The Wild Goose
The Way of the Wild Goose - Part 5
June 16, 2024
Matthew 18:10-14, Ezekiel 34:11-16, Psalm 139:7-12
What do you think? If someone had one hundred sheep and one of them wandered off, wouldn’t he leave the ninety-nine on the hillsides and go in search for the one that wandered off? If he finds it, I assure you that he is happier about having that one sheep than about the ninety-nine who didn’t wander off. In the same way, my Father who is in heaven doesn’t want to lose one of these little ones.
Matthew 18:12-14 (CEB)
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Just like the scattered sheep in the days of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 34), Jesus saw the sheep of Israel scattered and abused in his own time. Thieves continued to kill and destroy, but Jesus himself would go to any length to rescue even one who was lost. In today’s culture, driven so much by numbers, profit and gain, the idea of leaving behind 99 for 1 seems absurd. We are taught to appeal to the crowds, to get more views, likes and followers on social media, to get more people in the seats on Sunday mornings. We put so much of our energy into keeping the 99 comfortable and happy. In the process, how many have found themselves lost, ignored, and alone, even as they sit in the middle of the crowd? And how many have wandered off completely unnoticed, or worse yet, been run out by the crowd because they didn’t fit in?
When I consider the persistence of the Wild Goose, I think of Jesus’ parable. Will the Holy Spirit not go to any length, even to the ends of the earth, for the one lost and lonely sheep to know that they are not alone? In a culture driven by numbers and productivity, putting so much energy into the one may seem absurd, unless you happen to be the “one.”
Geese are communal by nature. At least one or two will land with the one who is tired, injured, or weak, so that no one is left behind. Like the good shepherd, they will do whatever it takes to restore the one to the rest of the flock. What if we were more persistent about caring for the one than we were about trying to keep the 99 happy? What if the church were a place not only where everyone was welcome, but where they truly belonged? What if, instead of desperately protecting and clinging to what we have, or worse, what we used to have, we persisted in continuing Jesus’ mission to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10)?
The Wild Goose shows us what it means to stay in formation, to keep our place, to rotate to the back as needed so that we don’t burn out, and to flap a little harder when others around us need a rest. On the grand scale, we will never feel like we are enough to tackle the many existential crises in our world. But if we zoom in and focus on the members of our flock, the ones in front of and behind us, the ones to our right and to our left, perhaps we are exactly the person someone needs us to be to make it through another day.
Keep flying.
Keep honking.
Keep caring.
Keep loving.
The Wild Goose is all the strength you need.
~ excerpts from The Wild Goose: Embracing the Untambed Beauty of the Holy Spirit