Lk 15:3-7
3To [the Pharisees and scribes] [Jesus] addressed this parable. 4“What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? 5And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy 6and, upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ 7I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.”
THE LOST ONE: The whole chapter 15 of Luke is about the “lost” illustrated in parables: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. The last two are special Lucan materials while the parable of the lost sheep has a counterpart in Matthew (18:10-14). Matthew places it in Jesus’ Discourse on the Community to remind the Christians that as a community they have always to search for the lost one.
Allusions to shepherd and sheep abound in the Bible. The care of the sheep is a rich source of theological imagery. The sheep must be protected from wild beasts, thieves, dangers, and inclement weather (Gn 31:39-40). The shepherd leads the sheep to green pasture and water, and protects them (Ps 23:1-4).
The religious and political leaders of Israel are compared to the shepherds, and the people to the flock which they must tend. When they do not attend to their responsibilities, great harm befalls the sheep.
The shepherd in the parable is quite well-off: he owns a hundred sheep. Would one lost sheep matter to him? A version of this parable has come down to us in the Gospel of Thomas, a second-century collection of the sayings of Jesus, some of which could have come from Jesus himself. There, the sheep which went astray was the largest. When the shepherd had gone to so much trouble in finding the sheep, he said to the sheep: “I love you more than the ninety-nine.” The parable feels the need to explain the special relationship between the shepherd and the lost sheep—at the expense of the ninety-nine. The canonical versions do not need to: all sheep are important to the shepherd—fat or thin, large or small. Moreover, the ninety-nine are not neglected. The shepherd certainly had entrusted them to fellow shepherds in his absence.