12 “What do you think? If a man has a hundred
sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to
the mountains to seek the one that is straying? 13 And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he
rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go
astray. 14 Even
so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little
ones should perish.
To reaffirm His previous exhortation, the Lord Jesus now asks the disciples a question, and so using the analogy of a shepherd and his sheep, He asks: “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying?” The answer is obvious, of course he does, for though he may have corralled the ninety-nine that one lost sheep will not allow him to rest until he has searched and found it, even if it means going to the mountains to find the one that is straying. And such is our value with God our Father who is not content until all His children are safely back home with Him.
Vs. 13 “And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.”
And so just as the man rejoices over having found his lost and straying sheep the man rejoices more over it than the ninety-nine that did not go astray, so likewise God our Father rejoices over each and every one of us when we are returned safely to Him.
Commentary
Vs.
12 “What do you think? If a man has a hundred
sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to
the mountains to seek the one that is straying?”To reaffirm His previous exhortation, the Lord Jesus now asks the disciples a question, and so using the analogy of a shepherd and his sheep, He asks: “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying?” The answer is obvious, of course he does, for though he may have corralled the ninety-nine that one lost sheep will not allow him to rest until he has searched and found it, even if it means going to the mountains to find the one that is straying. And such is our value with God our Father who is not content until all His children are safely back home with Him.
Vs. 13 “And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.”
And so just as the man rejoices over having found his lost and straying sheep the man rejoices more over it than the ninety-nine that did not go astray, so likewise God our Father rejoices over each and every one of us when we are returned safely to Him.
Vs.
14
“Even so
it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little
ones should perish.”
Therefore, the Lord Jesus concludes His
parable by telling us that just as the man will not let one of his own sheep go
without first searching for it, “Even so it is not the will of your Father
who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.” Again, Jesus uses of little ones here is not
referring just too little children but to all of God’s children who have gone
astray from Him.
Scripture Quotations
The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.
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