Matthew 18:12-14
Jesus said:
“If a man has a hundred sheep, and one wanders away and is lost, what will he
do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others and go out into the hills to search
for the lost one? And if he finds it, he will rejoice over it more than over
the ninety-nine others safe at home! Just so, it is not my Father’s will that
even one of these little ones should perish.”
Food for thought!
God does not want us to get lost; he does not want us to perish. This is good news. God values us all and each one of us. God knows our value more than we do. He knows the value of each one of us. This is why Jesus told us that parable.
The parable reminds us that God created and owns 100% of creatures. Everything was created by God. “God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. ... All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made” (John 1:3-4); “For by him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether they are kings, lords, rulers, or powers. All things have been created through him and for him.” (Colossians 1:16).
In the beginning, all things created by God were good. “Since everything God created is good, we should not reject any of it but receive it with thanks.” (1 Timothy 4:4). In other words, in the begining God had all the hundred sheep, but then one of them got lost. It means that all the other creatures are still what God intended them to be. Only one creature, called man, got lost.
Man is the one sheep that got lost; man is the creature that wandered away from the plan that God made for it. As St. Paul puts it: “we all fall short of God's glorious standard.” (Romans 3:23). This is the bad news. The good news is that God left “the ninety-nine others and went out into the hills to search for the lost one.” This is what St. Paul says in Galatians 4:4-5, “But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law / sin, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.” That is the good news!
Just so, it is not my Father’s will that even one of these little ones perish again.
Food for thought!
God does not want us to get lost; he does not want us to perish. This is good news. God values us all and each one of us. God knows our value more than we do. He knows the value of each one of us. This is why Jesus told us that parable.
The parable reminds us that God created and owns 100% of creatures. Everything was created by God. “God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. ... All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made” (John 1:3-4); “For by him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether they are kings, lords, rulers, or powers. All things have been created through him and for him.” (Colossians 1:16).
In the beginning, all things created by God were good. “Since everything God created is good, we should not reject any of it but receive it with thanks.” (1 Timothy 4:4). In other words, in the begining God had all the hundred sheep, but then one of them got lost. It means that all the other creatures are still what God intended them to be. Only one creature, called man, got lost.
Man is the one sheep that got lost; man is the creature that wandered away from the plan that God made for it. As St. Paul puts it: “we all fall short of God's glorious standard.” (Romans 3:23). This is the bad news. The good news is that God left “the ninety-nine others and went out into the hills to search for the lost one.” This is what St. Paul says in Galatians 4:4-5, “But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law / sin, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.” That is the good news!
Just so, it is not my Father’s will that even one of these little ones perish again.
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