000 Allen FMT (i-xxii) - The Presbyterian Leader

76 Proper 16 [21]/Year A
sabbath . . . and hold fast my covenant.” Their sacrifices will be accepted
in the Temple, “for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples”
(v. 7). In Jesus’ time, the court of the Gentiles was by far the largest
court at the Temple.
This stance is a change from the requirements of Torah, which stipulated
that we should love the alien as we love ourselves but otherwise
barred aliens from full participation in Israel’s worship (e.g., Exod. 12:43).
For Third Isaiah, membership in the Jewish people is important, particularly
in light of the danger threatened by assimilation, but membership
is redefined so that Sabbath keeping and worship become means of being
a part of the people Israel.
Sandwiched inside this discussion of foreigners is Third Isaiah’s startling
announcement about eunuchs: “To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths
. . . and hold fast my covenant, I will give, in my house [temple] and
within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters
... an everlasting name that shall not be cut off” (vv. 4–5). This is inclusive
Judaism with trumpets blaring. Eunuchs were definitely strange in the
heterosexual culture of their time and would be even more so in ours,
because they fall outside all such current categories as gay, lesbian, or
straight. But as Philip came up with no reason not to baptize the Ethiopian
eunuch (Acts 8:26–40), Third Isaiah understands God’s love to be allinclusive.
Today’s church seems to be of a considerably divided mind and
heart on this matter; the lectionary even drops these verses. Including
them might help produce a more thoughtful and compassionate church.
Third Isaiah’s breadth of outlook and universalism with regard to foreigners
are strikingly presented in Matthew 15:21–28 as a position of
which the Canaanite woman persuades Jesus!
Proper 16 [21]/Year A
Exodus 1:8–2:10+ (Semicontinuous)
Behind Exodus lies Genesis with its themes of blessing and the inclusion
of Gentiles in God’s economy of blessing. YHWH said to Abram: “I will
bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will
bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in
you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:1–3). Blessing
is inclusive well-being: care, protection, a safe place, health, children,
God’s presence, economic sufficiency, hospitality for the stranger. In the
story of the birth of Moses, these themes are central.