So you shall divide this land among you according to the tribes of Israel. You shall allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the aliens who reside among you and have begotten children among you. They shall be to you as citizens of Israel; with you they shall be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel..." (Ezekiel 47:21-22)
Here we have resident aliens and native Israelites treated alike---a principle of holiness.
This text challenges us to consider what it means to belong....to move from "alien" to "citizen." We are challenged to consider how God defines belonging. What are God's requirements for being considered a "citizen," one of God's own? The answers to these questions, for Christians, trump the State's answer.
These thoughts stretch us because we have been instructed to think in boundaries---boundaries that define us---boundaries that determine who is in and who is out, who is worthy of receiving and who is not----who is our obligation and who is not.
In Jesus, those boundaries are dissolved. Those boundaries are erased. Leaving just an "us" where before there was a "them." So, how will that change how we live?
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