I’m a traditionalist. I like holiday customs, Christmas cards and pumpkins. I like the little things families do just because we’ve always done it this way. In church, I like credos and liturgy; I like processions and music from long ago. Yet I also reluctantly realize that some of these things which define who I am may serve as barriers to others who would like to get closer, but fear my prejudices. And there are many. Scriptures for this upcoming weekend speak about human barriers to God–and about how God bestows Grace anyway….
In Genesis 45 (1-15) we come to some sort of climax to the story of how the Children of Abraham went to Egypt. The sons of Jacob were amazed to find that their brother Joseph, whom they had sold into slavery lo these many years, was now the chief muckety-muck of the super-power which they feared! “Uh-oh”, said they with wide eyes. But Joseph said to them, “Do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.” These desert wanderers in this alien and opulent country were hearing about their tribal divinity and how this grace appears where you least expect it! No longer was there a fence between cultures, races and traditions of worship…
Paul spends much of Romans grieving over the fact that many of his people (the Jews) rejected Jesus as the Christ. Were they forever condemned? In Chapter 11, verse 29, he says, “But the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable”. Can there yet be hope for those whom we consider beyond the fence? Paul’s whole mission to the Gentiles affirms his conviction that God hasn’t let them unattended, despite the traditions of the Israelites. Martha C. Highsmith reminds us that “the peoples’ rejection of God does not lead to God’s rejection of the people….Nothing we do can convince God to let go of us.” (FEEDING on the WORD, A 3:352) What an amazing inclusion for the Church of Today!
Matthew’s Gospel presents us with two instances of going beyond the tradition in 15:10-20 and again in 21-28. Jesus speaks of food laws by implying that what we eat isn’t nearly as important as what we say: “it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles”. To explore this further, he takes his followers to the toxic wasteland of Tyre & Sidon, where no good Jew would be caught dead. Even in this alien land he’s met by a woman seeking healing: one of “those sinners” who reminds Jesus (and us) of the wall-busting nature of God’s love. What would it mean to the world if contemporary disciples went to these front-lines?
There are so many announced or assumed fences that keep would-be worshipers away: homophobia, dress-codes and the fear of female leadership… Previous generations excluded smokers, drinkers & gamblers. Must I now look at a person’s soul instead of their outward trappings? “Grace is God’s alone to offer, and God offers it, it seems, to all people–the Jew and the Gentile, the ins and the outs, the faithful and the disobedient.” (Highsmith, ibid., p.354) Thanks be to God!
In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King
My understandings of lessons assigned to the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com
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