Irrevocable

A Reflection on the Second Reading for August 16th, 2020:
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Romans
11.13-15, 29-32

Brothers and sisters: Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an Apostle to the Gentiles, I glorify my ministry in order to make my own flesh and blood jealous, and thus save some of them. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead!

The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, so they have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy. For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.
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Pause. Pray.

And then read more...

Driving along a red dirt road to a beach, with a car load of people in various states of talking to each other, a broken voice comes over the radio as we pass between the handoff points in the towers carrying the CBC signal. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. He’s telling us that the thrust of the Jewish word for faith isn’t a list of tenets we posit; it’s loyalty — faithfulness — in a relationship. Much messier, that, than a list. Messy and merciful.  


Mercy.


The word Saint Paul pulls me toward, as he pulled the new Christians in Rome toward — ἔλεος. Mercy. Compassion. This word is rooted in movement from the one who has it, toward the one who needs it. It is never a static word. Think… 'my heart goes out to you.' Woven in the speaking of this word is Emmanuel, God with us. His Heart going out to us. It is kindness and goodness knitted together with the desire to receive the brokenness of the other. God’s kindness and goodness knitted together with His desire to receive our brokenness. His kindness and goodness working through you to receive my brokenness. His kindness and goodness working through me to receive the brokenness of the people I travel with. Except when I don’t let it.


Stubbornness.


The word I don’t want to admit to — ἀπείθεια. Disobedience. Willful lack of trust. Stubbornness. In the very building blocks of this word is a refusal to be persuaded. Persuaded by God. The relationship matters so much to Him, that He does not commandeer our will, He courts it — tries to persuade this people He’s made, us and Israel and the people in my car. And even when we give Him stubbornness instead of surrender, He doesn’t waste even that. He keeps finding a way to draw near and offer to weave mercy into us, even through us. He used the stubbornness of Israel to let His mercy move through to this moment. And His mercy moves through this moment, continually courting us all.




Saint Paul makes it clear. We haven’t replaced Israel; we’ve been beautifully grafted into the Root of Jesse. Brought in by God’s mercy flowing through the Vine into the branch. Brought in to carry God’s mercy, not keep it. Mercy. Stubbornness. We’re all in this together. Us and Israel. Me and the family in our car. Locked in our stubbornness, fed by His mercy flowing through it all. And there is hope beyond hope because, ‘The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.’




Noreen Smith
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