Jesus teaches that God rejoices when those who stray come back
Matthew 18:12-14 12 What do you think? If a shepherd 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? 13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. 14 So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.
When someone rejects God (and in doing so - the community of God), depending on how badly they have hurt us in their rejection, we may not want them to come back into God's community at all. We may feel justified in keeping them out entirely - we may even hope they live to regret their decision. This is certainly where the heart of the prodigal brother was at in Luke 15:11-32. But not God. God goes searching for those who have strayed. God doesn't bring them back kicking and screaming, but "if he finds them", then Jesus warns those who never left that God will happily take them back. God wants us to have a like minded concern for those who have lost their way - searching them out, loving them, welcoming them back in God's community.
Do we ignore Jesus' teaching that in his community, those who stray are welcomed back with open arms? Do we practice this in our churches - making church a safe place to come home to? Or do we put up walls that reject those who have strayed? Do we have a ministry that actively reaches out to those who have strayed?
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