<p>18:13&nbsp;<i>And if he finds it</i>- Although in other parables the Lord is presented as searching&nbsp;<i>until&nbsp;</i>He finds the lost sheep, there is the possibility that He will not find it. Such is the huge power the Father has given human freewill.</p>
<p><i>Truly I say to you, he rejoices over it</i>- The same word used for the man of Lk. 15:5 rejoicing in finding his lost sheep, and the Father&rsquo;s rejoicing at the return of the prodigal (Lk. 15:32). The time of rejoicing is at the day of judgment, when sower and reaper shall &ldquo;rejoice together&rdquo; when the fruit is gathered unto life eternal (Jn. 4:36 s.w.). The rejoicing is when the sheep is &lsquo;found&rsquo;, and whilst that can happen in a sense in this life, the ultimate &lsquo;finding&rsquo; of the sheep is surely at the final change of nature when Christ returns. Our joy at the day of judgment will not simply be because of our own personal salvation, but because of how others are receiving that great salvation, in part thanks to the efforts we made for them in this life. Paul&rsquo;s &ldquo;crown of rejoicing&rdquo; would be to see his converts accepted in that day (1 Thess. 2:19).</p>
<p><i>More than over the ninety-nine that never went astray</i>- We could read this as meaning &lsquo;who did not&nbsp;<i>think</i>&nbsp;they went astray&rsquo;, seeing that all the Lord&rsquo;s sheep go astray. In this case, the reference might be to the majority of Israel; the Lord was saying that His disciples were to go searching for the little ones, the children, the women, lepers, whores and gamblers, and forgive or not worry about the masses of Israel who didn&rsquo;t consider they needed repentance. Or this could simply be the element of unreality in the story- the 99 simply function as part of the furniture of the parable, to focus our attention upon the proactive effort we should be making to win back the lost. And this huge effort stands in contrast to the negative attitude of the disciples in not &lsquo;receiving&rsquo; the little ones.</p>