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SonCatcher
Guest
sheep sleep on the hills.
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Evan
Guest
Recognize how sheep are counted. As they enter through the gate into the paddock, each is counted (1 2 3 … boring and puts you to sleep). Only after such a count would you know one is missing. So close the gate. Now the 99 are safe. You can go and search for the lost one.
Assuming that the shepherd can look at the flock and one is missing assumes the flock is 5 or 6 sheep. Then you would not need to count. But with 99, you have to count as they move into an enclosure.
Assuming that the shepherd can look at the flock and one is missing assumes the flock is 5 or 6 sheep. Then you would not need to count. But with 99, you have to count as they move into an enclosure.
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LegoGE1947
Guest
What if the shepherd miscounts?
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Oldtimer_7
Guest
One of the hallmarks of parables was that there was always something included that would not have happened in real life. This was a standard feature in Jewish storytelling. A good example is the deuterocanonical book of Judith. No place exists in Israel that fits the geopraphy of the locale of the book. The point is that Judith is not history, like 1 Maccabbees, but is to be understood for its story, not as a travelogue.
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atassina
Guest
the shepherd won’t miscount. i used to live in Tanzania, East Africa; they count with the right side of their brain. they simply watch the herd come in. the watching forms a picture in their mind. if the picture is not complete, they know one or two or three of the sheep are missing; in the Tanzania case it would have been cows.
the point here is that different people and different cultures act differently.
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LegoGE1947
Guest
Seems to me that would take more patience and concentration than I have!
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Julia_Mae
Guest
The parable illustrates something Jesus has said elsewhere: “I came to call sinners.” Jesus didn’t seek out all the righteous and speak to them, He sought out the lowliest, and those who lived in sin and ate with them and preached to them and died for them.
The lost sheep needs saving, not the ones safely in the sheephold. He goes to them because:
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atassina
Guest
If you looked at a puzzle and saw that it was missing one piece would that take much patience? No, that is how it works with right brain thinking. either the picture is complete or it isn’t.Seems to me that would take more patience and concentration than I have!
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LegoGE1947
Guest
It might take more patience than I have to FIND the missing piece:shrug:
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bmonk
Guest
I think all the parables have something wonky going on to make us think and ask, “What is going on here?”
The king with the unforgiving servant (Mt 18:21-35) forgives a debt of 10,000 talents, some $100,000,000 or thereabouts in silver. Try convincing your banker to write of a debt like that. The lamp in Mark 4:21 is lit and then put under a bed or under a basket. The farmer of Mk 4: 26-29 sows the seed, and then goes about his other business. Apparently he has no concern for the field. The farmer of Matthew 13:24-30 not only is paranoid–he thinks an enemy sowed weeds in his field–but the enemy actually did it! And then he lets them grow together until harvest, without weeding. If you look, all the parables are unrealistic in some ways. The unjust judge fears the widow will do him harm!
It’s similar here. We call it “The Good Shepherd,” but consider: he loses a sheep, and when he find it, he doesn’t take it back to the flock, but goes home and tells all the neighbors and throws a party. No shepherd would admit, unless pressed, to losing a sheep–his good care for them was his reputation as a shepherd. No, it’s about God’s concern for the sinner over the “righteous”, as he explains in Luke 15:7.
I think it relates to the fact that, as long as we are “good enough” for heaven–in our own eyes–we have no real need of God and God’s grace. It’s only when we recognize how lost we are that we turn to God. Look a St. Paul for a good example of this. He was a Pharisee, and made every effort to “do it right”, to keep God’s will in every particular, to the best of his knowledge and his will. However, on the road to Damascus, he realized that all his zeal and effort had only brought him to act against God, to persecute the very group God was using to save the world and spread the Good News of salvation. Only when he realized that his efforts led him to be a sinner, could he repent and join the Church and find the salvation he sought.
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atassina
Guest
bmonk: thanks. your reply gives me a new insight: the emotional approach. admitting that we are not good enough for God is a real possibility to help my friend. i also appreciate your broad analysis of the parables in general. i particularly appreciate the wry approach you used to understand the parables. i like the idea of the upside down approach to life. Jesus obviously had a sense of humor.
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inkaneer
Guest
How much do you know about sheep? Not much I suspect. Sheep are pretty defenseless so they tend to flock together in large groups. This is a defense strategy that is quite common in the animal world. It is this tendency that allows one person to herd an entire flock. However, when alone a sheep is easy pickin’s. In addition sheep are not the brighest light bulb on the Christmas tree of the animal kingdom. They are bred for wool production not for their intelligence. They have to be led to water or to a grazing area. The chances of them finding it on their own are very slim. But once they are there in a grazing area they will stay there until the shepherd leads them elsewhere. So leaving the 99 behind in a area where they can graze is not a risky matter.
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