One must remember that we are dealing with a parable and therefore should not ask whom the ninety-nine sheep represent. This detail is necessary for the imagery, but it does not have significance for the meaning of the parable—and therefore we should not be pressed into identifying some symbolic interpretation.1
12 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray?