As a man who hates losing things, this is one of my favorite parables. Do you know the frustration of searching and searching and searching for something, but not being able to locate it? Even if it's something trivial, you want to find it. Often, it becomes more than just a search for the item -- it's a quest to prove that you're not crazy, that you remember where you put something. I spent 4 days searching for a pair of sunglasses lately. I had other sunglasses, but I couldn't find these at all, no matter where I searched.
Here is Jesus, telling us that the desire to save the lost is rooted in the way God looks at us. We are the lost sheep, and Jesus is the Good Shepherd, the one who comes searching, the one who rejoices upon finding us. We don't have to always find our way out of the mess we've got ourselves into. We, the sheep who have run off, can trust that Jesus comes searching for us and is ready to host a party to celebrate reunion. This parable allows us to have hope in the Christ who searches and saves, in the Christ whose joy is found in the reunion of the lost with the God who never stops loving.
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