Minister’s Forum
Jesus broke new ground for religion when he welcomed the Wise Men of the East to his dwelling (Matthew 2).
Quite different from Ezra and Nehemiah, who forced folks returning from captivity to abandon (divorce) their gentile wives and children (Ezra 9, 10). Matthew set his readers up for that when he mentioned in Jesus’ genealogy that foreigners named Rahab and Ruth were included in his ancestry (Matthew 1).
We get a hint of Jesus’ direction in his inaugural address. “Be perfect,” he said “just as your heavenly father is perfect” by loving your enemies (Matthew 5). The great prophet, Isaiah, suggested that, too, as he acknowledged King Cyrus as God’s “shepherd to fulfill God’s every wish" (Isaiah 44).
Part of Jesus’ political downfall in his ministry was that he reached out to Gentiles and disenfranchised women, and brought them into his circle of friends. He did not hesitate to associate with the Gentile woman at the well (John 4) and elevated Mary Magdalene (Mark 16:9 and John 20:11) and St. Paul’s relative, Junia, to the male domain of apostle (Romans 16). He saw his mission from our father as one of uniting people with God again, and restoring the ties broken in the fall (Genesis 2,3). Even as his arrest, conviction and death loomed but hours away, Jesus enjoined upon his followers his path of unity, encouraging them to “love one another as I have loved you" (John 17:20-23).
St. Paul promoted Jesus’ mission well when he took up the cause of the Gentiles in the beginning Christian community. Jesus’ encouragement to “love” (John 13:34-35) surely must mean that there is no longer slave or free person, Jew or Gentile, male or female, for we are all one with God and each other in Christ (Galatians 3:28). Paul reasoned that was so because Jesus became sin to deliver humanity from the sin that separates them from God and each other (II Corinthians 5:21).
In the 20th Century, a group of Christians suggested that Christians spend eight days (Jan. 18-25) in devotion, meditation and prayer to make Jesus’ dream a reality. They called it the “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.” Over the years, this enterprise has morphed into a call for all of God’s children – not just those who call themselves Christians – to work at building loving relationships with separated sisters and brothers.
“Inclusivity” was certainly not on the mid of Joseph and Mary when the wise people came to visit their son, but it certainly became the operating principle in Jesus’ life as he took up the ministry, ordained by his Father in heaven, of bringing the world back to what God intended in the beginning. As Jesus opened the door of paradise to a convicted criminal (Luke 23), so we are called to welcome with our God-given love all into our circle of friends.
God, make all people one in your inclusive love.
Find the unity for which Jesus prays this weekend with your community of faith, and carry it to all that you meet along life’s way!
Rev. Jim Fackler • St. Laurence Church, Effingham
