No More Circles, Please?

A friend of mind commented the other day that Jesus seemed to enjoy having a meal with the most obnoxious and despised people of his day. That baffled the "good" religious people, who
only approved of people like themselves, and made sure everybody knew it. They were certain that "good" people shouldn't pollute themselves by being around sinners (everyone else). But Jesus knew no such thing.

Jesus didn't limit himself the way the religious people of his day liked to. He interacted with sinners of all kinds, but he was deliberately and especially open to the hungry, the crippled, the tired and the condemned. They could sense his acceptance of them, and they came swarming around him. He touched them, healed them, fed them, interacted with them, and loved them, in a way they had never before received from anyone. The contrast between Jesus and the "good religious people" was obvious.

Reading the stories today, it's easy to see the religious people's problem and turn up our noses at them in disdain. But the same human nature is in us too. We too like to surround ourselves with people who are mostly like us. Whether it's the cheerleaders in high school, or the chemistry students in college, or the PTA parents, we all think we are better off with the people who think and act like us, and that we are better than all the people on the outside of our little circle.

Someday, will somebody  write about us in the same way the gospel writers wrote about the religious people around Jesus? Let me suggest a couple of daily reminders, to keep it from happening:
1. Our true identity comes to us from Jesus Christ; not from our accomplishments or our looks or our money or what others think of us. Because we exist only from being "in Christ" none of the rest of it matters on an eternal basis anyway.
2. Everyone else's true identity is also found in being "in Christ" whether they know it or not; not from their accomplishments or looks or money (or lack of it) or what somebody else thinks of them.

So, we can welcome anyone, just as we would welcome Jesus himself (and see Matt. 25:40 for how Jesus thought of this idea).  We don't need to draw any circles. Not even to exclude "good religious people" because Jesus loves them just the same way he loves us.

That may be especially important right now, as we look ahead to celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus for "all those people" -- as well as you and me.