"Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? 

(Luke 15:4)

I’m a big Star Trek fan. In one film a crew member sacrifices himself to save the ship because, he says, the needs of the many outweigh he needs of the one. In the next film his shipmates sacrifice everything - the ship, their careers, everything because, they say, the needs of the one outweighed the needs of the many. That idea - that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one - is the basis of an approach to morality called utilitarianism. It was an attempt to base morality on logic and reason and, well, sums. Add up all the good your action does, subtract all the harm it does and if the good outweighs the bad you’re good to go. And if someone gets hurt or killed in the process well - acceptable losses, right?

“Which of you,” asks Jesus, “having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?” I’ve never been a shepherd so does any of you know? Is that what a shepherd would do? Or would they think, “I’ve got ninety-nine sheep I can keep safe. So the needs of the many” Either way that was the attitude of the folk Jesus was speaking to when he told this parable. It’s only the sinners being lost and we the virtuous are well in with God so acceptable losses, right?

No, says Jesus. Where does that logic lead us? Most of us live comfortable lives in this well-off country. So all’s well, right? And if a few folk go hungry, if a few folk don’t have roofs over their heads and sleep rough in our parks, if a few folk never see their kids because they have to hold down two to pay the bills then that’s all right. No need to question the system because the needs of the many have been served and the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one, right?

Where does that logic lead us? See that wee minority religious group? They’re disrupting our community, undermining our way of life, leading our kids astray. Maybe we should drive them from our communities or maybe do away with them altogether so the majority - can protect our culture and our way of life. What are they called again? Christians you say? Or see that one guy saying things that could lead us all off a cliff? One bullet. Because the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, right?

How much sorrow, how much grief has been caused by the notion of ‘acceptable losses’? How much pain and sadness has been swept under the carpet by, “the rest of us are doing fine?” How many atrocities have been committed by people who have believed that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one? And how much better would the world be if we listened to this teaching of Christ?

See that sheep, the sheep that was lost? That sheep matters. In the context of the parable Jesus is saying to the folk who think that sinners are not like them that everyone matters to God. Wider though he is saying to us that the people that we think are different because of their race, or their religion, or their sexuality or their status in society - their wealth or their poverty - matters to God not because of any of their things but because each is an individual human being and each is a precious child. Each is the one sheep. Each is to be brought home through the love of God.

That is the precious idea that lies behind the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If anyone tries to sell you a ‘Christianity’ that drives out immigrants or people of other races through some sense of ‘nationalism’ I tell you that is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For each of those people is the one sheep in the eyes of God and the needs of the many do not outweigh the needs of the one. If anyone tries to sell you a ‘Christianity’ that labels others as irredeemable sinners I tell you that is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ for each and every one of them is the one sheep in the eyes of God and is meant to be brought home. If anyone sells you a ‘Christianity’ in which the poor and the hungry can be forgotten because we have other pressing needs I tell you that is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ because each and every man, woman and child on this planet is that one sheep.

This is the challenge Christ presents to the folk he’s talking to. Try to see through the eyes of God. Try to see the people of this world not as races, not as sinners and saints, not as straight or otherwise, not as rich or poor but to reach beyond the things that divide ‘us’ from ‘them’. Try to forget the dry calculations of ‘the needs of the many’. Try to see ourselves as God sees us: each and every unique and precious child; each of us the one sheep that the shepherd goes to find; each of us is one sheep in a flock the size of… that doesn’t matter and that’s the point. God’s love for each and every one of us is so great, so incomprehensibly intense, so extravagant that he gave his own son for us. Through that lens the needs of the many cannot outweigh the needs of the one because each of the many IS the one: each is the one sheep. Each belongs in the love of God. And THAT is the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Lord help us to see each other through your eyes; to see that each and every human being is a unique child and precious to you and help us to live in ways that reflect that

Preached at Annan Old Parish Church

Complete Service