Finding Our Lost Sheep
A Sermon by the Rev . Solomon J . Keal
Lessons : Psalm 23 ; Isaiah 40:1,2,11 ; Luke 15:1-7 ; Secrets of Heaven 343 , 9836:6 “ Rejoice with me , for I have found my sheep which was lost !” ( Luke 15:6 )
The parable of the lost sheep is a well-known and well-loved story in the Word . The imagery of the Lord as our Shepherd – such as in the 23rd
Psalm – is equally well-known and well-loved .
In the highest sense , this parable tells of the Lord ’ s love , compassion and care for each and every person , and His ability to give everyone His undivided attention when we need help , no matter how lost we are . ( See Secrets of Heaven 5992.3 ) The Lord will not give up on any of us . He can come to the aid of each and every one of us individually ( see True Christianity 766 ), just as the shepherd in the parable came to the lost sheep .
In another sense , the parable of the lost sheep can be a warning to us when we begin to behave like the scribes and Pharisees . The context of the telling of this parable in Luke is that Jesus was eating with tax collectors and sinners , and the scribes and Pharisees were criticizing Him for associating with these “ lost ” people . We can sometimes have a tendency to think of ourselves as “ found ,” and other people as “ lost .” And so in the internal-historical sense of this story , the parable reminds us that all of us are lost sheep in some way .
The Lord did not come into the world to save those who are celestial , but to save those who are spiritual . . . . The people who belonged to the spiritual Church , could not have been saved unless the Lord had come into the world . . . . And the same is also meant in the parable about the hundred sheep . ( Secrets of Heaven 2661.2 ; see also 1059.2-3 ; True Christian Religion 142 )
Also : “ My people have been lost sheep .” ( Jeremiah 50:6 )
But I would like to focus on the regenerative sense of this parable – the sense that provides us with teachings about our own individual spiritual growth . In this sense we can look at all the characters in this story as representing parts of us . The scribes , the Pharisees , the tax collectors , the sinners , the shepherd , the 99 sheep , and the one lost sheep ; all of these describe parts of us on our journey of spiritual rebirth .
The teachings for the New Church tell us that sheep represent various
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