How think you? if a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, does he not leave the ninety and nine, and go into the mountains, and seek that which is gone astray?
All Commentaries on Matthew 18:12 Go To Matthew 18
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Do you see by how many things He is urging to the care of our mean brethren. Say not then, Such a one is a blacksmith, a shoemaker, he is a ploughman, he is a fool, and so despise him. For in order that you should not feel this, see by how many motives He persuades you to practise moderation, and presses you into a care for these. He set a little child, and says, Be as little children. And, Whosoever receives such a little child receives me; and, Whosoever shall offend, shall suffer the utmost penalties. And He was not even satisfied with the comparison of the millstone, but added also His woe, and commanded us to cut off such, though they be in the place of hands and eyes to us. And by the angels again that are entrusted with these same mean brethren, He makes them objects of veneration, and from His own will and passion (for when He said, The Son of Man has come to save that which was lost, He signifies even the cross, like as Paul says, speaking of a brother, For whom Christ died); and from the Father, for that neither to Him does it seem good that one should perish; and from common custom, because the shepherd leaves them that are safe, and seeks what is lost; and when he has found what had gone astray, he is greatly delighted at the finding and the saving of this.
