Early in one of my church plants, I got a strange call from
another pastor in town. He told me about a couple who had visited his church
the previous Sunday. He explained that they were really not “his kind of
people,” and that maybe they would fit better in my new congregation.
To put it bluntly, he didn’t want these undesirables coming back to his
church and he was hoping to pawn them off on me.
Even though the call left a bad taste in my mouth, I took
down the family’s contact information. I ended up visiting them in their home, sharing the gospel,
and leading them to Christ.
Why was this couple not “his kind of people?” The pastor
never came right out and said, but I think he must have pegged them as too poor--the wrong kind of social class. His very wealthy church was composed of many local dairy farm owners. The couple I visited, and led to the Lord, were
common laborers who worked on one of the dairies. I guess the pastor felt they
wouldn’t fit in.
I admire how Christ loved and cared for people others rejected. He touched lepers and blind beggars, cradled little children, dialogued with Samaritan and Gentile women, sought out local extortionists, and welcomed repentant prostitutes. In one way or the other, these were all "not our kind of people,” according to the Jewish religious elite. Even Jesus’ own disciples were nearly all unsophisticated men from the boonies. (The one exception, an urbanite, was named Judas Iscariot.)
His love for the wrong kind of people infuriated His
critics. Remember His first sermon in Nazareth, the one that ended up with the
congregation trying to murder Him (Luke 4:16ff)? Jesus incurred their wrath
when He reminded them how God, in the time of Elijah, had chosen to save a
widow in the Philistine town of Zarephath. Which made her a Gentile, and
probably a former Baal-worshiper. And if that wasn’t enough, He then reminded
them of the grace of God that came to a Syrian general named Naaman, an enemy
of Israel. Through the prophet Elisha, the Lord healed the man of leprosy and
saved his soul.
Jesus loves and saves all kinds of people.
Would you be tempted to make the phone call that pastor made
to me? Would you think that certain people are “not our kind?”
One day we’ll all be together, people from every tribe and
language and tongue and nation (see Revelation 5:9ff). All redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, all one family. Until then, let’s pray
that we can have the heart of our Savior toward people He loves, even if they’re
a lot different than we are. Who knows? Different might be good.
