Saturday 29th March 2025
“When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices.”
Luke 15:5 (NRSV)
Held safe
Robin Hill
Sheep are big critters. At the age of 16 I encountered one who had ended up on her back, unable to turn over. (Either that or she was sun-bathing – I never could decide.) Realising that all might not be well, I took it upon myself to approach this fleecy friend and prod her into a timely half rotation. Yet the nearer I got the more uncertain I became. Despite my best intentions, I wasn’t at all sure how straightforward it would be to get a sheep back where she belonged.
As things turned out, the procedure proved unnecessary as she saw me coming and thought better of her situation. With a single flick of her ovine spine she was up and off, trotting away from the well-meaning teenager to find another grassy space on which to bask amid the Trossachs sunshine.
There I stood, alone once more, not quite the hero of the hour though more than a little relieved that I had escaped without a good kicking … or mauling … or whatever it is that ewes routinely do to gormless young city-dwellers.
Unlike me, Jesus grew up a country boy, knowing how a shepherd of skill and experience would handle a sheep. When one percent of his flock trots off to pastures new, that shepherd doesn’t pause to reflect or to fret. He gets to work, striding out across the hillside until he spots the missing one. And what does he do? Does he use a rope to drag her back to her anxious companions? Not a bit of it. He lifts the weighty animal high and drapes her over his big, broad shoulders, where she will surely be a fair old burden – yet where she will find herself safe from harm and totally secure. Off they go, back to the fold, right order restored.
I am left pondering this question: if Jesus truly is our Good Shepherd (capital “G”, capital “S”) just how “Good” must he really be to travel into the midst of crisis and carry us home to safety, rejoicing?
Shall we pray?:
God of dedication, you leave the flock. You search and you search. You find us and you bring us home, shoulder high, rejoicing. And we thank you. Amen.
Thinking it through:
The Good Shepherd is a risk-taker. Why does he not simply cut his losses and stay with the ninety-nine?
Are you lost? Are you found? Are you strangely both?
What would it mean to recognise the Good Shepherd as the One who not only searches for us and finds us … but who does so rejoicing?
Robin Hill is minister of Gladsmuir linked with Longniddry, is a member of the Presbytery of Lothian & Borders Mission Committee, and is the founder of the Heart & Soul Swing Band.