Pursued





Matthew 18:10-14

10“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.

12What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray?

13And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray.

14So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

 
The picture above always brings to mind a dear friend of mine who passed into the presence of Jesus several years ago. She was an amazing person who lived to share Jesus with those in her world. This picture is etched upon her tombstone because she loved the image of herself as Jesus' dearly loved lamb. And of course this image always brings up the Words of today's reading as we imagine Jesus coming to find us when we have wandered away from Him.

Inside of these brief verses we find a couple of significant ideas and meditation upon them is always enlightening and encouraging. First Jesus brings up the angels. This is the only passage in Scripture that mentions the idea of a personal angel for each of us. Since the verse stands alone in that, we cannot make too much of the idea. That's not to say those angels don't exist as our guardians, for well they might. It's just hard to make a "doctrine" out of one verse. What is encouraging is that these angels are constantly gazing upon the face of the Father in order to gain instruction as to what to do for us next. They aren't making it up as they go along. They are obedient to His leading in regards to our lives.

Then we move on to the Shepherd seeking the stray sheep. In the context of Matthew 18, the word "stray" is important. This is not a lost sheep. The lost are those who do not know Jesus at all. The stray sheep is one who has been a part of the community but has now wandered away. I use the word "wandered" rather freely because of the nature of a sheep. They don't do much defiantly. They just wander, not paying attention to the fact that they are leaving the safety of the Shepherd. Contextually, that is who Jesus is talking about in this passage. As disciples we need to pay attention to one another. Wandering happens slowly and when no one is looking. Your child doesn't wander away from you in the mall when you're watching. They wander away when you are paying attention to something else.

Jesus pursues those who wander. He does so through the ministry of us - the community of believers. In this little story, the Shepherd is both Jesus and His disciples. We both act to pursue the wanderer. Today's reading is all about the grace of a God who does not let us just easily walk away from Him. He loves us so much that He pursues constantly. It's all grace.

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