Reading for Wednesday, 5th Week of Lent

Romans 11:1-12

“Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?” (Rom 11:12 – King James Version)

Curiously, most modern translations get this verse wrong. Mostly they conclude with phrases such as “full inclusion,” suggesting that Paul is looking to the day when the people of Israel will become Christians. Maybe, but the old King James gets this verse right when it doesn’t try to modify or explain what Paul means when he speaks of the Jews’ “fullness.”

Before that, Paul speaks of all the people of the world having been enriched by the failure of his Jewish kindred to comprehend that Jesus of Nazareth was the fulfillment of God’s promises to them, his chosen people. Perhaps Paul is saying that just as the Gentiles have been “enriched” by the Good News of Jesus Christ, so shall the Jews. But having tried, and failed, to persuade his Jewish brothers and sisters of this Gospel; perhaps Paul has come to understand that God’s purpose for the people of Israel is not necessarily their “inclusion” in the right club or organization.

Two millennia later, we who belong to the Church must also face doubt, skepticism and outright rejection. Do we therefore pray for their eventual “inclusion” in the Church? Or must our mission and prayer be simply for their “fullness,” their enrichment by God, even if that enrichment comes in ways that may be outside the Church?