n e w c h u r c h l i f e : j u ly / au g u s t 2 0 1 7
Harsh spiritual
judgments toward the
losing of sheep come
from the “scribes and
Pharisees” in us, not
from the “shepherd”
in us. It’s not a bad
sheep, it’s just a lost
sheep. We’re not bad
people; we’re just
missing goodness.
was lost. (See Matthew 18:12 Kempton
Translation)
The teachings for the New Church
only directly address the sheep being
in the mountains:
“Sheep in the mountains” signify those
who are in the good of love and charity; but
“the one that is gone astray” signifies one
who is not in that good, because he is in
falsities from ignorance; for where falsity is,
there good is not, because good is of truth.”
(Apocalypse Explained 405:33)
Mountains represent a state in
which we are close to heaven, and close
to the Lord. (See Secrets of Heaven
795) This version of the parable I think
describes the reality of the situation,
which is that the 99 sheep in us that are
not lost are close to heaven and close
to the Lord. Even when one sheep
wanders off, there are many other good qualities that remain with us.
(The parable never describes exactly how the 99 didn’t wander off when
the shepherd went to look for the one. Perhaps another shepherd was left to
watch the 99. But whatever the hypothetical logistics are, we are left with a
sense that the 99 in the mountains are left in a safe place while the shepherd
goes off to rescue the one.)
In the Luke version of the parable, the 99 are left in the wilderness. I think
this version of the parable could describe how the situation feels to us. The
teachings for the New Church tell us that the “wilderness” represents a time
of spiritual temptation or spiritual struggle (see Apocalypse Revealed 546),
particularly when we experience a lack of truth, represented by the lack of
water in the wilderness.
When we notice that there is goodness missing from our life, and we
condemn ourselves for it (which is the context for the Luke version), we can
sometimes believe that therefore there is nothing good left in our lives. I lost
my patience; therefore I must also have lost compassion, love, charity, fairness,
forgiveness, etc. This is not necessarily the truth, but it can often feel like the
99 percent of us that is doing all right is in the wilderness. We’ve lost sight of
those other good sheep in us for a time.
And in all fairness, our spiritual sheep will be continually getting lost,
usually more times than once. Our patience is not usually something that we
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