Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32 (NRSVue)
God has
not rejected Israel. Rather, the call and gifts of God are irrevocable so that,
while all have been disobedient, God has mercy upon all.
[Paul writes:] 1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2a God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.
29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30 Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so also they have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they also may now receive mercy. 32 For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.
Reflection
“God has
imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all” (Romans
11:32).
“Merciful to all.”
“Merciful to all.”
“So that God may be merciful to all.”
God has a heart of mercy.
That is the conclusion that the Apostle Paul comes to in the end as he struggles with the reality that people’s faith in God and obedience to God comes and goes. We trust God, and then we do not, whenever another influence on our lives desires our attention. We listen to God and then we do not, whenever God’s ways suddenly become inconvenient and hard. I ask you: who actually wants to love their enemy? No, our faith in God and obedience to God comes and goes like waves on an ocean. Sometimes our faith and obedience reach great heights and then they immediately fall to new lows. But despite our inability to stay firm, God’s heart does not waver. God has a heart of mercy.
“God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all” (Romans 11:32).
God’s merciful heart does not waver. But that does not mean that God refuses to change God’s mind. In fact, God changes God’s mind all the time, and that is a good thing for us!
Now, God does not change God’s mind concerning God’s expectations from us. When we are told in Deuteronomy 5:33 that, “You must follow exactly the path that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and that it may go well with you,” I am pretty sure that those words mean that we need to listen and obey. God is not just pretending here. If we do not listen and obey God’s commands the Bible clearly states that, “The anger of the Lord your God would be kindled against you and he would destroy you from the face of the earth. ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test’” (Deuteronomy 6:15-16).
When Jesus teaches in Matthew 5:44-45 that you must “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven…” I am pretty sure that Jesus is not just pretending to care about our enemies. In fact, we can see with our very own eyes that God cares about them. The Bible says that God “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45).
This is no different from your grandma’s expectations. When my Grandma Helen told you to dust the shelves and tables in the house, you dusted the shelves and tables in the house or there would be a good, wet towel snapping coming your way to get your back end into motion.
God expects us to follow the commands given to us and God expects us to love our enemies. These expectations are unwavering. God even promises to punish us if we fail. And this is where we might see God changing God’s mind for our benefit. When we fail, we often find that the punishment that was promised never happens. In other words, God shows mercy. It does not always turn out that way, but it happens enough that I have a sneaking suspicion that God has a heart of mercy.
God has a heart of mercy.
This is probably one of the oldest truths about God that we have in the Bible. If you look at the story of the first two human beings on this earth, you find that God gives them a command concerning eating the fruit of a particular tree. God says “of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die” (Genesis 2:17). So, did they listen? The consequence was instant death that very day. You tell me, if you put a bowl of M&Ms in front of a toddler and tell them not to eat from it and then leave the room, what are they going to do? Of course, they eat the M&Ms. And of course, the first two human beings eat fruit from the tree. None of that is surprising.
I will tell you what is surprising: the first two human beings did not die on the day that they ate the fruit. In fact, God took the time to sew them some nice clothes to wear to cover their naked selves. New clothes: that was one of their consequences! Any good parent knows that you just do not do that! Rewarding bad behavior? Amateur. Or maybe God has a heart of mercy. God regularly changes God’s mind toward mercy.
Consider the story of Jesus and the Canaanite woman who comes to Jesus pleading and shouting for mercy so that her daughter might be saved from demonic torment. No one wants to see their child suffer. I am sure that Jesus does not want to see that either. But Jesus had been given a rule: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24). This woman and the child were not Israelites. This was simply outside of his jurisdiction and authority.
As my dad used to say, “Not my monkey, not my circus.” You might have heard, “Not my garden, not my weeds.” “That’s between y’all.” “I’m staying out of this one.” “I’m not touching that with a ten‑foot pole.” And my favorite: “Your crisis is not my crisis.”
Jesus uses an ancient turn of phrase in this story: “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs” (Matthew 15:26).
Really, that should be that. Pennsylvania State Troopers cannot pull over people in Ohio, though they might want to. It is not my place to offer an opinion on someone else’s family issues without being asked. And Jesus does not minister to Canaanite women.
But the woman responds, “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table” (Matthew 15:27).
It is at that moment that Jesus changes his mind toward mercy. “’Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed from that moment” (Matthew 15:28).
God has a heart of mercy. We see it clearly in Jesus.
I was thinking about this while on my trip to Wartburg Seminary in Dubuque, IA this week. One afternoon I went for a walk around campus, and in a forgotten corner of campus I found a labyrinth. In case you do not know, a labyrinth is like a maze except that you cannot get lost in a labyrinth. In a labyrinth you take a winding, meandering journey toward the center of the labyrinth. At some points in the labyrinth, you seem to be almost to the center only to find yourself turning a corner and journeying far away again. Eventually you do reach the center, and in the center of this labyrinth was a cross.
It suddenly struck me that our lives of faith are like that. Jesus is there the whole time, in the center, sometimes very near, sometimes further away, but always present as we wander closer and further away from Jesus. Jesus is at the center of our lives, always seeing, always hoping, always caring, always showing mercy until we are finally led to where we were meant to be, at the center with Jesus.
As I stood in the center of that labyrinth, standing on the cross, standing with Jesus, I thought about how my life could be a life of mercy also; being there as people wandered close and fell further away again from all that is good and holy; standing with Jesus, waiting for them to be led to the cross where Jesus meets them with an eternal sort of love.
God has a heart of mercy, and so can I.
If God changes God’s mind toward mercy, and I have experienced that for myself in his sacrifice for me on the cross, then I can certainly change my mind to mercy as well.
After-all, Joseph did it. Joseph, that biblical ancestor of ours was hated by his brothers, left to die in a pit and then eventually sold by his brothers into slavery. His family relationships suffered some minor bruises, to say the least. But in the end of the story, Joseph has been made Pharoh’s right hand man and he faces the choice of helping his starving brothers or leaving them to suffer and die, Joseph looks back on his life and looks at his brothers and says, “Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today” (Genesis 50:20). Joseph stood in the center of the labyrinth, stood with the heart of God, and he showed mercy.
God has a heart of mercy, and so can we.
And finally, we come to the Apostle Paul who also finds himself standing in the middle of the labyrinth, standing on the cross, standing with Jesus as he faces his Israelite brothers and sisters in whom he is disappointed because they have not followed him into trusting Jesus. He sees them walking closer and then turning further away as they follow the lines of the labyrinth of life and he sees what Jesus sees and looks at them with the eyes of Christ. He looks at them and says, “has God rejected his people? By no means!...God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:1-2).
He looks and sees people who are loved by God. He sees people who need mercy. He sees people who will never lose the promise that God made with them, to be their God and they God’s people.
“God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all” (Romans 11:32).
God has a heart of mercy, and so can we.
As you look out on the world, who are the hated ones? As you look out on the world, who are the ones wandering away in the labyrinth? As you look out of the world, who is considered hopeless and deserving of Gods wrath? Who is considered as rightfully deserving our hate and judgment?
Remember, God changes God’s mind all the time and shows mercy. We can change our minds as well. As we stand on the cross with Jesus, we discover the truth: God has a heart of mercy, and so can we.
“Blessed are you who are merciful, for you will receive mercy” (Matthew 5:7).
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