When Jesus walked upon this earth, he lived in a highly stratified society—stratified by power, wealth and religious status. He came to this earth to seek and to save the lost. Was it just happenstance that he met the woman at the well while sending the disciples into the village for food? Was it only coincidence that he traveled by boat to the region of the Gerasenes, finding a man most cruelly demon possessed, setting him free, only then to climb aboard the boat again and return across the lake? Was it just a chance encounter when Jesus, followed by a large crowd, met the funeral procession of a widow’s only son—her last hope for protection and provision now dead—and then drawing near, touching the coffin, giving back a son dead, but now living and breathing and warm to a mother’s embrace.

No, everywhere Jesus went he traveled with measured and determined step—guided by His Father—in order to seek and to save the lost. Walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee he saw, approached and called Simon Peter and Andrew, then James and John. He found Matthew collecting taxes in his booth and Zacchaeus hiding in a sycamore tree.

All those would be followers who came to Jesus of their own accord left disheartened by his high call. Crowds came to him—but for all the wrong reasons—even welcoming him to Jerusalem with shouts of “Hosanna,” only to turn on him in the end with shouts of “crucify him.” Jesus sought those broken by their sin and circumstance with love and grace and compassion, touching lepers, giving sight to the blind, setting free the demon possessed, healing the sick, bringing corpses to life, forgiving sinners—and for this he was killed.

It was the very religious men of the day, having the most to lose—prestige, power, wealth and place—who sent Jesus to his death with a viciousness unparalleled; they tortured and crucified the one through whom all things were created, in whom all things hold together. Not much has changed; Jesus still is seeking those lost and broken. He is seeking you, beckoning you to step into the wide open spaces of his love and grace and compassion—beckoning you with a kindness unparalleled!