Lost In The Wilderness

Luke begins the fifteenth chapter of his Gospel by telling us that the pharisees and others were murmuring against Jesus, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them” (Lk. 15:2). “So He told them this parable”:

What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until He finds it? And when he finds it, he lays it on his shoulder, rejoicing (Lk. 15:3).

When we become separated from the flock, when we become estranged from God, we need the silence of the wilderness in order to hear Him calling us back. Moreover, we need the chastening of the wilderness in order to discover that apart from God we are nothing. The Book of Revelation confronts us with this reality in these words:

I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot… So because you are lukewarm, and neither…