Following Jesus: the Friend of the Outcast

It’s natural in our fast-paced, chronically busy, technology-driven culture to feel isolated and alone. As we go through our days and weeks we wonder if there is anyone who knows us, anyone who loves us, or anyone who would love us if they really knew us.

Levi knew that he wasn’t loved. He was a tax collector; making his living off Rome’s oppression of the Jews. He was despised and rejected by the Pharisees, the good people of the land. And Jesus’ invitation was to him. It didn’t matter to Jesus what his political allegiances were or what other choices he had made to survive in his harsh world. Jesus knew that Levi was an outsider who needed to be invited into God’s loving embrace. He was an outcast who needed to know that God had not forgotten him.

Jesus was not only the kind of a man who could make an invitation to someone like Levi, he was the kind of man that Levi wanted to be around. Levi brought Jesus into his house for dinner with other tax collectors and sinners. As followers of Jesus, we too are called to love those whom no one else will love. Whether they are marginalized by their political choices, sexual choices, racial heritage, income level, or religion, we are called to be a people who not only invite these others into God’s Kingdom but a people they would want to be in their homes and around their friends.

Respond in Prayer

Gracious God, thank you for inviting me into your kingdom: for your love, acceptance, and forgiveness. Through your Spirit, help me to be like Jesus, a friend of the friendless, the unwanted, and the unloved. May my life be so inviting that they will want me to be with them and their friends. Amen.

David Williams