Article November 22, 1982 Issue

About lost sheep

GLORIA ELAINE MARLATT

A few years ago, the Thanksgiving Bible Lesson in the Christian Science Quarterly contained Jesus' parable of the one lost sheep. The parable relates the story of the man who leaves the ninety and nine sheep to go after the one lost sheep. When he finds the lost one, he places it on his shoulder "rejoicing" and carries it home.^{See Luke 15:3-7.}

The parable rankled me. I knew a "lost sheep"—one who had strayed. There was no desire on my part to go after it, place it on my shoulders (certainly not with rejoicing!), and bring it home. All week, each time I read the parable it disturbed me. I realized I needed to pray in order to comprehend Christ Jesus' meaning.

On that beautiful Thanksgiving morning, as the words of the Master were read in church, the light of spiritual inspiration suddenly dawned on me. The question flashed across my mind, "Who is the lost sheep?" Immediately the answer came, "Why, I am." With tears of humility, meekness, and rejoicing, I saw a deeper meaning in this wonderful parable. It was my thinking that was lost—had gone astray and deviated from the basic truth of God and man, His perfect creation. Although my thinking had been temporarily "lost" or misdirected, the Shepherd—ever-present divine Love—had touched, lifted, and carried me back to the fold of righteousness: God-derived thinking and acting.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Poem

Prelude to the Lesson-Sermon