Lutheran Devotional 30th May 2025, Friday Message
TOPIC: God’s Gumbo
TEXT: John 17:20-21 – [Jesus said] “I do not ask [pray] for these only, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one, just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me.”
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John 17:20-21 – [Jesus said] “I do not ask [pray] for these only, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one, just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me.”
Pastor Greg Manning, who authored and voiced our devotion last Friday, is a preacher from New Orleans. Pastor Greg tells me that his church’s vision, “Following Jesus,” “is to be a little bit of everything like a good ole Louisiana gumbo.” Gumbo, a thick stew served over rice, with an eclectic mix of ingredients, including everything from celery, onions, peppers, and chicken, to Tabasco® sauce and turtle meat. It can serve as a working model for the church, because it’s less of a “melting pot,” in which ingredients lose their distinctiveness, and more of an assembly that comes together as one, with all individuals contributing their unique, God-given flavor.
If we imagine God’s people something like a pot of gumbo, we’d do well to consider the chef, the base, and the guests. The Chef, of course, is God. The Creator, through His Son and His Spirit, is making the church into a glorious, diverse unity. We value diversity and unity in the church, not because it’s trendy, but because Jesus prayed for this, bled and died for this, rules and reigns for this.
For all the diversity of ingredients in gumbo, there’s a common base that binds it all together. It’s called the roux. The roux is made with equal parts flour and oil. Roux means “red” in French—not so much “rouge,” not scarlet red, but roux like ginger, like browned butter, like the lifeblood of the lamb that marked the doors of God’s people at Passover. If we imagine God’s people like a good ole Louisiana gumbo, it’s not the diversity that defines us, but the lifeblood of God’s Lamb, Jesus, our base, whose self-giving love binds diverse people together.
Jesus creates this diverse unity, not just for some, but for all His guests. Jesus prayed for His followers, both then and now, but not for them alone. He prayed that everyone would come to know Him through God’s forgiving love displayed in us. I’m told that gumbo is a forgiving dish. If you let it all simmer and meld together in the roux, you can add just about anything. You don’t even have to measure. Gumbo is forgiving, but it’s a lot of work for the chef. And because it’s so much trouble to make, nobody ever makes just a little, which is a blessing, because with a good pot of gumbo on your stove, you may end up with the whole neighborhood in your kitchen. And with God’s generous portions, we should plan for nothing short of the whole world.
WE PRAY: Dear Father, let the love You have for Jesus, Your Son, be in us, so that the world would know that You have loved them, even as You love us. Amen.
Reflection Questions:
Considering the wonders of creation, what are some indicators that God delights in diversity?
What makes it difficult for people to be unified when they come from diverse backgrounds?
How can the church’s God-given diversity be a witness to the world?
This Daily Devotion was written by Rev. Dr. Michael Zeigler, Speaker for The Lutheran Hour.
