Yesterday we said that Jesus chooses to go to people who admit they aren’t perfect. Here’s the continuation of that story:

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2. But it’s pretty clear that Jesus isn’t willing to leave people where they are, in lives that don’t work.

We think about that often. “Well, Jesus was loving. He wouldn’t reject me.”

Jesus was loving. And, by the way, Jesus IS loving. But it was the kind of love that says, “that pain you are feeling? I can heal that. But you have to follow me.”

That’s what happened to the son in the far land.

But Jesus also challenges the people who stayed home, who stayed close, who didn’t go off in lives of abandon.

Jesus challenges good people. The good people who judge the bad people.

That’s what happened to the older brother. He was mad at his dad for being willing to welcome his foolish, wasteful, sinful brother. The brother who got to go off. The brother who hadn’t worked hard enough, hadn’t behaved well enough.

Jesus challenges us, too.

Reconciling doesn’t mean compromising. It’s not like God invites us to sit and say, “if you’ll give up on this, I’ll give up on that.” The compromise is, “come home.” The compromise is “welcome home” The compromise is, “I’ll carry you home.”

3. Jesus is begging people to come home.  You may like a different word. Prompting. Imploring.

It’s what Paul says.

We are ambassadors, carrying the message of God. The message has emotion and words.

Come home.

Too often, I think, church people, the people who could be ambassadors, become judges, believing that we need to enforce the rules, that we need to protect Jesus and protect our reputation.

Every time I read this story of the lost sheep, I think about how Jesus walks away from the large crowd, leaving them out in the open, and looks for the one. It is so wasteful, from one perspective, to leave the many for the sake of the one. Who probably got itself into trouble and might again.

And when we read about the Father welcoming and celebrating.

In fact, in all of these stories that end with celebration, there is a reminder that Jesus is drawing us, inviting us, welcoming us, forgiving us into a party, a community, a celebration.