Why Leave Ninety-Nine in Search of One?

As we move deeper into Advent, today’s readings tune our hearts to a truth at the center of God’s heart: He comes for the one who is lost. Christmas—the Incarnation we are preparing for—is not simply the story of God coming into the world, but God coming for us, for each heart that has wandered, suffered, or feared it was forgotten.
Isaiah begins with a message that pierces the darkness of exile: “Comfort, give comfort to my people… Speak tenderly… her guilt is expiated.” Israel’s exile was painful, humiliating, and long. The prophets described it as the result of their unfaithfulness, yet now God speaks not in anger but in consolation. Like a parent who disciplines with trembling hands, God suffered even as His people suffered. Now He bends toward them with mercy: “Enough. Come home.”
Isaiah’s imagery would have struck the exiles deeply. They had been forced to build massive highways for the Babylonian god Marduk—days of backbreaking labor under foreign masters. But now the prophet declares: Prepare a way for the Lord! Not for a false god, but for the God who loves them, forgives them, and wants to bring them home. The road they once carved in sorrow becomes a symbol of hope. Lower the mountains of pride. Fill the valleys of despair. Smooth the rough places of sin and fear. God Himself is coming.
But today’s Gospel brings this even closer to the heart: “If a man has a hundred sheep and one goes astray…” Why would anyone leave ninety-nine for one? Human logic says protect the majority; cut your losses. But divine logic says the one matters just as much as the ninety-nine.
This is the mystery of the Incarnation. God became human not for “humanity” in the abstract, but for each person. For you. For the one who wandered. For the one who broke down. For the one whose heart feels like exile. God’s love does not operate by percentages—it operates by covenant. And covenant says: I will not rest until you are home.
Advent calls us to believe that God comes for us not only at Christmas, and not only at the end of time, but in the quiet corners of our daily lives—often unnoticed.
Why does God leave the ninety-nine?
Because love is never satisfied while anyone is missing. Because the heart of God operates on tenderness. Because each of us has been one lost sheep.
Today, let us allow ourselves to be found. And let us learn to seek the “one” in our own families, parishes, and communities—the person who needs comfort, mercy, or welcome. For the God who comes this Christmas is still searching. And His joy is complete when the one returns home.

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