Outsiders

One of Jesus’ most profound and important parts of His ministry was His choosing the twelve apostles. During this time, many people followed Him. He had many people travel with Him to towns and cities where He would preach. They all wanted to be his followers.

However, Jesus once again surprised them all. Jesus decided to choose outsiders, the lowest of the low, people who were cast out from the rest of society. He chose fisherman and tax collectors. He chose them to serve and teach the rest of the world about His Father.

Today we live in a world based on popularity, what kind of clothes you wear, what sports you play and what kind of cell phones you have. Those who seemingly are not up to par or do not meet the requirements that are need to live in our society are considered outsiders, the lowest of the low, considered not good enough to be successful in life. It is the same case with religion. The world is not concerned with religion. Our world does not base itself on religion and God, because it does not seem “cool” or the “in thing” to be religious, to go to Mass or receive the Sacraments. It does not consider those who want to help bring others closer to God cool or popular.

However, Christ is the person who does! Just as He chose the unpopular and the poorest of people to serve Him as the twelve apostles, so He also chooses us! The world needs good men and women to teach others about Christ. It needs us to show others what really should be first and foremost in our minds, and that is Christ! The world generally needs to become closer to God.

Christ is calling us to be outsiders. He does not want us to worry about popularity, about what we do and do not have. He wants us to only work on our relationship with Him, to love Him and to serve Him. Jesus told the apostles, “Take nothing with you. Don’t even carry a duffle bag with extra clothes or shoes or even a walking stick.” He is telling us that when He sends us out to teach others about Himself, we should not take anything with us except our love for Him and our eagerness to serve.

Jesus is calling us to be outsiders, castaway from the world and what it deems important. When we become outsiders, non-conformers to the world, then nothing can hold us back from Christ’s love. The question is, “Are we up to this challenge?”