Outcasts

Thus says the LORD God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered. ~ Isaiah 56:8
The strategy of Jesus is not centered in taking the right stand on issues, but rather in standing in the right place—with the outcast and those relegated to the margins.” ~ Gregory Boyle, Tattoos of the Heart



God gathers the outcasts.

Jesus loved the outcasts.

We are still a world full of outcasts. 

 Outcasts come in all shapes, sizes, genders, sexualities, races, creeds, and contexts.

 Often they are persecuted or tormented in some ways.

 More often even they are isolated in some way.

 And most often they don't enjoy the privilege that many of us take for granted.


On the Gaza strip,  fear of the other has led to the slaughter of civilians for years.

On the Texas border, fear of the other led to to citizen "militia" groups, tormenting and terrorizing children who came thousands of miles with just the hope and dream of safety. 

 In schools around the country, fear of the other has led at times to teen suicide or other manners of self-harm.

 In urban areas, historical fear of the other led to "white flight" from neighborhoods, or red-lining to keep black and brown people out of other neighborhoods.

 In a pandemic setting, fear of the other led to slurs against Asian Americans.

The opposite of love, I have read, is not hate.  Instead it is fear.  So much of the violence and vile directed toward the "other" or the outcast in our world comes from fear.

Fear, and perhaps, inertia.  Inertia I think is also the opposite of love.

So much of the news lately has moved me to tears.  I'm not afraid of the "other," I tell myself.  And I hate what is happening!

Yet if inertia is stopping me from doing something to reach out to the other, to be a presence of good and light in their lives, then what good am I to them?

 God gathers the outcasts and Jesus loved the outcasts.

How can we remember to gather and love them as well?


God of the outcast, move me from my safe place to stand with the outsider in love and companionship. Amen.
Thoughts for engagement:

 - Who are the outcasts in today's news?
- What would Jesus' response to them be?
- How many outcasts can you find in the Gospels that Jesus loved and cared for?

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