Here is a glorious truth—God’s grace is for all of us. This truth flies in the face of messaging we’re constantly bombarded with, messaging that tells us to “look within ourselves for strength, purpose, and fulfillment.” That “we are enough.” It’s bad news if we are as good as it gets.
The truly good news is that God deals in the currency of grace and He prioritizes the grieved, weary, sinful, unimpressive, and broken. Who has come to beckon sinners to Himself? It is Jesus, the friend of sinners. Who has Jesus come to help? It is us. In Matthew 8, we catch a glimpse of this as Jesus heals a leper, the dying servant of a Roman centurion, a sick mother-in-law, people who were demon-possessed, and scared disciples.
If you were starting a church, would these folks be your top picks for the team? Probably not. Yet Jesus loved and chose the overlooked, the marginalized, the outcast, and the fearful to be the first followers. It tells a lot about what kind of kingdom Jesus is building and what kind of love Jesus has. Do you see yourself as an unsuitable choice to receive God’s grace? If you do, then tell others that this kind of love is available to them. When we love and approach others in the same way that Jesus has loved us, we tell the truth about what God is like.
Our dear friends from India recently told us about a Christian friend who’d been born into the highest caste in India. This man was visiting a church in another city when he met a brother who’d been born into the lowest class. When they met, this brother (the outcast) shrinked back, moving away because he was so used to others from higher castes ignoring or mistreating him. To his shock, the Christian from the higher caste instinctively pulled him in for a hug, saying, “You are my brother in Christ.” Our friends remarked, “Only the gospel can do that.”
Jesus’s love heals in every direction—spiritually, physically, and relationally.
If you’re having a hard time recognizing the love of Christ towards you today, I invite you to remember the leper from our story. Recognizing that he was an undeserving sinner, he asked the Lord Jesus to cleanse him. Jesus’s response to him is no different than His response to us today, if only we would ask. Jesus answers, “I am willing; be made clean” (Matthew 8:3).
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