Our persistent shepherd

Yo-Yo Ma is an internationally famous classical cellist. On Sept. 16, 1999, he gave an exceptionally passionate performance at Carnegie Hall. The next morning, even after a full night’s sleep, Ma was still exhausted but faced another grueling day. The fatigued artist called for a cab to take him to the other side of Manhattan, and when it arrived, carefully placed his treasured cello, a handcrafted instrument made in Vienna in 1733 and valued at $2.5 million, into the taxi’s trunk. When he reached his destination, he paid the driver and got out of the cab.

As the taxi disappeared, Ma realized his cello was still in the trunk. He quickly began exploring ways he might retrieve his beloved and extremely valuable instrument. Though the cello was missing, he still had his receipt, with the taxicab driver’s ID number. He contacted the cab company, and they helped him eventually locate the taxi in a garage in Queens. He was thrilled to learn his precious cello was still in the trunk.

Ma’s lost cello and its recovery became a viral news story. In a newspaper interview, the famous performer wore a broad smile as he told reporters the details. Finding the cello had seemed nearly impossible, but the famous performer refused to quit looking for the rare instrument, which was far too valuable to give up until he had exhausted every possible effort.

Jesus once told a story about a shepherd who lost one of his flock. His parable makes a similar point. He said, “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the 99 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 15:4-6, NLT)

Both Ma’s story and Jesus’ parable make a nearly identical point: when something or someone is lost, we must make every effort to find it. Those who have wandered away from God are much too valuable for the Great Shepherd to give up on. He refuses to quit searching for us when we go astray. In Jesus’ day, some rabbis understood that God was eager to forgive, but the idea that God sought out those who had walked away from him was nothing short of revolutionary.

The concept of God searching for those who have failed makes more sense to us today. We understand every person has incredible worth. While we know this, it is still ironic that a perfect God is consistently more merciful than the imperfect people who have also walked away from him. May each of us be more like our persistent Shepherd, eager to welcome those who have fallen short of God’s standards into his flock.