One of them goes astray
Published Dec 9, 2025 12:05 am
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Updated Dec 8, 2025 04:03 pm
REFLECTIONS TODAY
The parable of the Lost Sheep in Matthew is also found in Luke who has two other parables about the “lost,” i.e., the parables of the Lost Coin and of the Lost/Prodigal Son (Lk 15). The parable is placed on “Church Order” (Mt 19), that is, Jesus’ teaching on how his disciples should deal with members of their community. It is especially aimed at Church leaders who must exert every effort to bring back any member who strays. The parable points out that when a sheep goes astray, the shepherd will go looking for it. Sheep are always valuable commodities no matter what the size of the flock is. The other 99 are not being abandoned or put at risk, because for a flock of a hundred, ordinarily there is more than one shepherd. As one sheep is so precious that it is unthinkable to let it go astray, so it is unthinkable that any brother or sister be left to wander off. For it is the will of the heavenly Father that none of the “little ones” be lost (v 14).
First Reading • Is 40:1-11
Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; Indeed, she has received from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins.
A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; The rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
A voice says, “Cry out!” I answer, “What shall I cry out?” “All flesh is grass, and all their glory like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower wilts, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it. So then, the people is the grass. Though the grass withers and the flower wilts, the word of our God stands forever.”
Go up onto a high mountain, Zion, herald of glad tidings; Cry out at the top of your voice, Jerusalem, herald of good news! Fear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God! Here comes with power the Lord God, who rules by his strong arm; Here is his reward with him, his recompense before him. Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, Carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.
Source: “365 Days with the Lord 2025,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.