The Foreigner Is God’s Beloved
Have you ever felt like you were an outsider? When was it that you felt like a foreigner, an alien, or a stranger in this world? Have you ever experienced the feeling that you did not belong or fit in? Have you ever been, or felt like you were, an outcast?
You do not need to live long in this world to feel like there are insiders and there are outsiders. It is a common experience to feel alienated, rejected, abandoned, and alone.
Most people who have ever been in middle school have felt awkward and strange, and have experienced being chosen last, or not chosen at all.
We have experienced what Dr. David Allen called “The Bermuda Triangle of the Soul”, which he described as the human experience of feeling shame, humiliation, and rejection.
We can feel like foreigners in this world. We can feel the shame, humiliation, and rejection of feeling like we do not belong. We can feel like strangers in a strange land. We can feel alienated and estranged from God and others. We can experience feelings of exile in this world and we can long for a place and a home.
We all long for a place where we we can have acceptance, love, and belonging—a place where we are in the “in crowd”—a place where we are loved and accepted by God and others, with no strings attached. We long for unity, with God and others—we long for community.
In the time of Moses, foreigners and eunuchs, were excluded from worship and from joining the people of God. The Law of Moses, in the book of Deuteronomy stated, “No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the Lord. No one born of a forbidden marriage nor any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord, not even in the tenth generation.” (Deuteronomy 23:1-2, NIV).
However, in Leviticus, God said, “The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 19:34, NIV).
The eunuchs and the foreigners are gathered into Israel by God himself.
God spoke through the Prophet Isaiah, saying, “The foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant—these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” (Isaiah 56:6-7, ESV).
No matter how distant or foreign we are, or we feel, in this world, when we draw near to God, when we join ourselves with God in love and obedience, and when we serve him well in his promises and rest, God will gather us to himself and bring us to his holy mountain and will make us joyful in our relationship with him.
God desires to draw all people to himself in intimate relationship with himself, in holy communion, and in prayer. God receives our offerings to him when we draw near to him and join ourselves to him in obedience.
May we see ourselves as part of God’s Holy and chosen people, as part of God’s promises, and as God’s beloved children—as we join ourselves to the Lord, as we minister to the Lord, as we love the name of the Lord, and as we serve and obey the Lord.
In Christ alone, Robbie
A Collect For Mission, II: “Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your love’s sake. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer, 2019).
