23 May 2020
Just a thought...
Ninety and nine:
“I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.” (Luke 15:7, NRSVA).
Anecdote:
When the first missionaries to the Innuit people attempted to translate the Bible they stumbled over the word joy. Presumably, in that bleak, icy landscape there was not much need for such a word, until someone pointed out that the Innuit’s dogs that were always full of joy at the end of a hard day of sledge pulling.
The sentence is apparently translated, ‘there will be more tail wagging in heaven over one sinner that repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance!’
