The Outcast

This week begins with Palm Sunday, Jesus’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem riding upon a donkey. The large crowd praised Him, waving palm branches, shouting “Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,” laying their cloaks on the ground before Him (Matthew 21). He seemed loved and welcomed. But...

Only 5 days later, he was crucified. That same large crowd that praised Him now shouted, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” How fickle is the human heart! And how quickly did they forget all the good He had done for them! How could this have happened? Jesus warned us...   “If the world hate you, know that it hated Me before it hated you” (John 15:18).

So often, as Christians, we don’t feel wanted or welcomed. If we don’t agree with the world’s viewpoints we’re called names, belittled, and hated. Some are even denied jobs for their faith. In other countries, the persecution of Christians is genocidal. Yet, Peter urged believers to live godly lives in spite of being “strangers in a strange land.” The Apostle Paul encouraged believers to “Know the power of Jesus’s resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffering, even being conformed to Him in His death” (Philippians 3:10).

Dear friends, we may not feel as though we fit in this world, much like Jesus felt, but a day is coming when all those who have made Jesus their Savior will be taken to their real Home. The outcasts are no longer unwanted but welcomed into Loving Arms. Those who endure suffering for Christ’s sake have built eternal bonds of fellowship with the One who suffered for their sins. And the hate that seems to have saturated society here below? It’s forever gone - never to break the human spirit again. We will be Home!

May our hearts find comfort and rest knowing that Home isn’t far away.

(Devotional by Cheryl Hall-Laos)