The Way of JesusSample

Radical Grace

Jesus had this quirky habit. He always invited people in when society had left them out. He went after the weird ones, the nobodys, the rejects. And He invited these men and women to find their place in the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the through line of Jesus’ ministry because He was building something different—something not based on status or merit, but on radical grace. 

We see it in His family history. From the beginning of the biblical story, God has been inviting the people we’d least expect to be part of something really special. People like Rahab and Tamar, who both played the role of prostitute. One faking it to accomplish her own agenda; one the real deal. Pause. Did you catch that? There’s a literal prostitute in the genealogy of Jesus. Then there’s Jacob, the deceiver who stole the birthright from his brother. And Manasseh, one of Israel's many kings who did evil in the eyes of the Lord, notably by setting up places of sacrifice for the worship of pagan gods.

Take that in for a second. To think that Jesus, our Savior, came from such a messy, dysfunctional family. This goes to show that no matter what you’ve done, how you’ve messed up, or the baggage you carry, you’re still invited to be a part of God’s family. All the names we can read in Jesus’ family line screwed up in some way, but God still chose them to be a part of His redemptive plan to rescue humanity and restore creation. Today, because of Jesus, we’re offered that same invitation. 

And the genealogy is just the prequel! The person Jesus chose to reveal His identity to? A Samaritan woman. And here’s the thing: She wasn’t just a Samaritan woman, she was a Samaritan woman with a past. This past involved five different marriages, and nothing seemed to be changing in her life because she was already living with another guy. Still, Jesus picked that moment and that woman to reveal His identity as the long-awaited Messiah and invite her to share His mission with her entire village. 

Jesus’ methods messed with people, particularly the people who were bought in to the value system of their culture. This included the religious leaders. They thought they had it made. They were at the top of their social ladders—leaders, well-educated. But their titles had produced entitlement. So Jesus came and turned everything on its head, introduced a completely different value system, and included the people that the Pharisees had rejected—because the values of the Kingdom are different from the values of our culture. 

Let’s ask Jesus to examine our hearts. Have we become so comfortable in our culture that we don’t crave the Kingdom? Have we tied our identity to a set of values that leads us to a distorted view of ourselves and others? Gut check. Do we actually want God to rule or are we still obsessed with our own kingship?