The Lost Sheep, Christian Wall Art

What is painted

On a rough hillside of pale stone and dry grass, Jesus kneels at the edge of a hollow in the rocks. His arms reach down and lift a small lamb up toward him, its legs still dangling. His robe gathers around his knees on the stones; he has clearly climbed to get here. The rest of the flock is nowhere to be seen.

The picture is painted with the richness of an oil painting, in warm beige, ochre and brown, with light falling on the lamb and on the hands that hold it. There is no text, so the gesture carries the whole meaning.

The parable of the lost sheep

Jesus told this story in Luke 15, and a shorter version appears in Matthew 18. In Luke the setting matters: tax collectors and sinners were coming to hear him, and the Pharisees and scribes grumbled, “This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.” Jesus answered with three stories of lost things, a sheep, a coin and a son.

A man has a hundred sheep and loses one. He leaves the ninety and nine in the wilderness and goes after the one that is lost until he finds it. When he does, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing, and calls his friends and neighbors to celebrate. Jesus draws the lesson plainly: there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.

What moves people in the parable is the shepherd's stubbornness. He does not wait for the sheep to come home. He searches, and this painting shows the moment the search ends.

For a child's room, a baptism, a pastor

Jesus wall art like this is a natural fit for a nursery or a child's bedroom, where the lamb is easy to love, and it is often given for a baptism as a picture of being found and carried. It also belongs in a Sunday school room or the office of a pastor or youth minister, whose calling is very much this one.

The print is made to order in the United States on heavy archival matte paper, with free delivery within the US. It ships without a frame, in sizes from 5x7 to 24x36 or in metric and A formats, and a digital file is also offered. Children tend to love the rescued lamb, which makes this Christian wall art an easy way to tell the parable at bedtime, and a small Christian poster of it fits well on a Sunday school bulletin board.