Proper 15 / Pentecost 13 / OT 20
Devotional
Water From the Well
Lectionary Devotional For Cycle A
Object:
... the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
-- Romans 11:29
The integrity of God and the future of the church are on the line in this argument. If, as many in Christianity have taught, God rejected the Jews because they had rejected Jesus as the Christ, then we know that God's promises cannot be counted on. When God first made his promise of a covenant relationship with Abram in Genesis 15:1-20, it was not a conditional covenant dependent on people's behavior. In the scene in which God sealed his promise to Abram, it was only the "smoking fire pot and a flaming torch," symbols of the presence of God, that passed through the split animals. God guaranteed the fulfillment of the covenant. This unconditional covenant was reaffirmed through David and throughout the scriptures.
If God reneged on his promise by rejecting the Jews because of their behavior, then how can the church trust that God will not do the same with the church? Clearly, the church has not proven to be a paragon of faithfulness in its own history. Paul answered with a ringing declaration, "I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means ... God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew." So what is the answer? Paul's conclusion was that God had integrated the Jewish rejection of Jesus as the Christ into his overall plan for the salvation of the world. "Just as you [Gentiles] were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their [the Jews] disobedience, so they have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy." However the church chose to relate to Judaism, Paul made it clear that Christians were responding to the continuing covenant people of God.
-- Romans 11:29
The integrity of God and the future of the church are on the line in this argument. If, as many in Christianity have taught, God rejected the Jews because they had rejected Jesus as the Christ, then we know that God's promises cannot be counted on. When God first made his promise of a covenant relationship with Abram in Genesis 15:1-20, it was not a conditional covenant dependent on people's behavior. In the scene in which God sealed his promise to Abram, it was only the "smoking fire pot and a flaming torch," symbols of the presence of God, that passed through the split animals. God guaranteed the fulfillment of the covenant. This unconditional covenant was reaffirmed through David and throughout the scriptures.
If God reneged on his promise by rejecting the Jews because of their behavior, then how can the church trust that God will not do the same with the church? Clearly, the church has not proven to be a paragon of faithfulness in its own history. Paul answered with a ringing declaration, "I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means ... God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew." So what is the answer? Paul's conclusion was that God had integrated the Jewish rejection of Jesus as the Christ into his overall plan for the salvation of the world. "Just as you [Gentiles] were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their [the Jews] disobedience, so they have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy." However the church chose to relate to Judaism, Paul made it clear that Christians were responding to the continuing covenant people of God.
