Luke 15:5
Luke 15:55And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders,
Well used in Watchtower material on shepherding — elders are encouraged to search for inactive ones and help them return, and the joy over the recovered sheep is applied to reinstatement. The parable is generally read as applying to those who have drifted rather than to those formally removed, who are treated differently.
Look at the movement in the parable. The shepherd leaves the ninety-nine and goes after the one until he finds it. The sheep does not find its own way back and present itself for assessment. The shepherd goes. And when he finds it he puts it on his shoulders and rejoices — carrying the animal that wandered off. There is no reproach in the scene at all. The same chapter tells it twice more. The woman lights a lamp and sweeps the house until she finds the coin. The father sees his son while he is still a long way off, and runs. Luke 15 is three variations on one theme, and the theme is that God moves toward the lost. Hold that beside a practice in which a family member must first satisfy a committee before contact resumes. Ask, gently and without making it about anyone in particular, which direction love travels in this chapter. Most Witnesses know these parables very well, and the question tends to sit with them. Compare , , .