What man among you, if
he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until
he finds it? (Luke 15:4)
If history had been different,
if Adam and Eve had not sinned,
if all humanity lived
in original innocence in God’s Garden –
all seven billion of us
except for one –
only one –
one who left the fold,
gone on his own,
and sinned . . .
Would God have done what He did,
giving His only begotten Son,
so that
that one –
if he believed*
would not perish,
but have eternal life?
Would the Good Shepherd
have left the seven billion-minus-one
safe in the fold
and searched for the one?
From God’s perspective,
it’s always been about the one.
About the lost.
From God’s perspective
it’s always been
about you;
About me.
The one – even if seven billion others
remained safe.
remained safe.
It’s always been about
His incalculable love
for you;
His zealous search
for you;
His passionate desire
for you;
His sacrificial death
for you;
The one among seven billion.
If Adam never sinned,
if that’s how it had been,
and you alone
of the seven billion
walked away from the fold,
He would have left them all
to find you
and call you back.
Would you come?
*John 3:16
8 comments:
Loved this! Thank you! ~ Rosemary in Ohio
And thanks for your patience with me for that last error :)
Really beautiful. I'd like to believe that I would come - that I'd recognize that incomparable Love was calling me. Somebody cares whether I live or die. That I am precious to someone. Isn't this the desire of every heart?
Barb, as St. Augustine said: Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee."
Rich, at such a moment, I believe Jesus would pull out all the stops so that I could hear, see, understand, appreciate, and be shaken to the depths of my being...hopefully I would come.
I think, Joann, the fact that we have already come suggests we would come again if my 'what if' were true.
But more to the point, I wrote it in the hope that the not-yet-a-Christian who might read this post would ask himself or herself the question.
And then come.
Rich:
Thanks for sharing this beautiful reflection and making me feel uncomfortable. oh, how easily so many of us take our Lord's love granted.
I do it all the time. I try, especially during the liturgy of the Eucharist, to focus on what He did. Most of the time I am successful for about 60 seconds. Or less. ;)
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