The Lost Sheep
A shepherd leaves ninety-nine safe sheep to go and find the one that wandered off.
Read aloud in about five minutes.
“Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.”
Luke 15:6
- A shepherd has a hundred sheep
- One wanders off and is lost
Ninety-nine and one
A shepherd had a hundred sheep. One evening he counted them and got to ninety-nine. One was missing.
He could have shrugged. Ninety-nine is very nearly a hundred, and the ninety-nine were safe. Instead he left them and went out into the dark to look.
- He leaves the ninety-nine to search
- He looks until he finds it
Looking until he found it
He searched the hills and the gullies and the thorny places, calling, until at last he heard a small sound and found the sheep, tangled and frightened.
He did not scold it. He lifted it onto his shoulders and carried it the whole way home.
- He carries it home on his shoulders
- He calls everyone to celebrate
Worth a party
When he got back he called his friends and neighbours together, because he wanted them to be glad with him.
Jesus told this story to say something simple: nobody is written off as an acceptable loss. One matters.
Something to print
A colouring page, a cut-and-stick craft and six talking questions come with this story.