Foreigners who have joined the Lord should not say, 'The Lord will not accept me.' (NCV, Isaiah 56:3)When Jesus cleared the temple of the money changers and lamb salesman, he was thinking of today's expanded passage. Is it not written: 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have made it 'a den of robbers' (Mark 11:17). The Bazaar of Annas was in the temple area set aside for foreigners. The Sadducees' entrepreneurial scheming erected a barrier between God and the people coming to worship him. It made Jesus angry for the alien and the poor to be exploited in the name of God.
Isaiah made it clear that the blessing of Abraham was not reserved for the Hebrews, but was for people of all nations. Here he lets the alien know that whether one is born a Jew or a Gentile has no bearing on being accepted by God; all are accepted the same. Foreigners are accepted the same as nationals. Outsiders are accepted the same as insiders. Damaged are accepted the same as whole.
We may be tempted to think there is some reason God would not accept us, but that is absolutely false. Neither do people have to be just like us in order to be accepted by God. As Bill Hybels says: You've never locked eyes with anyone who doesn't matter to the Father. [1]
Do you accept others as Christ has accepted you?
[1] In Mark Mittelberg, Building a Contagious Church (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 37.
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