Isaiah 40:1-11 / Matthew 18:12-14
It is a human tendency to look with favour on those who are well-behaved, who are obedient, who are smart and intelligent, and generally those who have good qualities.
But those who are out-of-sync, out-of-step, those who seem to dance to a different tune, we tend to leave them aside, we tend to see them as problems.
This kind of situation happens everywhere, and it even happens at home.
One child might be bright and smart; the other dull and may be wayward.
The tendency is to shower the bright and smart one with love and attention, and just give the basic minimum to the other.
Yet the Good Shepherd image that is portrayed in today's two readings showed that God pays special attention to the weak and to those who strayed and are lost.
The Good Shepherd also challenges our human tendencies and also fundamentally our human biasness.
Just as it is the sick who needs the doctor, Jesus came to seek and save those who are lost in their sins.
When we challenge ourselves to try to understand some whom we consider to be a "problem", then we might discover that it is actually we who are solving our own problems.