The plight of little Madeleine McCann has been in the news for more than four and a half months, since she disappeared in Portugal. Her parents, Kate and Gerry, have made huge efforts to find her, going around all the major European countries to raise awareness and to campaign for those who are lost.
Despite the police interest and media speculation, her parents are pushing for more TV adverts to be shown to focus public attention back on their little girl. Its an amazing show of dedication to find one little lost girl – and it shows how far some will go to find what has been lost. I believe they are going to such lengths simply because of love.
It reminds me of the story Jesus told about a lost sheep. Once upon a time a shepherd had a hundred sheep. They are not in a nice green field surrounded by a fence to keep them in – they are in the wide open Judean wilderness stretching for miles around.
The sheep should be following the shepherd to find good grazing, but one sheep isn't! One sheep is wandering from one patch of grass to the next, straying farther and farther away from the flock and the safety of the shepherd. The shepherd realises that something is not right. Ninety nine sheep are safe – but one sheep is missing.
The choice is stark. Stay and protect the flock that he has – or leave the ninety nine to wander alone in the wilderness to look for the solitary lost sheep.
Only a fool would risk everything for the sake of one sheep. And yet that is exactly what the shepherd does in the story. Jesus tells us that this shepherd leaves the rest of his flock to find the lost sheep. And when he finds it he goes straight home, calls his friends and neighbours around, and has a party.
I don't know about you – but I think this shepherd goes over the top. He risks everything to find one sheep, and then he goes overboard with a huge party! No sensible person would do that.
But I think that's the point Jesus is making. That God's love is not sensible. God's love is amazing and over the top. It doesn't count the risks or the effort. God's love doesn't worry about how good the sheep is – it never gives up. God's love is extravagant – no matter how small the victory, when even one lost sheep is found its a cause for a huge party.
Christians call this crazy, unconditional love of God, GRACE. We all need this love, because we live in a world of lost-ness. I think we all wander like sheep at some times, straying far from God and feeling lost. Many people go through dark and difficult times of suffering in life, and can feel like running away from God.
Some people think they're so bad and worthless that God cannot love them, and so they go away from God – wanting to lose themselves. And some have a distorted view of God, thinking he is an angry father who just wants to give them a beating, and, understandably, they'd rather not be found.
But I think that Jesus is telling us that, from God's perspective, we are all precious and loved, and no-one is worthless in his sight. So we should all be searching for the lost in our society, knowing that God will always welcome us, and will never give up on us.
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