At the dedication of the temple in Jerusalem, a house of prayer, Solomon prayed that when a foreigner “comes and prays toward this temple, hear in heaven” and answer their prayers that they “may know Your name and fear You” (1 Kings 8:41-43).
The contrast between the Pharisees of Jesus’ time and the Old Testament times regarding Gentiles is striking. Here, Solomon prays for the Lord to hear the Gentile prayers. And when we look among David’s mighty men in 2 Samuel 23:8-23, we find many non-Israelite nationals. Moses married a Moabite woman. Ruth was a foreigner, yet by God’s grace her story put her in the lineage of the Messiah (Matthew 1:5).
Jesus mentioned a couple of incidences of God blessing Gentile people in the OT over the Jews, such as healing Naaman of his leprosy, and enriching a destitute widow. This infuriated His hearers (Luke 4:22-30).
In the book of Acts, the Spirit claims many Gentiles for the kingdom through faith in Jesus, beginning with the conversion of Cornelius the centurion and those in his house in 10:24-48.
The Jews were to be “a light to the Gentiles” (Isaiah 42:6) when the nations saw them blessed because of their obedience to God. Isaiah foresaw that “the Gentiles shall come to your light” (60:3).
Paul wrote that the Ephesians were Gentiles who were without Christ and without hope, but God reconciled Jew and Gentile through the cross (2:11-16).
God’s aim for saving the world is continually being obstructed through His peoples’ many biases and bigotries, prejudices and pettiness. Jesus died for the members of those who are outside our favored communities. He died to win the members of all political parties, for they have one thing in common—they are sinners who do not fear God (2 Samuel 23:3).
Jesus Christ died for all genders (though there are only two). There “is neither Greek or Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all in all” (Colossians 3:11).
Jesus said of His followers, “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). Let’s not hide our light under bushels of fear and ignorance of those who are different than we are. Has your heart become crusted with barnacles of biases and prejudices? Let’s reacquaint ourselves with the riches of the good news that’s made for all peoples through faith in Christ.
Let us not be “ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation to all who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek” (Romans 1:16).
