Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say,
    “The Lord will surely separate me from his people,”
and do not let the eunuch say,
    “I am just a dry tree.”
– Isaiah 56:3

Foreigners and eunuchs;
Eunuchs and foreigners.
Anathema they are in the words of the law.
Anathema they are in the tales of the histories.
Foreigners and eunuchs;
Eunuchs and foreigners.

Suddenly, inspired by God
a new word: “These I will bring
to my holy mountain,”
to joyfully raise up their prayers.
Foreigners and eunuchs;
Eunuchs and foreigners.

We have heard other words,
have we not, from this time,
from our time, from the times
of so many others rejecting outright
Foreigners and eunuchs;
Eunuchs and foreigners?

We can choose what we read
and believe from the Bible.
Foreigners and eunuchs;
Eunuchs and foreigners
Exiled from the homes that they made
with their families, commanded by Ezra.

Foreigners and eunuchs
Eunuchs and foreigners;
would challenge the limits that Jesus
imposed on himself and win
healing for children, not dogs,
with great wit and compassion.

Foreigners and eunuchs;
Eunuchs and foreigners
would read in Isaiah
of a lamb deprived justice,
and persuaded by Philip
would seek out the waters.

So which shall it be,
and how shall we be, with
Foreigners and eunuchs,
Eunuchs and foreigners?
The cruelty of Ezra?
The welcome of Philip?

Or perhaps we might follow
the quick turn of Jesus
to hear wisdom and heal
and to lay down our limits on
Foreigners and eunuchs;
Eunuchs and foreigners.

A poem/prayer based on Isaiah 56:1, 6-8, the Revised Common Lectionary Alternate First Reading for Year A, Proper 15 (20).

The image is Jesus and the Woman of Canaan by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1537) – https://www.sammlung.pinakothek.de/de/artwork/8eGVWjr4WQ, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=105154922.

The editors of the Revised Common Lectionary chose to omit Isaiah 56:2-5 from the reading, which specifically address the welcome for eunuchs in the prophet’s vision. I’ve chosen to include their inclusion in this poem.