Welcoming Outsiders

Last Sunday (listen here), we looked at Stephen who was martyred after testifying about Jesus before the Sanhedrin. This resulted in severe persecution against the early church, scattering many of the Jesus followers throughout Judea, Samaria, and beyond. By trying to keep power and control centralised at the temple in Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin inadvertently sent the message of Jesus farther and farther away from their power and control, where it would be embraced by outsiders who were less and less like them.

In Acts 8, Philip brought the gospel to the Samaritans, who were similar to Jews in religion and ethnicity but were despised as ‘dirty halfbreed heretics’ by the Jews after a thousand years of bad blood. Philip then brought the gospel to an Ethiopian eunuch who was from a faraway land, likely a convert to Judaism, and not ethnically Jewish. As a eunuch, he was also an outsider because he wouldn’t have been allowed to worship in the temple or the ‘assembly of the Lord.’ Soon the gospel would reach gentiles, the ultimate outsiders who were totally alienated from Jewish religion and ethnicity.

Who do we know who once had a connection with Jesus, but have since left or wandered off and are now outsiders? Like the Samaritans and the eunuch, they may have a foundational understanding of faith and practice, but need someone to be a bridge for them, so they can receive the grace and mercy of God again. Calling to catch up for a coffee, or an invitation to church could change their life!