looking to find the key that makes the parable make sense
In
Him, |
Isaiah 40:1-11
1 Comfort, give comfort to my people,
says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her
that her service is at an end,
her guilt is expiated;
Indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD
double for all her sins.
3 A voice cries out:
In the desert prepare the way of the LORD!
Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!
4 Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill shall be made low;
The rugged land shall be made a plain,
the rough country, a broad valley.
5 Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all mankind shall see it together;
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
6 A voice says, "Cry out!"
I answer, "What shall I cry out?"
"All mankind is grass,
and all their glory like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower wilts,
when the breath of the LORD blows upon it.
(So then, the people is the grass.)
8 Though the grass withers and the flower wilts,
the word of our God stands forever."
9 Go up onto a high mountain,
Zion, herald of glad tidings;
Cry out at the top of your voice,
Jerusalem, herald of good news!
Fear not to cry out
and say to the cities of Judah:
Here is your God!
10 Here comes with power
the Lord GOD,
who rules by his strong arm;
Here is his reward with him,
his recompense before him.
11 Like a shepherd he feeds his flock;
in his arms he gathers the lambs,
Carrying them in his bosom,
and leading the ewes with care.
Psalm 96
Gospel - Matt. 18:12-14
12 What is your opinion? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray,
will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray?
13 And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over
the ninety-nine that did not stray.
14 In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one
of these little ones be lost.
Revised/reviewed December 9,
2002