Two years ago, my teammate Vashti and I set out on a hike. We were staying in a small town in called Tarma in the Andes mountains of Peru. From our host’s home, we could see the tallest mountain in the region, and all along the ridge there appeared to be a path. So, on one of our days off, we set out for a hike that would end up taking eight hours to complete.
About an hour into the hike, we saw the sweetest black lamb coming down the mountain all on its own. It was just a little guy, wandering on its own. We kept going, not thinking much of it, but wondering if we would see more animal life as we continued up the mountain.
Soon we reached a flat section of the mountain, upon which an signal tower had been built along with a few small control buildings. There were no guards or anybody else around, so we decided to take a snack break at the tower and spend some time looking at the view of the town. From where we sat, we could pick out the church building we were staying in, the soccer stadium we went running in, the main square in the town, the path we took up a mountain on a previous hike, and we even mapped out which hike we wanted to try on our next day off.
All of a sudden, while enjoying the beautiful view, we heard some shouting in the distance. An older man, with a big walking stick in his hand and an even bigger dog at his side, was racing down the mountain towards us. He was shouting and waving his arms, but we had no idea what he was saying because, even if we were fluent in Spanish, he was speaking in a Spanish dialect specific to that region. I was sure he was yelling at us to get off the property, and I wasn’t too keen on sticking around and meeting his dog.
But the ever curious Vashti attempted to communicate with him, and as he neared us, it became clearer that he did not work for the signal tower. Rather, he looked like a farmer, or even a shepherd. Vashti must have recognized a few of the words he spoke, because all of a sudden she said, “Ohhh!” and began bahhing and mimicking a sheep. His eyes lit up and he shook his head quickly up and down. We turned to one another, realizing that the little wandering sheep we had seen earlier on our hike was the very same lamb this old shepherd was frantically searching for. Now all three of us were excitedly acting like little lambs. Vashti and I pointed in the direction that we had last seen it, and no sooner had we pointed than the shepherd and his dog took off down the mountain.
He may have been old, and he may have relied on a walking stick, but he was cruising down that mountain more quickly and aptly than most. He had one goal in mind: to seek his lost sheep until he had found it and brought it safely home.
As we watched the shepherd disappear, Vashti and I turned to one another with big grins and said, “We just saw Jesus!”
I opened the bible app on my device and read this parable from Luke 15:
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
Afterwards I opened to John 10 and read:
Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
That moment was a gift; a special reminder of God’s unfailing, steadfast, abundant love. Were we not just like that little sheep? Were we not wandering around the world, seeking to be found by our Shepherd?
Jesus is just like that old shepherd, running frantically down the craggy mountain in search of one little lost lamb. He ran down the mountain and found me, and he runs down in search of you. Will you let him lift you on his shoulders and carry you back home? Will you follow the one who gives life, and gives it abundantly?
A wildly wondrous adventure, a freedom from self and a freedom to be truly known and loved, will come if you do.
