I’m pretty excited. I recently got some mail from a bank offering me an exclusive deal for a new credit card! It made me feel special, knowing that that opportunity is exclusively for me! I’m the only one who can get that offer.

Most of us like exclusive things.

For example, when we are dating someone and decide it’s getting more serious, we say that the relationship has become exclusive. When two companies are thinking of merging, they sign an exclusivity agreement. Or… if you can afford it, you can send your kids to exclusive schools and dine in exclusive restaurants.

And when you are are the Ever-Living-All-Powerful-Creator-God (!) and you deem the Israelites as The Chosen Ones… then you are offering them an exclusive deal. You are setting then apart. You are saying: hey Chosen People… you are very special!

Yes, most of us like exclusive things.

Today, all of our readings touch on this notion of exclusivity. This is a good topic for our times because if you were a time traveler coming here from another era and observed how we interact with each other, you might think that we love to be exclusive, set apart, special. Many of us strongly prefer the group we belong to because we chose them or they chose us. And belonging is good. It helps us feel justified… and safe. There’s nothing wrong with that.

Unless… unless… it prompts us to build walls instead of doors. Unless it becomes the source of conflict between our group and another. Unless it convinces us that we are superior, more deserving, and of greater value. Unfortunately, when we feel we are special, we can easily convince ourselves that we are all those things.

In the first reading, Isaiah tells us that God intends that “my house shall be called
a house of prayer for all peoples.” For all peoples.

In the psalm, we learn that God will “rule the peoples in equity.” In equity.

In the second reading, Paul describes himself as “the apostle to the Gentiles.” We know that the Gentiles were most assuredly not the Chosen Ones!

And in the Gospel, Jesus ministers to a Canaanite women. This was unheard of as the Canaanites were seen essentially as the greatest enemies of the Chosen Ones.

What are these readings suggesting? All of them comment on exclusivity and I would say that they invite us, as Christians, as the Chosen Ones who accept Christ as Savior, to consider building doors instead of walls. To accept the gift of our faith as being uniquely special indeed… but not something to hide or to hoard.

There are many in our world… in our various circles… at our schools or places of work… or in our own families… who may feel as though they are outside, at the periphery, either unwelcome on the inside, or who choose to fall away in discouragement and disbelief… or even disgust. For some of them, you and I are the only people they will know who accept Christ as Savior, who have decided to pursue a life of faith, and who practice our beliefs. If so, who do they encounter when they see us? What exactly is it about us that they observe?

Do they find someone who is forgiving? Accepting? Willing to console and love? A selfless helper? Someone who is welcoming? And filled with joy? Someone who seeks to know and understand Jesus? And who is living with the conviction that no matter what happens to us… no matter what… all will be well… because that is the promise of the one who came to teach, to heal, and to sacrifice.

Jesus came for us. For you and for me personally… and that is quite an exclusive offer. Let’s share that offer with others. Let’s share it generously.