Matthew 18:10-14 is one of Jesus’ most radical teachings. He tells us that God, like a shepherd, will leave ninety-nine safe sheep behind and set out after the one who’s gone missing. Most of us, if we’re honest, would hesitate to take that risk. Our nature is to protect what’s stable and let go of the “lost causes.” But the heart of God—shown so beautifully in the life of Christ—simply does not work that way.
Father Gregory Boyle, the Jesuit priest behind Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, lives out this shepherd’s heart every day. Homeboy Industries is the largest gang intervention and rehabilitation program in the world, welcoming men and women society has often labeled as too far gone—people marked by addiction, crime, and deep wounds. When many turn away, Father Boyle and his team step in with open arms, not to fix, but to love.
Our culture has a habit of giving up on the difficult cases—the struggling student, the estranged family member, the neighbor who never seems to get it together. Maybe you’ve been written off yourself, by others or even by your own inner critic. But in God’s eyes, no one is expendable. No one is forgotten. God’s love is stubborn, pursuing, never giving up—even when everyone else walks away.
The work of Homeboy Industries is messy. There are setbacks, disappointments, and heartbreaks. Yet, story after story unfolds of lives changed—not by force, but by relentless, patient love. This echoes the Divine pattern: a love that won’t quit, that chases us down, that finds value in what the world discards.
Today, let’s reflect: Who in our lives have we quietly written off? What parts of ourselves have we decided are beyond redemption? The gospel calls us to imitate the shepherd—to risk loving the hard cases, to step toward the hurting, to refuse to be satisfied until all are safely gathered in.
Let’s be a community that mirrors God’s pursuit. Let’s choose, again and again, to see the one, to go after the lost, to love without calculation—trusting that, in God’s hands, nobody is ever too far gone.