The Radical Inclusivity of Jesus’ Grace
Jesus is willing to accept anyone. No one is beyond his grace. It is this shocking concept that scandalized the Pharisees, amazed the disciples, and continues to bring hope to millions.
It does not matter how hopeless your life has been, or how deeply stained it is by sin. You might be a miserable wretch, someone who has suffered horrific abuse at the hands of others. You might carry the scars of your suffering deeper than you can comprehend. Perhaps you feel dirty, unclean, and utterly unworthy of God. You might be an absolute mess to the people who know you, or you might have hidden your hurt under an exterior of perfection. It doesn’t matter. Jesus knows, and his words are clear: “whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37).
Jesus once met a Samaritan woman who was an outcast among her people. Not only did Jesus ‘break rank’ to talk with her (he was a Jew, while she was one of the despised Samaritans), but he also recognized the source of her shame. She was hiding from people, drawing water from a well during the middle of the day – a time when she assumed that no one else would be around. Jesus identified the source of her shame: “you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband” (John 4:18). This woman was (if one can pardon the crassness of the term) a ‘slutty’ woman, and everyone knew it. But Jesus wasn’t rebuffed by her sin. He was willing to engage her and offer her grace. He offered her ‘living water,’ which would become a “spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14).
George Whitfield famously said that Jesus was willing to accept even ‘the Devil’s castaways.’ Today we could modernize that and say that God will accept even Satan’s rejects. If you are so guilty, ruined, and sinful that even Satan doesn’t want you – there is still an offer of grace for you.
When the Pharisees were scandalized by Jesus’ friendship with ‘sinners and tax collectors,’ Jesus expressed, once again, his willingness to accept anyone: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” This is why Jesus was willing to eat meals with tax collectors (men who didn’t have a backbone and were traitors to their own country) and sinners (individuals who were so sinful that everyone, including themselves, knew that their lives were a mess).
So what secret shame holds you back? Why do you hesitate to be embraced by Jesus? What prevents you from his fellowship? He offers you his grace. No matter who you are or what you have done, his grace is radically inclusive. He is able and willing to purify you. His truth will set you free.
