So Jesus told them this story: “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ Luke 15:3-6 ( NLT)
As I tried to figure out a modern-day scenario to this parable, all of the examples that presented themselves made me kind of cringe. One would be a mother with lots of kids leaving the majority to find the one that got lost. That's a scary thought. One would be a person in charge of a group of people in a somewhat dangerous situation leaving all of them to find the one that wondered off. Who would do that? It's irresponsible.
But isn't that exactly the point of this parable? God's love for us is irresponsible. It's reckless. It defies logic. No matter what else is happening, he will come find us. His love is not dependent on other circumstances or responsibilities. It is truly incomprehensible.
We can't imagine this kind of love. We can't fit it into our boxes because it is not of this world. And that is exactly the point of this parable. God's love doesn't make sense. It's not something we can ever really understand. But, that doesn't make it any less real.