Just One Sheep

What’s the big deal? It’s just one sheep. He had ninety-nine others, safe and sound. Besides, sheep are expendable. In business you have losses, and you accept that. So what in the world is the big deal?

Jesus told the story, in Luke 15, about a shepherd who had 100 sheep, but lost one. So the shepherd went out to find that lost sheep. I can only imagine how much work and risk it might have been -- walking, searching, calling, and hoping – in the dark, without a flashlight. He refused to give up on that one sheep. It just wasn’t an option.

Although that story is about repentance, I like to apply it to ministry and shepherding. How easy it is for those in ministry to count the number that are in attendance, and feel successful, all the while ignoring the ones who are missing, lost, lonely, disconnected. That lost person is simply rejected, ignored, cast aside, and forgotten. Like a business loss.

That fact could not have hit harder than the time Martha came to our home to tell my wife Carol that she no longer wanted her to be a part of the women’s ministry at the church. You see Martha had built a large, successful ministry, reaching across the whole community, gathering in women from many churches and neighborhoods. She taught a session to nearly eighty women each Thursday morning. Then the women split up into groups of ten to discuss, encourage, and pray together. Carol was a leader of one of those small groups.

But I had been going through a deliverance ministry with a young girl. Unfortunately, misunderstanding amongst the staff and board grew to a point that they held a “heresy” trial. They decided to ask me to leave the ministry of the church.

That’s when Martha came to our house. We expected her to ask Carol how she was doing in light of the painful events, and discuss the ramifications. We expected a shepherd to tend her lost and broken sheep. But instead she asked her to step down and not be involved in the “Bible Study”. The group was more important.

Martha went on to become famous, an author and speaker to hundreds upon hundreds. Since then, my wife, in large part due to that major rejection, has become reluctant to trust shepherds and shepherding. Her wisdom and service, except in the most guarded and safe situations, is on a shelf, broken.

Like my buddy says, tongue in cheek, “Ministry would be fun if it weren’t for all the people.” Sadly, though, that’s true for many shepherds. The program is more important than the person. We don’t see the tree because of the forest. That episode became a forever faith lesson – it’s never okay to sit in the fold with the 99 sheep, and let the wolves devour the lost sheep.

In Jesus’ very first sermon He said: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)

Perhaps that should become every shepherd’s “Hippocratic oath”.