99 lost sheep

Today, we read of the famous stories of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin and the Prodigal Son in the gospel of Luke 15. I think Luke's Jesus was over-optimistic. What if he had not one, but 99 lost sheep to fetch out!
I do not know the world population in the first century. One source estimates that in 100 A.D., the Christians made up of less than 1% of the world population. Jesus really had 99 lost sheep to save at the end of 100 A.D. After twenty centuries of effort, the situation is improved. As of mid-2007, according to Worldwide Missions, about 32% of the world population profess Christianity.
I don't mean to be offensive. Let me label non-Christians as the "lost sheep" for the sake of argument. Therefore, ten years into the twenty first century, the Church still has 70 lost sheep to retrieve into her fold!

The three beautiful stories are meant to demonstrate God's love for men. Of course, God loves the righteous Pharisees and teachers of Law. They were the descendents of His friends Abraham and Moses. But He loves the sinners as well. God did not have to worry about the righteous Pharisees and teachers of the Law because Moses had already handed down the Torah to guide their lives. Therefore, God could be freed to fetch out the sinners.
In the early years of the Christianity, they were outnumbered by the Jewish establishment. Therefore, one sheep standing against 99 others was no exaggeration. How comforting it would be for Christians to hear that God would leave behind the 99 self-righteous Pharisees to look out for the one single lost Christian. Christians knew very well that they had been sinners. God values their repentance more than the righteousness of the Pharisees.
Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance (Luke 15:7).

I like to fancy what-if scenarios. What if the shepherd had lost 2 sheep instead of one? Well, I suppose he would still leave 98 sheep in the wilderness to fetch out the 2 lost sheep. What about the joy he would have after finding the 2 lost sheep? On average, there would be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 49 righteous persons who need no repentance!
What if the shepherd had lost 10 sheep and finally found them? His joy over one repentant sinner would be reduced to 9 righteous persons! How terrible the Law of Diminishing Return is!
What if the shepherd had lost 20 sheep or even more? Well, for economic reason, the stakes are getting higher and higher. I think the shepherd has all the more reason to go all the way out to save them. BTW, I think the Law of Diminishing Return has no effect on God.

Luckily, Jesus did not have to suffer this, not because of the ineffectiveness of the Law of DR over him! In reality, Jesus did not have 100 sheep to begin with. He started from zero! As of today, Jesus has managed to gather 30 sheep into his fold. Luke was ingenious indeed. When he wrote the story in the first century, there was only one sheep in the fold and 99 lost sheep outside. Indeed, this parable of the Lost Sheep sounds very apocalyptic to my ears.
Let me define what I mean by Christian. A Christian is someone who makes Christ the core, the focus of his life. The day will come when only 1% of the world population is non-Christian. The Good Shepherd will leave the 99% Christians behind in the wilderness to fetch out the remaining 1% non-Christians in the world. After he has converted them all, he will be extremely joyful to tell God the Father, the Holy Spirit and all the angels what he has accomplished.
Is this a possibility? It is a certainty. When the Christian population has reached a critical mass, a tipping point will be reached when all the humanity will turn away from sins and return to God.

My dear Good Lord, You are the Good Shepherd who laid down Your life to redeem us. You have demonstrated Your love without reservation. Set my heart ablaze to join You in the mission to fetch out our brothers. Amen.