Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Matthew 18:12

Eastern Fathers

John Chrysostom

Again, He is putting another reason stronger than the former, and connects with it a parable, by which He brings in the Father also as desiring these things. "For how think ye?" saith He; "If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, he rejoiceth over it more than over the ninety and nine, which went not astray. …

Homily on the Gospel of Matthew 59 ↗

Theophylact of Ohrid

How think ye? If a man have a hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine on the mountains, and goeth to seek that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father Who is in the heavens, that one of these little ones should perish. What man had a hundred sheep? Christ. …

Commentary on Matthew ↗

Western Saints

Jerome

What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine in the mountains, and goeth to seek that which is gone astray? And if it so be that he findeth it: Amen I say to you, he rejoiceth more for that than for the ninety and nine that went not astray. …

Commentary on Matthew ↗

Gregory the Dialogist

"Which of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does he not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the one that was lost?" Behold, with wonderful dispensation of mercy, the Truth gave a similitude which man might recognize in himself, and yet which pertained especially to the very author of mankind. For since one hundred is a perfect number, he himself had a hundred sheep when he created the substance of angels and men. But one sheep was lost when man, by sinning, abandoned the pastures of life. …

Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 34 ↗

Hilary of Poitiers

But by the one sheep is to be understood one man, and under this one man is comprehended the whole human race. He that seeks man is Christ, and the ninety and nine are the host of the heavenly glory which He left.

Catena Aurea by Aquinas ↗