Recently, we’ve seen all across the nation people setting up ‘Occupy’ protests over the idea that they are the 99 percent, while contending that the top 1 percent is getting richer at their expense.
I’m not hear to argue that one either way; but I am here to say that I am the 1 percent…when it comes to Jesus’ flock.In Matthew 18:12, Jesus tells the story of a man who has 100 sheep that he loves so much he is willing to leave the 99 to find the one that has gone astray or gotten lost.
In that sense, I am the 1 percent. I was lost for a long time and there were plenty of times I went astray even after Jesus found me 10 years ago.
There also are times, though, that we aren’t lost or go astray, but simply stand still while the shepherd leads the rest of flock. We feel insignificant and unlovable or are just weary from life’s circumstances.
In those times, we tend to forget the lengths our shepherd, Jesus, went to restore us to his flock.
A song by Mike’s Chair, I think, sums up not only how we feel in those down times. But it also reminds us of the promises of God.
“I know you've heard the truth that God has set you free, but you think you're the one that grace could never reach. So you just keep asking, what everybody's asking …
“Am I more than flesh and bone? Am I really something beautiful? Yeah, I wanna believe, I wanna believe that I'm not just some wandering soul; That you don't see and you don't know. Yeah I wanna believe, Jesus help me believe, that I am someone worth dying for.”
As a Christian, I know this truth. I know that Jesus’ death on the cross was sufficient for my sins. I know that if I put my life in his hands and trust his death and resurrection, I will be a part of his flock for all eternity.
But there have been some moments even after I accepted Jesus in which I needed his help to believe that I was someone worth dying for, someone worth leaving the 99 to find.
Jesus says we’re so valuable that when the shepherd finds that one sheep, he is happier about that one than the 99 who were never lost.
In Luke’s gospel, Luke records Jesus as saying that there is “more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
In closing, remember the great lengths Christ went to save you: dying a painful, undeserving death on the cross so that we can have fellowship with our father in heaven.
