With the kingdom divided because of Solomon’s sin and Rehoboam’s folly, we enter into what can be considered the darkest period of Israel’s history. Led by a series of mostly evil kings, God’s people continued their downward spiral, diving deeper into idolatry. Yes, the captivities would be difficult, but perhaps this period of flagrant rebellion was the low of lows.
But we need to be careful to recognize that while idolatry was the primary sin of God’s people, it was far from being their only sin. They also treated one another terribly (read Amos to see more of this). During this time, God’s people—the people He formed to be a shining beacon in a dark world—cemented in their hearts and practices the twofold sin of nationalism and racism. There is nothing at all wrong with valuing the nation you are part of, but when that reaches the point of you believing you are superior to other people because of the nation you are part of, that is a problem. This is what happened to the Israelites—they believed that God favored them alone among the nations of the earth and they felt superior to all the other nations and ethnic groups around them because of this.
God, of course, had no patience for any of these sins—idolatry or nationalism and racism. God’s love and plan of redemption stretches to all people, not just the Israelites. He had made this clear to His people before this (see Gen. 12:3), but He would continue to make this plain to them. This is the undercurrent of this week’s session that we cannot miss.
God’s Instruction Reveals His Heart
We pick up the story of Scripture with the prophet Elijah declaring a drought over the land. At first, the Lord provided food and water for Elijah at the Wadi Cherith. Then, when the wadi dried up, God sent the prophet to live with a widow—but not any widow, rather one in Zarephath. Don’t miss it: this widow was not an Israelite. Everything God does is for a reason. God would provide for the prophet through this widow, but He would also provide for the widow and her son through the prophet. Don’t you love how God works? This two-way provision is critical for understanding what is going on in this passage, beyond the surface level of three people staying alive. God chose this widow to bless her and her son through her kindness to Elijah. There were many widows among the Israelites, but God chose a Gentile instead. Why? Because it is consistent with His heart and plans for all people to be blessed through the Israelites, namely a single Israelite who would be born in a manger hundreds of years after this account. That Israelite, Jesus, even referenced this account as He taught in the tabernacle in Nazareth (Luke 4:25-26). Up to that point, the crowd gathered praised Jesus and were amazed by Him (v. 22). But then, from a human perspective, Jesus jumped the shark. He mentioned this account of God working in and through a Gentile right before another, Elisha and Naaman. At this, the crowd did a 180. Everyone was enraged to the point of wanting to kill him. Why? Because Jesus had the audacity to point out that God loves Gentiles. Jesus didn’t make a mistake that day. Again, from a human perspective it looks like He lost the crowd. Had He only not mentioned these accounts, He would have been fine. But read this passage carefully: Jesus did not need to mention these accounts. He chose to. Because He knew that the people’s hearts were sick—diseased with nationalism and racism. And they needed to be confronted by the truth of God’s love and plan to redeem all peoples to Himself.Our Righteous Living Reveals Our Hearts
We are not exempt from the allure of Israel’s sins. We too can harden our hearts to other people for a litany of reasons including ethnicity, socio-economic differences, and nationality. And Jesus is just as bold, perhaps even more so, with us. We cannot excuse Israel’s sin, but we also have to recognize that they did not have as full of a picture of redemptive history. We do. And with that privilege comes increased responsibility. Take a minute and read Matthew 25:31-46. Notice the startling message of Christ: salvation depends on how we treat others. No where in this section does He draw our attention to faith or grace. Rather, what we read sounds like it would have come from the Pharisees—what we do is what provides salvation. So, is Jesus a terrible theologian? Do we have the gospel all wrong? Of course not to both of those questions. What we see here is faith in Him assumed. Jesus spoke of faith in Him on many occasions—we cannot read passages in isolation. Here, He focuses on the fruit of salvation—evidence that we are saved. Notice that this passage comes on the heels of the parable of the talents—which teaches our need to do something with what we are given. That “something” is, of course, the gospel. With that lead in, this account of the sheep and the goats makes sense. If our lives look no different, at least over time, because of the gospel, then we likely have not experienced the gospel. Loving people—and caring for them in practical ways—is a hallmark of the gospel having changed our hearts. When rightly understood and applied, the gospel compels us not only to go across the street to share Christ with others, but also to go across the proverbial railroad tracks. Any limit to where we will go—to whom we will love—reveals we have yet to absorb the fulness of the gospel. This is why Jesus phrases this passage so strongly. He wants there to be no mistake. There can be no such thing as a redeemed person who fails to love others. Sheep will act like sheep because they are sheep. Goats will act like goats because they are goats. Followers of Christ will act like Christ because Christ is in them. Followers of the world will act like the world because the world is int them.We can be certain that God will give us the strength and resources we need to live through any situation in life that He ordains. The will of God will never take us where the grace of God cannot sustain us.” — Billy Graham (1918-2018) [1]Preschool Tip: For preschoolers, you may want to focus on the general principle—of our call to love all people and perhaps some ways we can show love. Kids Tip: For kids, consider pressing in a little more into how our culture wants us to divide people and how easy it is for us to not view and treat others equally. Be sensitive here, but these are important, extremely practical issues. If you do feel led to press into the various “isms” that we experience and that may be within us, you might want to let parents know ahead of time. It’s a good rule of thumb to keep them in the loop as it is, but especially when we cover anything that might be sensitive. [1] Billy Graham, Till Armageddon (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1984), 24.
Chris Sanders says
Thank you so much for approaching these with depth and thank you for being willing to push the hard topics, like cultural division, with kids that are rarely given the chance to show that they can think deeply.