“Loving Outsiders”
“9The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own peopledid not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:9-13, English Standard Version)
My students teach me a great deal. I hope that I teach them something as well.
For example, this week I have been having my Old Testament Theology class discuss online the matter of insiders and outsiders in the Old Testament. In reporting on the fact that he had done all the readings, here is what one of my students, Ivan, wrote:
“ ‘Hello Sir,
I have completed the readings for this week. I had never really given much thought to how much inclusivity there actually is in the Old Testament.’
That set off all kinds of fireworks in my heart and mind. My reply to him was as follows:
‘Probably, most of us don’t really see this. There are probably many reasons.
For one thing, most of us get hung up on the “kill-everything-that-breathes” passages. These are fairly rare, but they do occur. We get hung up on them, either to justify them, or to explain them away, or whatever.
Whatever the reasons why we do it, we fail to see how many times the Bible—yes, even the Old Testament—speaks positively about “outsiders.”
I suspect that the truth is this: Since we were expelled from the Garden, we have all been outsiders.
Of course, the ultimate Outsider was Jesus. But he became an insider, one of us, so that we might become insiders. Love tends to do that.”
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