Reading for Monday, 5th Week of Lent

Romans 9:1-18

In this last week before we begin considering the events leading up to Christ’s Passion, we will be reading chapters 9-11 of Paul’s letter to the Romans. It is especially appropriate to consider these three chapters as we come closer to Good Friday. For both in the Gospel and in Romans, we are coming to the mystery of rejection. Next week, we will ponder the rejection of Jesus by his own people. This week we read Paul’s effort to explain this rejection. Hopefully, as we read, we will look beyond one nation’s rejection of Jesus, and consider the myriad ways in which our contemporaries say, “No” to the Good News.

In today’s reading, Paul brings us face to face with the other side of God’s grace – inscrutability. Paul’s brief reference to Jacob and Esau only hints at the scandal. You can read more of the story in Genesis, ch. 25-33. Esau was the first-born, and natural heir of the promises of God that Isaac inherited from Abraham. Esau was also his father’s favorite. From the beginning, Jacob and Esau struggled for privilege. Jacob’s name in Hebrew means “cheater.” And that aptly describes his dealings with his family. And yet, by God’s grace, it is Jacob who becomes “Israel” (he who struggles with God and men, and prevails). It is Jacob who became the father of the chosen people to whom Jesus came.

Are you offended at God’s grace? Does God seem unfair? Why does God seem to favor some people over others? Are you offended at the prospect of favor being unearned? Think back through your life. If you’re honest, you will see moments when, through hard work you “earned” your reward, and others where you caught a break – the Professor who let you turn in that paper after its drop-dead due date; that influx of cash from an unexpected source that got you through a hard time.

We want to think that we are in control of our own destinies. If we take the time to remember, we come to realize that we are not in control. But if we are not in control, then who is? God, I suppose. But then the temptation is to place God under our control. I suspect that most religious rituals in human history have been designed to appease and manipulate God into doing what we want him to do. When that fails, the temptation is to accept whatever happens as being under God’s control. That leads to such questions as, “[Jesus], who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2)

God does not promise us security. God promises that nothing, not even physical death, will separate us from his loving presence. Is that enough?