A group of 8-10 well-read adults gathers on Sunday mornings before worship at the Lutheran Church where I often preach. Their discussion of the Morning Lessons is deep and passionate: I always learn something for my sermon. Last Sunday the conversation dealt with an Old Question, “Can we/I fall from Grace?” Folk religion worries this concept to tatters, bringing guilt-trips about past moral or ethical lapses, real or magnified by time. A deeper question may well be, “How much am I worth? Will an angry God discard me as irredeemable?” I once met a jail inmate whose tattoo identified his own self-worthlessness — “Child of Hell”.
Into this paranoia the Church introduces an alternate concept. Isaiah 56 addresses a despondent remnant of Israel, wearily picking up the pieces after 70 years of Exile in Babylon. “Maintain justice, and do what is right, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed.” (v.1) He urges the welcome of “foreigners” who have joined themselves to the faith-community: “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples….I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.” (vv.7,8) So there must be Others created and loved by God!
Paul’s Letter to the Romans is so full of gems! In Chapter 11 he still agonizes that the traditional Jews are disdaining others who are beloved by God — especially Jesus, the Christ. He speaks of disobedience overcome by mercy, and that what has been called Good should not be profaned. “for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” (v.29) This verse is easily memorized, not so easily remembered; may it comfort you in hours of despair!
Matthew’s Gospel was addressed to those whose lives revolved around Jewish propriety. You may hear the “parable” of Jesus which tells that what goes into a person’s mouth doesn’t defile that person nearly as much as that which comes out. This then is contrasted with the story directly following, that of Jesus in Phoenicia being confronted by a woman of that place whose daughter was demonized. The Galilee crowd soon found out that even these foreigners were created holy, loved by God….
As almost always, the inspiration is both individual AND communal. As individuals, we gain confidence that God Always Loves Us, despite our daily screw-ups. And as a community of Believers, we’re to recognize the Divinity in the Stranger, and to affirm their holy worth beyond their neighborhood of origin.
God Bless Us, Every One Horace Brown King
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