Forgiveness is from God: collateral damage

Forgiveness is not all that popular in our times. It is not the human thing to do. It is a God given characteristic (for want of a better term) and seldom originates in the heart of a man or woman unless that person is born of the Spirit of God. There are three parables in the Bible found in the Gospel of St. Luke that deal with recovering something or someone that is/was lost.

The first one is the story of a shepherd who has lost a sheep and it was one of a flock of one hundred. So in my calculations the shepherd had lost only one percent of his herd or flock or whatever you call a bunch of sheep. On any given week in most of our churches a one percent loss wouldn’t even be noticed. So that’s part of life. We don’t even shrug our shoulders over one lone sheep. What do they call it in war? Collateral damage?

But the Good Shepherd is prepared to risk the other ninety-nine for this one sheep! I can’t believe it! Is one lone sheep that has strayed from the sheepfold worth this kind of risk? A risk that the Shepherd himself would leave the sheepfold for, in the wilderness

at that and go off to find the lost one? Now he probably left them in a sheepfold, at least they were together. But what a risk for one percent of the congregation.

You see, Jesus was telling this true story to a group of people who were made up of sinners and also some self-righteous religious people who were criticizing Him for sitting with these sinners and

Heaven forbid! He was even eating with them! Great balls of fire!

Can you imagine? Befriending sinners? He was supposed to condemn them…right? He told how God looks at sinners. You see this little sheep had sinned…he strayed away from the flock and sinned. But the Good Shepherd left the flock in the desert where there were all kinds of risks like wolves or lions or whatever…. And went out into the darkness of night and at a considerable risk to himself and not without a great cost to find that lost one who had sinned. And did He scold that little fur-bearing varmint? I should say wooly critter? Nope, he did not condemn him but rather He forgave him. I read that when He found it, He lays it on His own shoulders ….rejoicing none the less…and carries it back to safety and when He gets home, He calls His friends and neighbors.

And gets them all together for a time of celebration, saying, “rejoice with Me for I have found My sheep. You know that lost one; the one that is weak in the flesh and every now and then wanders off? But I have found him and brought him back home again.” You say does the Bible say all of that? I am talking about some real life situations and, yes, the Bible says that, maybe not in so many words but it says that. Sad to say but in most of our churches today that person would go unnoticed. Forgiveness is from God. We expect there will be some collateral damage…just part of the picture…..to be continued