Isaiah 56:1, 6-8
Proper 15 (20) - Year A
Isaiah 56:1, 6-8 or Genesis 45:1-15
Once family feuds get rolling it is extremely difficult to break them. Even the one who has the power to shift the ground of relationship seems to have to work up to it.
Having decided to reconcile, it is interesting to compare this the process of going first to the injuring/injured party and for the public nature of it to come forward later.
At any rate, having the outcasts and the casters-out brought back together is a momentous occasion. This may be a reason we get back together so hesitantly. Inherent in the outcasts being gathered together is the understanding that such a specific action will grow to become the norm, and then where would we be -- "the more we get together, together, together, the more we get together, the happier we will be" is pleasant to sing about, but only in small doses.
We are hesitant to let this expansive regathering loose by providing even a small family regathering as its seedbed. Not only are Joseph and his brothers re-gathered, but the promise is set loose that all separations shall be overcome. At this point we will be up against universal salvation, which is, somehow, more than our idealized reconciling mercy can bear.
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2005/august2005.html
Isaiah 56:1, 6-8 or Genesis 45:1-15
Psalm 133 or Psalm 67
Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
Matthew 15:(10-20), 21-28
Unity as "good and pleasant" is quite an understatement. Given our starting points, to arrive at some semblance of unity (an outcome of justice) is so remarkable that it calls for a more enthusiastic response.
To arrive at some given understanding that rejection is not the last word about the meaning of life (though it is often one of the first words we encode), a sense of relief in the face of such mercy needs a conversion miracle response.
Jesus' response to the woman responding to being called a dog, after pleading for her daughter, is too sterile. It is not as though some word-game had been played out that had no real consequence. It is not as though Jesus doesn't have an epiphany here - faith comes from every angle, not just the preauthorized.
- - -
gifts and calling
irrevocable
deniable
our life
is our gift
our calling
journeying
toward wholeness
finds our denial
beyond journeying
at a stopping point
we find irrevocability
whether rued
or rejoiced
life calls
gifts once dead
remain ours
to do