Is God’s love open and available to all?
The people of Israel originally believed that some people had no access to God. But the prophet Isaiah causes them to rethink this idea: my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples, the Lord tells them, including foreigners who join themselves to the Lord. Isaiah wants the people of Israel to change how they think of themselves and of their relationship with God; they need to start to think of the people of God in broader terms. God is joyful as we draw closer to him, Isaiah says; God’s salvation is available to all. And so the psalmist can sing in Psalm 67, O God, let all the nations praise you! God wants salvation to be known upon earth, among all nations.
Jesus’ encounter with the Canaanite woman of Tyre and Sidon in Matthew's Gospel may make us momentarily question this truth, however. When the woman approaches Jesus for help because her daughter is tormented by a demon, Jesus insults her: It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs, he says! This seems unconscionably harsh, but the woman is not, after all, a Jew, and Jesus claims at first that he has been sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But look at the end result of this apparent obstinacy on his part: what he achieves is to get the woman to state her faith on a deeper level than many of the house of Israel have ever done, and with the utmost humility: Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters. Ultimately, Jesus broadens his own disciples’ perspectives: O woman, great is your faith! Though he may challenge the more unlikely candidates, Jesus clearly offers salvation for all; he seeks hearts that are open to change, ready to receive and to respond to the love he has for them. In his Letter to the Romans, Paul reminds the Gentiles that the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable; life from the dead—salvation— is open to all, Jews and Gentiles alike, so long as our hearts are open to the opportunity of life in Christ.
This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com
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