out of the ordinary | the waters

God frequently works through the ordinary. Through them he shares something of his love for us and reveals elements of his redemption plan. In this devotional series we look at some of the ordinary things Jesus would have encountered as he journeyed towards the cross. Today, we 're continuing to look at all things watery. Holy Spirit, will you reveal something extraordinary through each of them. Amen.

They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. Mark 5:1, NIV

When Jesus set out to cross the Lake of Galilee he deliberately chose to take himself to an area no-one really expected him to go to. Jesus was a Jew and Gerasenes was not a Jewish region; it was a gentile region. At that point in his ministry many of Jesus’ followers believed he had come only to save the Jews. But Jesus goes to great lengths to show them the nature of the Kingdom he wants to bring in. It is a Kingdom for everyone. No-one is excluded from it.

And Jesus presses the point further by dealing face-to-face with the man possessed by the evil spirits immediately he reaches land. Meeting the demon-possessed man would have made Jesus - according to Jewish custom - ritually unclean. But Jesus didn't hesitate to meet him where he needed to be met.

Sometimes our experiences or the things people say about us can bind us up so much we miss the fact that Jesus wants us in his Kingdom. We exclude ourselves from receiving what Jesus has for us by thinking we have the wrong background, live in the wrong house, have the wrong job, look the wrong way, went to the wrong school...

But Jesus doesn’t exclude us. He crosses lakes, stumbles to the cross, goes out of his way to meet us where we need to be met.

Let’s pray
Thank you, Lord, for the lengths you were prepared to go to so I could be included in your Kingdom. Thank you for consistently meeting and accepting me just as I am, right where I am. I am so grateful Jesus, and I love you. Amen.