IGNITE: DAY 23

THERE IS LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS
SCRIPTURE READING - DAY 23


Isaiah 56:6-8

And the foreigners who join themselves
to the Lord, to minister to him, to love
the name of the Lord, and to be his
servants, all who keep the Sabbath,
and do not profane it, and hold fast my
covenant—these I will bring to my holy
mountain, and make them joyful in my
house of prayer; their burnt-offerings
and their sacrifices will be accepted on
my altar; for my house shall be called a
house of prayer for all peoples.

Thus says the Lord GOD, who gathers
the outcasts of Israel... (NRSV, emphasis added)

MEDITATION BY Jeff Simons


During Lent, my spiritual community practices an exercise which focuses on sensing the suffering and passion of Christ. Connecting to the present suffering of the oppressed around us is one way of relating to Christ’s passion.

Isaiah shows us that God has set an intentional connecting space for all peoples. God’s mission in this world is a potent centrifugal force—sending people out. But we also see God’s magnetic centripetal force—drawing people into spaces of authentic connection with their Creator.

Isn’t this passage from the Old Testament, before Jesus gave the Great Commission? Yet it’s the same call—concern for the foreigner, desirous that God’s house be one of prayer for all nations, not just Israel. In fact, throughout the Old Testament, the echo of God’s heart for inclusion of the “foreigner” is persistent.

Seven hundred years later, we experience the jarring scene of Christ raging through the temple court, upending tables of vendors and sending goods sprawling (Matthew 21:12-13). This is the Christ we don’t often see! What is this righteous indignation he displays?

Isaiah sheds light on the spark that ignited such a holy fury. This specific area of the temple was that which God designed for the “foreigner among you,” the space set as “a house of prayer for all peoples.” And it was now made into a marketplace, an obstacle for the nations seeking to encounter their Creator. It was the ultimate selfish act of indifferent exclusion by God’s people, and it enraged Jesus.

I’m swept back to a mission trip I took as a teen. I loved serving alongside friends and “feeling a little better about myself.” But God laid a heavy burden on my heart during that trip. For the first time, I caught a brief but overwhelming sense of the deep uneasiness of Christ at the obstacles created by the selfish, comfortable posture of my own life, culture, and church—obstacles inhibiting others from encountering God. My call to lifelong mission ignited that day. I was young and naïve, but touched by a spark of the fury of Christ. I have since been hashing out this deep lament with God and others, determined to no longer ignore the obstacles that I’ve helped create.

I, like many of you, live near a big city, and I see the rapidly growing diversity around me. Isaiah was addressing Israel in the Old Testament, but the spirit of the command remains true today. Isaiah gives me a new lens to see that God is once again passionately drawing all peoples into connection with God’s people. And I am moved to respond with embrace, rather than with indifferent exclusion.


REFLECTION


Take a few minutes to reflect on the various kinds of diversity present in the place God has planted you. What feelings and emotions surface when you think about the diverse people you live among? Take time to express these emotions authentically to God.


In what ways is God drawing “the nations” to your neighborhood, church, and social circles? What small or large injustices are you possibly ignoring, or contributing to in the daily “norm,” that may be presenting obstacles for others to encounter God?


In what ways might God be igniting a “holy frustration” in you? How can you find creative ways to speak or act in a counter-cultural way to help to combat one obstacle, so that others may experience more of the light of the Kingdom?