I am the Thief – Ephesians 2:14-18 (NIV)

I am the Thief – Ephesians 2:14-18 (NIV)

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

I often forget the fact that God promised a Messiah to come. He would come and die for the sins of the people. For thousands of years, they waited for their Messiah. The Jews were treated all types of terrible ways during the enslavement in Egypt at the beginning and by the Romans at the end (of the time waiting for the Messiah).

They were always looking forward to His coming. They had so many practices, laws, festivals and feasts pointing to His coming. They had all the scrolls and stories of how He’d come and set them free.

And if you’d have asked them about their thoughts on the Gentiles, they might have had pity on them. I’m sure some would think of the Canaanites and look forward to judgment on them. Depending on when, in history, they were asked, I bet the Israelites would have varying answers.

But I don’t think any of them would have included Gentiles in the Messiah’s mission to deliver them. It wouldn’t make sense that the God of the Jews would come and save people who weren’t even His people.

And it’s not like Gentiles meant some specific nation of people who weren’t Jews. It meant all non-Jews. It had to feel like nonsense. When Paul and others were offering salvation to the Gentiles, it had to have sounded a bit like their God came to save people who did NOT follow Him. LIke He came to save people specifically only who hated Him.

I know how bitter and petty I can be. I would have been steamed. We do all this for Him to come save the people who disobeyed. Of course, no matter how you slice it, I’m included in the disobedience.

I know I’ll always struggle with pride. I’m human. I’ll always think I’ve done more and deserve more. My failings are someone else’s fault, a mistake, somehow ok, not as bad as others’. I’ll always think I deserve more for what I’ve done and when I don’t feel that way, it’s because I’m the victim somehow.

So I’m sure I would have been bitter when Jesus’ death and payment for salvation was offered to a people that wasn’t His people. Ironically in this case, I’m definitely on the other side. I’m benefitting 100% in something I don’t deserve. Can’t deserve. Didn’t want or ask for.

He did this to create in Himself one new humanity. He abolished the difference between the have’s and the have-not’s. Where He once had His people and everyone else, He now has one Spirit.

This reminds me of the idea of the death bed conversion. Someone who lives their life without God and becomes a Christian just before death. The thief on the cross. They got to live their life however they wanted and still get the reward of Heaven. I remember being bitter about that. But the memory of it is so very, very faded now.

Over the years, I no longer see that person as having something good. I don’t see it as they "got away with it." I feel sad for them. They wasted their life. At the very end, they realized they were wrong the whole time. Their life is a cautionary tale to not be like them. They worshiped themself the whole time and didn’t know God. They were lonely and scared for decades and only figured it out at the very end.

They have no business getting to go to Heaven. I need to remember that’s me. He didn’t have to save me. He had a people and I was on the other side. Not only did He decide to let me in, but with full rights of His beloved nation. I’m blessed beyond any possible measure.