Today's Gospel in Art: The one lost sheep gives him more joy than the ninety-nine that did not stray

Anguish, by August Friedrich Albrecht Schenck 1878 © National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Source: Christian Art

Gospel of 7th December 2021 - Matthew 18:12-14

Jesus said to his disciples: 'Tell me. Suppose a man has a hundred sheep and one of them strays; will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hillside and go in search of the stray? I tell you solemnly, if he finds it, it gives him more joy than do the ninety-nine that did not stray at all. Similarly, it is never the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.'

Reflection on the Painting

Today's reading is very short, and yet packed with rich imagery. As we approach Christmas and the birth of Jesus, our guiding Shepherd, we hear the parable of the man who has 100 sheep. Upon realising one of his sheep is missing, he leaves his 99 sheep to search for the lost one. Each of us is that sheep who wandered off. We stray at times from our shepherd and also from our flock, the Church.

I want to look at the word 'stray' in our short reading. It appears three times in our Gospel passage of Mathew. Luke's version of this parable uses the word 'lost'. The parable of the 'lost' sheep is probably the better known version to us. Yet 'stray' is probably the better word for what Jesus tries to communicate to us. If we get lost, it somehow means that maybe it isn't our fault that we got lost. It wasn't our intention to get lost, it just happened accidentally. However, to 'stray' means the we deliberately took a decision to distance ourselves or move away. That is what happens when we sin: we deliberately leave the right path and thus distance ourselves from God.

During Advent, as Christmas is approaching, we have to realise why Christ came into the world: to help save his 'strayed' sheep.

Our painting from 1878 is by August Schenck. It depicts a ewe bleating in grief, her breath freezing in the cold air. The mother sheep is standing over the dead body of her lamb. A trickle of blood is running from its mouth into the white snow. The scene is almost reminiscent of a pietà. The pair of sheep is encircled by black crows that look threatening. Maybe the little lamb strayed and it was too late for it to be saved? The painting conveys a desperate sense of grief and isolation when we are away from the flock. This canvas was an early acquisition by the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, just a few years after it was founded in 1861. Remarkably, it has been voted the most popular painting of the gallery's 75,000 works on two occasions, in 1906 and 2011…

LINKS

Today's story - https://christian.art/en/daily-gospel-reading/1015
Christian Art - www.christian.art/