Who’s in?
Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. Matthew 8:10
People are really good at creating groups, and then creating rules to exclude others. Often the rules might not be explicit, but you know they are present when you find yourself breaking them! Peer groups in High School can be a bit like this, but it often extends into other parts of our life.
Doe’s inclusion in God’s kingdom work in a similar way?
Many Jewish people, in Jesus day saw themselves as the only one’s who could enter the kingdom of God;
Only they could be acceptable to God.
Only they could be considered his children.
The centurion in Matthew 8 shatter’s these rules! He was not one whom many of the people following Jesus would have considered “acceptable to God”
He was a Gentile.
The passage show’s us that;
God’s kingdom can be opened to all
Faith is the only key
Jesus says that he has not found anyone in Israel with such a great faith.
The kingdom of heaven is not merely Jewish, but it is open to Gentiles, like this Centurion. All people can find inclusion.
John has already told us earlier in Matthew’s gospel (Matt. 3:9), when talking to the Pharisees and Sadducees, that being Jewish counts for nothing;
Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
It’s all about the faith.
No other passage in the bible put’s it more beautifully or succinctly as Galatians 3:26-29. Galatians 3:26
“for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise”
Nothing else makes us a child of God, other than faith in Jesus.
Not race
Not class
Not money
Not good deeds
But faith.
Ephesians 2:8: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God”
All can find inclusion in God’s kingdom, if we have faith in Jesus.
The beautiful thing about faith in Jesus, is that it unites us with God, and also unites us with each other. This is why we can gather together, and celebrate our diversity and our unity together.