In yesterday’s press there was a fascinating article about adoption parties, held by some local authorities to bring together groups of prospective parents and children so that social workers can find the right match between them. Some people are critical of the idea. They say it’s like speed dating for toddlers. It’s just not the right way to decide. And at such gatherings, emotions are fraught on both sides, prospective adopters wondering whether the right match will be made, some of the children fearing they will never find a forever-family.
Regardless of the merits and demerits of deciding this way or that, the story made me feel all over again what an extraordinary gesture it is to adopt a child, creating a bond of kinship by an act of choice and love. And it reminded me of one of the most unexpected stories in the Bible….[which] occurs near the beginning of the book of Exodus.
What the good Rabbi doesn’t say, but is important, is that adoption, as with Moses, is a central part of the Hebrew story of redemption, and our adoption by grace as sons of God is a central part of the Christian story of redemption. Islam specifically outlaws recognizing adoption at all, meaning that many Muslims are immunized against the invitation God sends.