Call to Be Inclusive
Welcome to the third Sunday of Lent. In our previous discussions, we explored the Call to be Compassionate and the Call to Shoulder Each Other’s Burdens. As we move deeper into this season of reflection, the Holy Spirit narrows our focus onto the boundaries of our hearts. Today’s theme is Call to be Inclusive.
In our natural state, we humans are builders of walls - using culture, race, or past merit to define who belongs at the table. However, the Gospel is the ultimate “Wall Breaker.” To be inclusive is not to abandon truth, but to mirror the heart of a God who gathers “outcasts” and makes them “heirs.”
The Prophetic Vision: A House for All Nations
The foundation of biblical inclusion is laid in Isaiah 56:1-8. Here, the Prophet speaks to the “foreigner” and the “eunuch” which are groups traditionally excluded from the inner courts of Israel. God issues a startling promise:
“My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”
Under the Law many were kept at a distance, but under the Gospel, the middle wall of partition is broken down. God does not look at the pedigree, but at the “covenant-keeping” heart. If a soul joins itself to the Lord, God says, “I will give them an everlasting name.” Lent is a time to ask: Are there people we have labeled “unfit” for God’s house whom He has already invited to His altar?
The Persistence of the Outsider: The Canaanite Woman
In Matthew 15:21-28, we find one of the most provocative encounters in the New Testament. A Canaanite woman, an outsider by race and religion, cries out to Jesus for her daughter’s healing. Initially, Jesus’ silence and His comment about “the children’s bread” seem exclusive.
However, Jesus was not trying to shut her out, but to “draw her out.” He was putting her faith on trial to magnify its strength. Her response, that even the dogs eat the crumbs, showed a humility that moved the Savior! Great faith can find encouragement even in that which seems discouraging. By healing her daughter, Jesus signaled that the “bread of life” was not restricted to a single nation. Inclusion means recognizing that faith, not heritage, is the currency of the Kingdom.
The Kinsman of the Alien: Boaz and Ruth
The book of Ruth provides a historical anchor for this theme. In Ruth 4:1-10, we witness Boaz legally redeeming Ruth, a Moabitess. According to the Law (Deuteronomy 23:3), a Moabite was typically excluded from the assembly of the Lord. Yet, Boaz brings her in.
This was more than a marriage; it was an act of incorporating a stranger into the line of David, and ultimately, the line of Christ. Boaz’s inclusion of Ruth shows God’s grace. He takes those from “outside the camp” and places them in the center of His redemptive story. As we walk through Lent, we are reminded that we are all, like Ruth, “Moabites” who have been brought home by our Great Kinsman-Redeemer.
The Theological Reality: All one in Christ Jesus
In Galatians 3:23-29, Paul provides the theological “checkmate” to all forms of exclusion. He declares that in Christ,
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
While these social and physical distinctions still exist in the world, they avail nothing in the matter of salvation. In Christ, we are all clothed in the same garment. If we all wear the same robe of righteousness, how can we treat one another as unequals? Inclusion is the outward practice of the inward reality that we are all equally bankrupt without Christ and equally wealthy within Him.
The Heavenly Multitude: A Great Gathering
If we want to know what the end goal of our faith looks like, we must look to Revelation 7:9-17. John sees a multitude that no one can number, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the Lamb.
This diversity is not an accident; it is a display of the triumph of the Gospel. Heaven is not a monochrome assembly. It is a vibrant, multi-ethnic celebration of the blood of the Lamb. Those who were once “tribal” on earth are now unified by the “living fountains of waters.” If this is the vision of the Church Triumphant, it must be the mission of the Church here on earth.
The Prayer of the Inclusive Heart
How do we cultivate this? Psalm 86 provides the roadmap. David, in deep distress, prays:
“Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.”
He acknowledges that
“All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord; they will bring glory to your name.”
We cannot be inclusive toward others until our own hearts are united to fear God’s name. An “undivided heart” sees others clearly. It stops looking at the “otherness” of a neighbor and starts looking at the “likeness” of a fellow sinner in need of the same Great Physician.
Tearing Down the Walls
As we conclude this third Sunday of Lent, the Call to be Inclusive challenges our comfort zones. God’s love is a boundless ocean. If we are to be like Him, we cannot be “puddles” of exclusivity.
Inclusion is not a political trend; it is a Christological mandate. It is the act of looking at the person you are most tempted to avoid and realizing that Christ died to bring them to His table.
This week, let’s challenge ourselves:
Evaluate our Tables: Who is missing from our lives? Who have we excluded because they are different or difficult?
Pray for an Undivided Heart: Ask God to remove the tribalism in our soul that prevents us from seeing His image in others.
Open the Door: Make a deliberate effort to welcome someone who feels like an outsider in our community or church.
Comments
Post a Comment