Romans Chapter 9
I tell you as sincerely before God as I can, and the Holy Spirit moving within my conscience affirms the truth of this, that I am carrying a continual and heavy burden in my heart for my own Jewish people. I would even accept eternal rejection from Christ if somehow I could change places with them.
Comments:
Generally speaking, Jesus and his apostles deeply upset the spiritual/political status quo of both the Jews and the Gentiles of their day...of this, there is no doubt. They both gave up their lives in violent deaths because of this fact. Paul would say in another place that the gospel is a "stumbling block" to Jewish people and "foolishness" to the Greeks. But in reality, the coming of Messiah Jesus into this world was, of course, the greatest and climactic act of divine love, mercy, reconciliation and justice the world would ever witness or come to know. Beautiful and terrible irony has always been at the dramatic heart of God's big God-Story.
Jesus and his apostles claimed to understand and were sent to "reveal" a new and divinely inspired viewpoint on the history of God with his creation, with Israel and with all the nations...through the spiritual authority entrusted to them by the Father and with the added benefit of clear prophetic hindsight. They would labor to show and teach how the groundwork for this new view was clearly established by God in the scriptures and that the gospel and the New Covenant were and are a logical extension built upon that foundation. In fact, Jesus was actually "present" in that history and was, himself, the chief cornerstone of the foundation of the "house of God" and the grand drama related to this divine family heritage that would play out in human history and destiny through his gospel.
Beginning in chapter 9, Paul elaborates on a theme that he began to speak of in chapter 3. This theme, far from being a "parenthesis" in Romans, is at the heart of this amazing epistle and we will pick this up in the next installments. But before we go there, we must pause profoundly to catch the breaking heart of the dear apostle of Christ that undergirded the strong words and challenging worldview he laid out to both the Jews and Gentiles of his day...and ours.
He states, "I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh...." This speaks for itself (if we dare to even speak it)...especially knowing how deeply Paul knew and loved Jesus from the first day he met him on the Damascus road. In our zeal to share the good news of our Lord with the people the Father puts in our lives, may his Spirit capture our hearts with the same depth of compassion, humility and self-sacrifice. It is this kind of love that will give weight to our words and claim of personally knowing God through Christ Jesus the Lord.
He is Risen!
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