Jesus Welcomed Everyone
When the teachers of the law who were
Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his
disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” – Mark 2:16
“Here I am! I stand at the
door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and
eat with that person, and they with me.”
–
Revelation 3:20
There’s a parable in Luke 14 about the man who
prepared a great banquet for many people. When all was ready, he sent his servants
to tell them to come and enjoy the feast. The invited guests responded with
excuses as to why they couldn’t come.
The man then sent his servants to the streets and
alleys of the town to invite the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.
Then the servants went out to the roads and country lanes and invited more so
that the man’s house would be full.
I love this parable because it’s a reminder than Jesus
invites everyone to His table. He doesn’t exclude someone because they aren’t
wealthy enough. He doesn’t exclude someone because they aren’t part of the “in”
crowd. He doesn’t look at weight or dress or skin color. Everyone is invited.
Yesterday I heard a young woman talk about the support
she’d received through a church-sponsored program that helps people gain the
skills they need to succeed. She talked about being accepted and supported and
how that makes all the difference when you’re struggling to succeed.
We tend to assume that everyone has a support system
made up of family and friends. We just “know” that everyone knows how to craft
a resume or dress for a job interview or balance a checkbook. But the reality
is that so many people don’t have that support or those skills. This program is
all about giving people both.
We are all about our little cliques. We don’t always
see it that way. We’ve got our group of folks we sit with, eat with, socialize
with. Certainly, there’s nothing wrong with that. But how often do we exclude
someone who longs for a place to belong?
It’s probably not intentional, though adult Christians
can certainly be mean and unwelcoming to those who look and dress differently
than they do. It’s just that we get so caught up in our own lives and our own habits
that we don’t see those lingering on the fringes on our world. We don’t want to
see. We don’t want to spend the time to get to know someone else. We don’t want
them to become our “problem.”
I’m so very thankful that Jesus never looked at anyone
that way. I’m grateful that He invited me to His table. Because, honestly, I
know what it’s like to sit alone. I know what it’s like to be excluded from the
photographs, from the outing, from the conversation. Have you been there? Have
you felt that stab of pain?
Because it hurts. We tell ourselves it doesn’t matter.
We put up a strong façade. We hide behind the smile, the right words, the
necessity of checking our phone right then. But Jesus sees the silent tears. He
knows the pain of rejection.
This Christmas season we remember the birth of our
Savior, the One who came to save us all. No exclusions. Everyone is invited to
partake of His free gift of salvation.
What gift can we give to Jesus for all He has done and
continues to do for each of us? Perhaps we can love those He has placed in our
paths. Maybe we can notice the outcast, those on the fringes of our worlds. Surely
we can invite them to our table, to sit beside us, to learn their names and
their stories.
Jesus welcomed everyone. Shouldn’t we do the same?
No comments:
Post a Comment