Following in the way of Jesus requires us to look at the world differently. It requires us to look at others differently.

Maybe it's just good ole' southern hospitality, but we all inherently know that it is better to be accepting, loving, welcoming. We intuitively get that hospitality is valuable. And yet often our hospitality does not go deeper than the surface. We tend to really value those who a) we can get something from or; b) are like us.

This Sunday, our texts weave together to tell us something about God's radical hospitality, his value for those previously considered "outsiders."

Isaiah 35: 4-7a describes a future world where healing happens for all people, where "waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert."

James 2 says that God has "chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him."

And in Mark 7, Jesus is approached by a woman from "outside" of God's children, one who was frequently called a "dog" by the insiders.

Jesus' approach to this woman catches us off guard, makes us uncomfortable and teaches us something about the specificity and wideness of the Kingdom of God.

This kind of hospitality is not just a moral imperative for Christians. It is who our God is.