Matthew 21:12–17
All God’s Children
“…my house shall be called a house of prayer…” Matthew 21:13 (NIV)
When Jesus spoke these words as he was tossing the money changers out of the Temple on Palm Sunday, he was quoting the prophet Isaiah: For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.
Those words have always had a special meaning for me, because, when I was a young teenager and World War II was at its worst, I belonged to a church that had outgrown its walls. Because of the war, we could not build anything, so our pastor, himself a native of Belgium, arranged with the Russian-born rabbi, whose synagogue was just a block away, for some of our Sunday School classes to meet there …after all, their congregation had observed their Sabbath earlier in the week.
Isaiah’s words, carved above the door of the synagogue, took on a new and powerful meaning as the Christian teenagers trooped through that door on Sunday mornings.
It led to closer understanding with the Jewish kids who were also our classmates during the week. And as we found so much common ground, it underscored that we are indeed all children of the same God.
Lord, give us grace to know that You are indeed the God of all peoples, even those who call you by a different name, and all of us are Your children and equally precious in Your eyes. Amen.
Kay Koehler
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