Jesus and the Marginalized

No matter what we face in this world, we can always find answers and wisdom from the words and actions of Christ. I look to how Jesus interacted with the Samaritan people, a people who were regarded as a lesser race, dirty, impure, and were overtly marginalized and cast out/aside. 
Throughout the New Testament we see that Samaritans were heavily looked down upon by the Jews and Romans, they were scorned. This makes them very important in the New Testament, Jesus taught that the common attitude toward the Samaritans had to change. 
It was so important that Jesus passed through Samaritan towns instead of crossing the Jordan to avoid them, like the rest of society. Jesus was intentional in his words and actions with the Samaritan people, in his parable of the good Samaritan, Jesus shows the Samaritan's exceeding kindness in doing as much as he possibly could to help his neighbor who was in need. When Jesus healed the Samaritan leper, he immediately went to Jesus, glorified God and gave thanks, this is an outstanding example of gratitude. Jesus interacted with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, we see how she listened to Jesus and believed what He told her. Jesus chose her to be the messenger of the Gospel to the Samaritan people as a whole!

God's word puts on full display that Jesus went out of His way to show that Samaritans were among those who exercised compassion, gratefulness and faith. They were hated by society and marginalized, but what Christ came for was much more important than walls of separation.

We need to understand what Jesus thought & taught about the Samaritans, and the attitude of Christ to the marginalized, when we do this, we begin to better understand God’s heart for mankind. No one is excluded. #LoveRequiresAction

"Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses."

-Proverbs 10:12 ESV