14 Apr 2012
A Wild Interpretation of Matthew 18:12-13
Matthew 18:12: “How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?
13 And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.”
Here is a wild idea: what if the 1 sheep that went astray is actually the human race, and the 99 that did not go astray are the angels? It’s an odd interpretation, but I think it fits. After all, the whole human race went astray, not just a very small part of it. Jesus came to save mankind – which, here, is represented by that one sheep. What did Jesus leave to go find that sheep? Heaven – where the angels are.
It all seems to fit. The shepherd left his home and the 99 good sheep to go after the 1 sheep that went astray. Jesus left Heaven and the unfallen angels to go after the human race that went astray.
It makes sense to me.