We all love comfort and the people with whom we feel comfortable. There is nothing wrong with enjoying the company of those we love and sharing life with people who feel like “our own.” Our culture naturally divides people into “us” and “them.”

We see this in many ways:
• social status
• education and intellect
• where people live—city or rural, local or newcomer
• citizenship or immigration status
• ideology and worldview
• race, language, or ethnicity
• culture and traditions
• political views
The list goes on.

As part of this broken world, we are tempted to do the same. Sometimes we even decide whom to serve—and whom not—based on those differences. But Jesus goes where others refuse to go.

In Mark’s account, Jesus intentionally leaves the familiar boundaries of His own people, bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to those considered outsiders. He performs miracles not among “His own” but among those many would have considered strangers.

For those around Jesus and, later, for the first readers of Mark’s Gospel, this was revolutionary. It was as if Mark were saying that the Kingdom of God extends beyond Israel. Jesus values not only His own people but also those beyond its borders. He brings hope to the very people we often leave on the sidelines of our lives.

I remember the early years of our ministry, when we decided to spend Christmas Day serving at a hospice outside our city. It was far away and hard to reach, especially on Christmas, when everyone already had plans. We originally planned to hold the event once and then bring it back the following year.

But that first hour changed our hearts and, in many ways, our lives. We met people who were not only seriously ill but also carrying deeply painful stories. Over the years that followed, we watched God bring hope and healing to many of those lives as He allowed us to keep serving there.

Jesus said, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10, NIV). The people who seem lost to us are never lost to God. When we follow Jesus without dividing people into “us” and “them,” we begin to encounter the very people He seeks to reach. We become part of the miracles He chooses to accomplish through us.

This world builds walls. Christ builds bridges.

Practice:
Today, build one small bridge instead of another wall. Call someone you have not spoken to in a long time. Greet the person you usually overlook. Invite someone new at church to coffee. Show kindness to someone from whom you expect nothing in return. Perhaps that simple step will allow Christ to touch someone’s life, just as He once came to those considered outsiders.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for finding me when I was lost. Give me Your heart to see people not through the lens of our differences but through Your love. Help me take one step today toward someone You are already seeking. In Jesus’ name. Amen.