All the Father's Favorites by Pete BriscoeUzorak

If You Knew Me

When someone you love makes compassion, kindness, forgiveness, respect and God an option, you can be sure they have made you an option, as well. — Shannon L. Alder

We see it in war, the Holocaust, the Middle East, and even in our own neighborhoods. Favoritism creates disposable humans. In Jesus’ day, women were among the discarded… literally.

In his book Who Is This Man?, John Ortberg notes that the Roman world averaged 140 men for every 100 women. In Rome, the Law of Romulus required a father to raise all his healthy sons and only the first healthy daughter. After that, daughters were disposable without legal consequence. In the Roman city of Delphi, only one out of 600 known families chose to raise more than one daughter. Can you imagine?

Josephus, a famous Jewish historian, wrote, “The woman, says the law, is inferior to the man.” Because men were favored, women became disposable.

Jesus went out of his way to invite the discarded and rejected into the Kingdom. He was radical in this way—inviting outsiders to become insiders.

Think about the woman at the well in John 4. She would have been considered inferior for both her ethnicity and her gender, and she had been abandoned—either through death or divorce—by five men. She was despised, discarded, and rejected. So when Jesus spoke to her, she was shocked. I love how Jesus responded to her. If you knew Me… (para. 4:10).

• If you knew Me, then you’d know I don’t play favorites.
• If you knew Me, then you’d know I love and accept you just as you are.
• If you knew Me, then you’d know you’re priceless to Me—that I’ll give all of Myself to redeem you.

When the disciples returned, Scripture says they marveled that Jesus was talking to a woman. As we start to see others as Jesus sees them—as all His favorites—our behavior will be just as radical. We’ll find ourselves engaged in conversations that amaze us and all who are nearby watching. 

Why? Because Jesus is radically accepting, and He lives in you! When you know that about your Savior, He’ll love that same way through you moment by moment.

Lord, my prayer today is simple. I want to know You more. I want to know the depths of Your compassion, the extent of Your kindness, the freedom of Your forgiveness, the regard for Your Creation, and the place of belonging found in Your love. Then love the rejected ones through me. Amen.