While we often use the term lost to refer to someone who needs to get her act together and start following the rules, in these stories, Jesus uses lost to mean loved, valuable, and worth pursuing. People who are “lost” are precious, not pitiful. By playing with the word lost, reframing in light of these parables, we can look at the categories that Jesus wants his followers to pursue most fervently: the least, the last, the lost, and the lonely. He calls us to be the shepherd who places such value on the one.
