Tuesday in the Second Week of Advent, December 9, 2025

Matthew 18, 12-14

Jesus said to his disciples: “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? And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray. In just the same way, it is not the will of your Heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.”

In order to understand the parable that makes up today’s Gospel Reading, it helps to have a little background on first century shepherding: A flock of a hundred sheep indicates a medium sized family living fairly well. By contrast, a poor family would own eight to twenty sheep.  Male members of the family would take part in the shepherding, and perhaps they would hire one or two other shepherds to help out. The sheep were not fenced in but ranged wherever they found grass, so a sharp eye had to be kept on them. To prevent loss, they were counted several times a day. A missing or killed  sheep in a flock of a hundred may not sound very serious but it counted as a real loss that could not be made up. And sheep did tend to wander off. Since they lack depth perception, they cannot tell their distance from the flock if they do become separated. And where sheep are grazing, wolves and other predators are waiting.

And so the owner notices that one sheep is missing. He counts again to make sure. He then runs out to the edges of the pasture, looking for a high point in order to aid in his search. He listens for its bleats, for a sheep will bleat when it realizes it is cut off from the others. The owner looks for it for as long as it takes to find it and then he puts it on his shoulders to carry it back. He does not merely retrieve his sheep — he rescues it, for after sundown the predators would certainly make their move.

The Lord Jesus, eying his own flock, says about the owner in his parable: “He rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray.” This would have surprised the Lord’s hearers. They could understand the sheep owner to feel relief, but joy? And joy over the sheep that he had recovered more than all the sheep that had remained? While one sheep had worth, this sheep represented one percent of the flock. He should rather rejoice that all these others had not strayed. But here we see the Lord’s point: he treats each one of us as though we were the only one. He loves each of us as though we were the only one. And he did not merely risk his life to save us but sent his Son to die in order to do this.

“It is not the will of your Heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.” Jesus uses understatement here to balance with his revelation of the Father’s infinite love for us. What he means is, “Your Heavenly Father will do anything to save you.”