‘Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven. 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? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost. (Matthew 18:10-14, NRSV)
Are the sheep that are in the fold in danger? They could be but there is safety in numbers. Now yes a wolf could come in and scare a group and get a sheep. But the idea here is that Jesus cares for those who have left the fold and are searching for greener pastures.
He cares for the wanderer so much that He is willing to leave the fold on the mountain and go searching for the one that is lost. He will risk everything, in fact He already did. He gave His life for the lost sheep…
So we can not despise or look down upon those who are not in the fold, because once you were not in the fold. But because Jesus loved you enough to go looking for you, you are now here. So look on those who are searching for greener pastures with love and help them to find our great shepherd!
aSacredRebel 