Uncomfortable S2 - Day 20

When Jesus came to Israel, it was at a particular place and a particular time, to a particular group of people and to a particular religious expression. However, does this mean that God wasn’t working anywhere else in the world, and does it also mean that these people were more important to God that any other people groups that were in the world at the time?

This is a fascinating question as we don’t have a great deal of biblical information about God working in other places. In John 10:16,  Jesus says, “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.”

What does this mean exactly? Does it mean that there are those who were outside of Israel, outside of the Jewish tradition, or even outside of the Christian tradition (not that there was a tradition at this point)? 

What are the implications for us and understanding how to treat others if there are God’s children that are completely outside of what we thought God’s flock to be? 

Maybe it means that we need to make sure that we are not creating division by not accepting people that God has chosen to accept. But how do we know who is in the other “flocks” that Jesus spoke of? 

well, we don’t know, and perhaps that is the point. Rather than trying to figure out who we should exclude, we have to figure out how to include more people into our understanding of the kingdom of God. 

It would, of course, make sense that God is not relegated to working with just one group of people, as He is God and boundaries do not exactly work in the same way. Why would we think that God will only work with us, and not with others whom God finds just as important. What if they don’t even call themselves Christians? Would that be okay? 

Some might say that this is a slippery slope of ecumenism, allowing conversations with others who are not of our own tribe or flock. If we were to let just anyone into the kingdom of heaven, then it wouldn’t be special anymore. 

But this is really divisive thinking, and I don’t really think it is of God. We find Jesus taking on diversity all the time. Accepting the Roman not the fellowship, allowing an African to take his cross for a while when he was failing. Or when the Ethiopian Eunuch was accepted into new understanding with baptism. Jesus didn’t seem to be big on boundaries; rather, he wanted them in the kingdom so they could be safe and be welcomed in.

JOURNAL

1. What other flocks do you think Jesus was talking about? 
2. Could you imagine a unified world in its struggle for compassion, mercy, justice, and hope? 
3. What should we each do to ensure that we are not simply stopping those God has called to the kingdom? Should we be door closers or door openers?