God counts by ones

Some thoughts from Stephen C. Barton, whom I discovered today, on the parable of the lost sheep found in Luke 15:3-7.


"Taking now the parable from Luke, there are several other observations to be made that deepen our appreciation of it. First, there is the apparent recklessness of the shepherd in leaving the ninety-nine other sheep "in the wilderness" (of all places!) to go in search of just one lost sheep. There is a lack of a sense of proportion here that is surprising and almost shocking. But God's grace is like that. It does not fit into our ordinary patterns of accounting. Each sheep is so valuable that the shepherd risks the well-being of the entire flock in order to find it. The concern for the lost is emphatic. And that is a feature that highlights a profound point about divine accounting - that is that God counts by ones."