One Lost Sheep

Matthew 18: 11-14. “How think  ye? If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.”

Someone gave me a jigsaw puzzle of this picture when I was about eight.  I don’t remember ifor sure, but it may have been  a prize for  memorizing this passage.  I loved it so much. I loved putting it together, and did it slowly as it was nearly finished.  I probably wore out the little pieces, I put it together so many times. 

This is a beautiful story, and I would love to have heard it from Jesus Himself.  I remember hearing it told in the form of Snowflake, 

the story of a disobedient little lamb who wandered from the flock and was rescued by the Good Shepherd.  Later, as I worked with little kids, I told that story myself and watched the eyes of the children as they traveled with me from Snowflake’s wandering to his rescue. It’s a story that reaches  children because they can identify with the naughty lamb. 

Jesus, the Good Shepherd, gave His life for the sheep. There is, in my opinion, no more tender or beautiful story anywhere than this one.  

I found this unique video.  There are lots of others, but this one caught my fancy: