I hear you saying stuff like, “Jesus accepted the outcasts,” without explaining what you mean by, ‘accepted’ or who you’re calling ‘outcasts.’ Despite all the affirmation you’re getting on social media for this ambiguous assertion, it’s not a good idea to make open-ended claims about how Jesus deals with everyone who is excluded from a group.

Sometimes there is a reason an outcast is cast out. Do you remember all the outcasts you forced into solitary confinement because you thought being in the same room with them could kill you? Remember how you ostracized everyone who didn’t cover their face with a cloth? It was correct to put contagious people outside the camp so they wouldn’t infect the healthy folks. Infectious people should be cast out.

There is no special righteousness that comes from being kicked out of a group. Injustice isn’t always to blame for exiles. Sometimes justice creates outcasts. The victims of discrimination don’t always deserve sympathy. It’s not correct to portray Jesus as the unwavering supporter of every misfit and reject. In fact, (brace yourself) Jesus literally throws people out of His group.

(Matthew 7:22) “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

How’s that for a mega mound of marginalization? Nothing in that paragraph counts as ‘accepting.’ That is the opposite of ‘standing with’ the outcasts. I would encourage you to stop saying things about Jesus that Jesus himself contradicted.