Have you ever felt like an outcast, like you don’t fit in? It could have been in a church, or in a new workplace. Or maybe you’ve felt like an outcast amongst your own family or friends. It’s an awful feeling.
Sometimes people avoid church because they believe they’re an outcast. They think that “someone like them” could never fit in or be welcomed at a church. That’s a lie from Satan designed to keep people from hearing the gospel.
In John 4, we find the story of the woman at the well. This is a surprising interaction for a few reasons: first, Jesus is a man, speaking to a woman…a Samaritan woman…a Samaritan woman with a checkered past. There’s plenty of reason for this woman to feel uncomfortable in this situation.
In verse 29 she says, “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” From what we can tell, Jesus didn’t tell her “all the things she ever did.” All we see is that he talked about her history with men; perhaps that’s entirely how she defined herself.
Why is that what she was previously ashamed of, she now exclaims to the people in the city?
Because the things we’re ashamed of – the things that make us outcasts – have a completely different meaning in the presence of Jesus.
The woman realized that Jesus knew everything about her and didn’t give her a dirty look, he didn’t spit at her, he didn’t kick dirt at her, he didn’t judge or condemn her. He looked her in the face, talked to her like a human being, and offered her living water.
This woman’s interaction with Jesus leads to an outbreak of conversion in her city, first because of her testimony, and then a second wave from those who went to see Jesus for themselves.
If you’re talking to someone who considers themselves an outcast, someone who thinks they might never “fit in” at church, let them know that they’re exactly the kind of person Jesus wants to see in church. Let them know what Jesus said in John 6:37 – “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”
When we realize we’re all very much like the woman at the well, and that Jesus knows us completely and still offers us living water, it drives us to a place of humility.
When “outcasts” from our communities show up to church, let’s make sure they hear and feel the gospel love of Jesus as they spend time with us!
