The Outsiders

I was reading something the other day (so many of my light bulb moments come through something I'm reading.) Anyway, the gist of it was is that we need to confront our prejudices because we were/are all at one time foreigners from God's grace. The idea of being a foreigner stuck with me. God calls us sojourners far from home, foreigners in a land not our home. God began the nation of Israel by calling Abraham, a foreigner in the land of Ur and sent him on a wild journey with no given destination.

I thought of how when Jesus came He and the religious leaders of that time were at odds. From what I've learned the Jews of that time were under Roman rule and their idea of their Messiah was a leader who would deliver them from their heathen rulers. And yet, when He came Jesus didn't challenge the Romans, He didn't look like the Messiah they were expecting at all. Instead He challenged the religious rulers of the time. He was more concerned with heart, then circumstance. He came to save not only the Jews, but the Gentiles as well. Well, that was quite a shocking concept to a Jew. Because they kept themselves separate and considered themselves a chosen people and all of a sudden this Jesus guy is saying He's their Messiah, but they still had to obey Rome AND that he wasn't just their Savior, but also the Gentiles Savior? He came for His own and also for those outside.

I love this. I love the thought that Jesus loves outsiders and foreigners, orphans and widows without families. Those who are on the outside looking in. I love that He reaches out for the lonely and the weird. I have felt like all of those things at one point or another. It gives me comfort and strength to know that I don't have to be important or special. I can just imagine if Jesus were to have come in our day. What would He have done? Would we have overlooked Him because He didn't appear to be what we were expecting? Would He have been reaching out to the prostitutes and drug dealers on the streets? Would He have gathered with our nation's financial leaders who have managed to flush our economy down the tube? (Remember, He dined with the hated and despised tax collectors.) Would He have reached out to the outcast, alienated, just plain weird kids in our schools? What about illegal immigrants? How would He have responded to them? Would He have joined those who picketed abortion clinics and protested at gay events? How would He have reacted to our current Church leaders? Would He have said, "well done." Or would He have challenged them as He did the Pharisees in Jerusalem?

I really think God must have a special place in His heart for outsiders. Of course, Jesus was one Himself wasn't He? He didn't come like a local celebrity or national ruler. No, He defied expectation and came as an oddity. Don't you just love that God is not too big or too good to get down to our level? Even the level of the lowest of the low. None of us are outside the reach of the grace and love of Jesus.