We should never cease to wonder at the mysterious, beautiful compassion of God made manifest to us through our Lord Jesus Christ. The parable of the ninety-nine sheep is, for Jesus, an autobiographical one. It tells us so much about Him and the indescribably deep and passionate love that He bears for each of us individually. He would go anywhere, do anything, pay any price, and sacrifice anything and everything for each of us individually.
There are times when I’m tempted to consider myself one of the ninety-nine model citizen sheep that stayed safely in the pasture and ate grass and behaved themselves. The reality though is that we all, at least to some degree or another, at different moments in our lives have been the rogue sheep who wandered away and needed saving. How wonderful it is though that we are continually in the care of such a Good Shepherd who unceasingly, painstaking, patiently, and ardently pursues us, rescues us, binds our wounds, and lovingly carries us back to restore us to our place in the flock.