God loves all His creations, and it has always been His plan to bring salvation to all peoples. His requirement for this is simply the love of Him and one another, and the keeping of His laws that He has always instructed. His chosen people Israel were not the only ones He had in mind to save. Salvation did come from Israel through Jesus, but the acceptability of all peoples also came through Him. Jesus fulfilled prophecy, in that He came to the people of Israel first, and it was they to whom He brought His word, His signs and His sacrifice. However, even during this, He did not turn others who were acceptable to Him through faith away.
The prophet Isaiah foretells clearly that all peoples who obey the Lord will be found acceptable to Him. Those who love Him and demonstrate this by keeping His law would find favor with Him. It is really no different today, God accepts all who love Him and keep his commandments. He is merciful to all who do this and will judge each one of us on how we have used our individual gifts. To those with a very full knowledge of Him, more will be expected. To those who through no fault of their own, He is not completely known, but they have tried to live their lives according to the natural order, He will be judge accordingly. He does not turn away those who seek an understanding of Him.
I am always humbled by the account of the conversation that Jesus has with the Canaanite woman. All her life she has been instructed in teachings contrary to God, and yet when she sees Jesus, she simply knows that He is the one. He is the only one who can bring healing to her daughter. She pleads with Jesus for His healing touch, and yet at first she is ignored. Yet despite this, she persists, and eventually when recognized by our Lord, makes the humblest of professions. Our Lord did not make her ask of Him more difficult because of a lack of compassion, rather it was to demonstrate two things. His adherence to prophecy, that He came to the children of Israel first, and to show to others her acceptance because of her unwavering faith. She is an example to all of us. No matter our position in life, no matter what we have believed or done, if we come to the Lord in humility and faith, we are acceptable to Him.
So often I hear it said by someone that there is no way they could have a relationship with Christ after all the things they have done. Yet this is so far from true. While it may be hard for us to grasp the kind of limitless forgiveness that our Lord possesses, it is real, nonetheless. All we need do is ask of Him his forgiveness, and show our change of heart through our actions, and He will find us acceptable. He loves each and every one of us, and wants all of us to come to Him, even in our most ragged state, and have that change of heart. We are a people with hope because of this, and with that hope, we should also be a people of joyful sharing. Each day is an opportunity to show others what is possible through our faith, and to leave them in a better place than when we first encountered them.
The Deacons Bench 