In explaining how much God loves each person, Jesus used the metaphor of a shepherd that leaves 99 sheep to look for the one that was lost. (Luke 15:3-7) This may seem unreasonable to put 99 good sheep at risk just to go after a wayward one, unless that one is you. It is not that the others weren’t just as important as the lost sheep, but the 99 weren’t lost. Jesus made it very clear that He came to seek and save those who were lost. It was the sick who needed a physician, not the healthy. Jesus was not afraid of crossing social barriers to reach those who society had labelled as being too lost to be saved. He spent time with the tax collectors and prostitutes, saved the adulterer from being stoned to death, touched and healed lepers, talked to a Samaritan woman and healed Gentiles. All of which, any good Jew would never have done.
In the context of this parable, the religious leaders had been complaining that Jesus received and ate with sinners. They believed that if someone had sinned then they should be shunned and left to suffer the consequences of their sin. These Pharisees felt that they would be contaminated by the filth of their sin and so needed to stay way away from them. This group of people, they called “sinners”, grew to include anyone who was not in their “group”, like the publicans, Samaritans, Gentiles, zealots, tax-collectors, etc. Yet, Jesus went out of His way to reach these outsiders. Mark tells of when Jesus left the crowds to cross the Sea of Galilee to the land of the Gerasenes. There He set free a man possessed by over 2000 demons. No one could control this demonized man and he was left to roam among the tombs in continual torment. After Jesus delivered this one man from Satan’s grip, He returned to the multitudes on the other side of the Sea. (Mark 5:1-20) Jesus lived what He preached. As Peter wrote: “The Lord…is not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)
We live in a world in which the individual is seen as less important than the whole. Individual identity is substituted for the corporate banner. There is a constant pressure to choose your club, team, gang, color, etc. When asked: “Who are you?”, the answer comes back as: “American”, “European”, “Black”, “Jewish”, “Liberal”, “Conservative”, “Baptist”, “Pentecostal”, “Catholic”, “Muslim”, etc. The individual’s identity is lost in the labelling and his worth is swallowed up by the demands of the group he has chosen as his own. With this tribalism, conformity is more important than conviction and loyalty to the group as more important than a relationship to the Lord. Punishment, whether it be ostracism or death, is enacted on those who “break rank”. The fact is: we have all deviated and fallen short. We are all lost and there is no “group” that can save us.
Jesus stands at each one’s door and knocks. There is no collective salvation, each person must believe for himself. You cannot hitch a ride on some else’s faith. I have heard it said, and I believe it, that if there was only one person on earth, Jesus would come and die for that one person. Each person is important and can connect with God with their own faith. There are no “grandchildren” in the Kingdom of God, just children. Being in the right church or family does not save you. God loves you and desires a personal relationship with you.
Scriptures to meditate on:
Luke 10:30-37; 15:3-7; 19:10; John 10:16; 2 Peter 3:9; Isaiah 53:6; Revelations 3:20