He Gets Us: Diving Deeper | Plan 2Àpẹrẹ

He Loves Us

Jesus had the same amount of time as everyone else, yet he was never in a hurry. He took the time to notice people, even the ones others overlooked. You feel loved when you’re noticed. It feels good. Just study his life and you see him loving on the most unexpected people.

Jesus loved the outsiders: Almost everyone was poor in first century Israel. They lived hungry, never knowing what it was like to be full. Some were also starved for human touch. Radical Jesus went skin to skin with these sick and socially-shunned folks. He got close to lepers when others gasped. He pulled in from the shadows those with unimaginable disorders. He saw their real souls, underneath the skin barriers and shame. And they saw in his face, the love and acceptance they’d been desperately searching for.

Jesus loved the creative ones: For sure, Jesus applauded the four friends who brought their paralyzed buddy to him for help. Crowds kept them from getting close, so they made a hole in the thatched roof and lowered him down in front of Jesus. After Jesus brushed off the dirt and straw from his shoulders, he likely laughed at their ingenuity. “We couldn’t get in the door . . . and our friend needs you,” they said to Jesus.

Jesus loved the little children: And they loved him back. Imagine kids hanging around the fringes of every scene with Jesus. Kids usually have a good sense of who’s for real and who’s not. And Jesus drew them like a magnet. When people shooed them off, Jesus waved them over. Come sit with me. He was tender and fun and patient with them, bending down to meet them face to face. No one did that in first century Israel; and hardly ever since.

No wonder people followed Jesus. We would have, too. He took the time to really see people and then he loved what he saw.