Mat 18:13 And if it is that he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices more of that [sheep], than of the ninety and nine which did not go astray.

This continues from the previous verse. Christ say here that returning from having gone astray as more rewarding than staying on the path. This echoes the lesson of the prodigal son. Christ's point is that it is harder and more difficult to return to the path than it is to stay on it. It is the work that Christ praises, as he always praises work. This raises the question: what does Christ see as going astray?

Note, in Christ's view, the majority stay on the path. It is only the minority that go astray. The word used for "go astray" also means "mislead." Where are people most people going? Where does the path lead? What misleads them?

In Christs view, most people are headed to the kingdom of heaven, which isn't a place as much it is personal perfection. The path is a process that uses of the physical, mental, and emotional to reach the spiritual, the true, which is the realm of God. Going "astray" is getting trapped in the physical, mental, or emotional and not being able to move on. Christ even offers a "villain" of a sorts that misleads us: society, that is, putting the values of kingdom of man over the values of the kingdom of God.

It is interesting that Christ demonizes society even though he was born into one of the most religious societies of all time. His society put a higher value on religious observance that it did on money, fame, popularity, or possible social rewards. Christ saw this as creating a stumbling block for people. This is why he was so hard on the Pharisee and Saducees. These two competing parties were contesting for social power via their competing views of worship. Christ would have none of it. His first lesson on prayer was that it should be done in private, so that you knew you weren't doing it for a social reward. He goes through a list of "good acts" including prayer and charity that block your spiritual progress because they are preformed for social reward.

If prayer and morality can lead us astray when it is done for social reasons, how much easier is it to be misled by money or fame, which are purely social measures of success? In today's society, we see all of these social forces contending to take us away from what is true and real. The kingdom of man is, by definition, artificial. It artificial rewards cannot bring perfection. The kingdom of God, which includes the natural world, is real again by definition. Nothing in the true study of nature can lead use away from God. Science as the study of nature is a kind of religion, but science, like religion, can also become perverted by social pressures and social correctness.

Why can society be bad when the majority of people are good? Most of the flock stays together and on the right path. Most work through their physical, mental, and emotional needs in a productive, realistic manner. However, social pressures are always there, especially pressuring the young into making mistakes. That, of course, is the topic of this Chapter. The young as those closes to what is real, but they are also those more pressured by society.


"Is" is from gignomai (ginomai), which means "to become," "to come into being," "to be produced," and "to be."

"Finds" is from heuriskô, which means "to find," "to find out," "to discover," "to invent," "to get," "to gain," and "to earn."

"Rejoices" is from chairô, which means "rejoice," "take pleasure in," and "welcome."

"Astray" is from planaô, which means "to cause to wander," "to lead astray" and "to be misled."