The Gentiles and Jesus
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows you need them all. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well. (Third Sunday of Matthew)
I want to focus on “the Gentiles” – τὰ ἔθνη / the nations = “those people” as some of us like to say sometimes about others not like us. Listen to some other things Jesus had to say about Gentiles:
And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words.
You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you.
Jesus is comparing the values of the Gentiles to the values he brings to the world:
- Anxiety over money (mammon) and material things / Seek the kingdom and God’s righteousness/justice.
- Friendship and family loyalty / Love your enemies, not just those who love you!
- Authority / Service. I hear it often, the Church is not a democracy. Really? You want to take it up with Jesus? More likely he’ll take it up with you!
- Long, mindless prayers / Focused prayer, in Christ’s spirit, in Christ’s name.
Consider what Jesus says about praying to God:
- I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
- The Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.
- Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.
- The meaning of my name is clear = according to the values of Jesus, not the values of the world.
Did Jesus reject the nations, the Gentiles? No, he sent his disciples to the nations. But he did not want his disciples to adopt the values of the nations. You cannot be a follower of Jesus if your values are the same as those of society at large. This unfortunately is all too often forgotten. Partly because we just don’t believe Jesus’ words are relevant to today! One preacher gave a sermon on the Beatitudes. One matron made a point of going up to him at the end of the service to tell him in no uncertain terms, Those are not for us.
But neither did Jesus tell us to live within walls of our own making, separated from the world. It shall not be so with you, he says to us. But you are here to be the light of the world. The salt of the earth – but if the salt loses its saltiness, what goos is it? If we lose our edge, what good are we?
Did you hear Saint Paul today?
While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly… God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us… For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received our reconciliation.
Reconciliation is the goal. That’s our purpose in being light and salt, so that we can be agents of reconciliation. We live in dangerous times and yet times of amazing potential and promise. Pandemic and racial unrest have come together. Will the country fall apart? Or will a new spirit arise? A spirit of reconciliation, of service to each other, of seeking the kingdom in our midst, of loving even our enemies or those we disagree with. Will we join hands and ask in Jesus’ name? Because really there is no other name under heaven by which we can ask for God’s righteousness and God’s peace, the peace that is beyond human understanding. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
