When Christ finds the wandering sinner

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(William Bacon Stevens, "The Parables" 1857)

"And when he finds it, he joyfully lays it on his shoulders and goes home!' Luke 15:5-6

The parable of the Lost Sheep teaches us the tender care and compassion of our Lord towards the recovered wanderers. What could illustrate this more than the shepherd's act of laying the lost sheep, when he found it, "on his shoulders," and so bearing it home?

When Christ finds the wandering sinner--He does not roughly upbraid him, He does not drive him harshly before Him, but . . .
throws His loving arms around him,
takes him to His bosom,
lays him on His shoulder where no harm can reach him,
protects him by His hands, and
pledges the mightiness of His own power to return the wanderer to the fold of God.

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