Why were some excluded? (Deuteronomy 23-26, Luke 11)

Deuteronomy 23:1 is at first sight a troubling verse:

“No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the LORD.”

What are we to make of that?! It’s not the sort of verse you stick on your fridge is it! Why are these people excluded?

Before looking at that, remember the gracious provision we saw in Leviticus 21 Disability and the Gospel (Leviticus 21-23, Hebrews 8) but the question remains why couldn’t these eunuchs enter the assembly of God?

This disturbing practice often took place in dedication to foreign gods, or sometimes to those in high official positions in the other nations. God’s people were to be holy to the LORD, Israel were to be distinct from the nations and such practices were not acceptable. And yet, the prophet Isaiah foresaw a day when eunuchs would come to love and obey the Lord and to them, God would give his everlasting name and they will not be cut off (Isaiah 56:4-5).

Fast-forward another 700 years and we meet a eunuch from Ethiopia who discovers the love of the Lord Jesus, the one who willingly took all his sin and shame so that He could be fully included in the kingdom. He didn’t need to be asked twice, but showed his desire to follow Jesus from now on by receiving the new covenant sign of baptism. (Acts 8:26-40)

It’s so helpful to know that when we turn to Jesus, His blood shed for us is sufficient to cover all our sin, (1 John 1:9). Whether it’s something you’ve done yourself, or that others have done to you, Jesus Christ offers to take all your shame and sin and guilt. He still calls us to live holy lives, but what we have done in the past does not need to define us for the future.

Our gospel reading gives us the prayer to pray

“Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us” (Luke 11).