J. J.
May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts, be acceptable in Thy sight,
O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
“Rejected and Selected”
It seemed unreal this week, when the news broke that actor Robin Williams had died, a shock which reverberated again as it was confirmed a suicide. One of our first thoughts was, “How could a person in his station, of his fame and fortune, feel compelled to such a dire end?” And we learned of his long time battle with depression. While that helps to explain the matter, it doesn’t really satisfy our yearnings. We are left with a persistent wondering of how could this happen?
Yet it does happen. Perhaps it brought to mind the tragic end of actress Marilyn Monroe. Her life, too, had its ups and downs. I pray that you are not suffering from the clinical depression that vexed Robin and Marilyn. But if you are – let us know. God loves you. I love you. Your church loves you. We may well not do the best job of expressing our love, and in fact, we sinfully do the opposite at times. But the fact remains – We Love You. And if you find yourself chased by the mental demons of depression, and they are calling for suicide – Call us. Call me. Call each other. Call 911. Killing yourself won’t kill the demons. They will live to torment another. Don’t let depression end up the winner.
Marilyn is known to have said, “Sometimes I feel my whole life has been one big rejection.” Rejection. In contrast to depression, rejection is an emotion we all can relate to. Like rain, some rejection falls into every life. Been there, felt that. And it is real. Its hurt can go deep and last long. It stings so much we may be prompted to ask, “Why, God?” or “Why me, God?” Rejection leads us to wonder whether God has abandoned us.
St. Paul, in our epistle today, is dealing with that very question: “I ask, then, has God rejected his people?” So, what is the answer? “No!” “By no means!” “Absolutely not.” Paul then explains that He is an Israelite. God has not rejected him. If God were rejecting His people as a people, as a whole, then God would have rejected Paul, too. But God did not reject him. Instead of rejecting Saul of Tarsus, God selected him as Paul the Apostle.
If God is not rejecting His people, if God is not rejecting us, -- and He is not -- then what is the source, what is the cause, of this rejection we experience in our lives? The rejection which comes against us, actually starts from within us. In the Garden of Eden our parents Adam and Eve rejected walking with God. They struck out on their own path, seeking to be like God. “You will be like God,” the serpent said, “knowing good and evil.” The temptation was not so much to have the knowledge of good and evil, as it was to be “like God.”
Adam and Eve rejected God’s way for their way. More so, they rejected God. And that rejection continues today: around us and in us. We want our own way. We want what we want when we want it. The theme song of our lives, from Frank Sinatra, is “I did it my way.” God does not reject us. We reject Him.
And when He came to rescue us, to redeem and save us. We rejected Him. He proclaimed Good News that the reign of God was near. But we would not have the reign of God, we wanted our independence, to rule ourselves. So we whipped Him and beat Him. We gave Him a crown and a cross. He who brought Good News was despised and rejected. A Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief.
Even so, with all this, as Paul tells us, “God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.” He has not rejected us. No, God has chosen us. He has chosen you and me. He does not reject us who have rejected Him. He elects us and selects us. Christ was crucified for us. But He did not remain dead and buried. The Father raised Him on that glorious morn. He is ascended and reigning on high. Yes, the reign of God is at hand. And He has built us into His Church, for the stone which the builders rejected, as become the chief corner stone.
We were born as children of Adam, rejecters of God. Yet, God has selected us to be in His family. Listen to Paul: “So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.” (verse 5-6) Yes, vicar, we know that we are saved by grace, but isn’t Paul telling us that it’s up to us, because he writes in verse 22, “ provided you continue in His kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.” Doesn’t that make it all conditional, on my doing? No, not exactly. Yes, we must continue in the kindness of God, but what is that? The kindness of God is His grace and mercy towards us. As the Psalm says, and that we often pray, “O give thanks unto the Lord for He is good, and His mercy – His loving kindness – endures forever.”
So Paul is saying that we must continue in God’s grace and mercy, which not our doing, but our receiving from Him. Paul is writing about us as olive branches grafted into the tree, Christ who is the Tree of Life. The tree provides the life to the branch, and will keep doing so, as long as the branch abides, lives, dwells, remains in the tree. Now, if that branch which was selected wants to do it its own way, and strike out on its own, it will be outside of the life of the tree, outside of its grace and mercy. That is, the branch can reject the tree. And when it rejects the tree, it is no longer continuing in the kindness of the tree.
The branch was selected for the tree, not because it was a good branch. Rather it is now a good branch because it was selected for and lives in the tree. For you, Paul says, “although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree.” Don’t be misled by backwards talk or backwards thinking. God did not choose us to be in His tree because of our believing. No, He chose us out of His grace and mercy, and because we are grafted in, and now part of His family, He gives us the faith by which we can believe. Again, Paul cautions us, “Remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.”
Alright, vicar, I think I’ve got it about the olive tree and the branches, about our rejecting and God’s selecting. But what about the woman in the Gospel, with the bread and the children. Jesus said, “great is your faith.” Doesn’t that mean it is up to me to believe long, hard, and strong so that God will accept me and bless me?
No. Let’s look at what happens. A Syro-Phoenician woman comes to Jesus for her daughter, vexed with demons. She asks Jesus to heal her daughter. Jesus says nothing. But His disciples want to send her away because she is a gentile. Just like they wanted to send away the 5,000 people two weeks ago, and let them find their own food. But Jesus, who is the same Jesus that did not send the crowd away, the Jesus who comes to us, does not send her away.
But Jesus says, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and give it to the dogs.” So, is Jesus just being mean, is He calling her a dog? One might think that because it was not unusual for the Jews to so regard the Gentiles. But, no. The word Jesus uses is a word for little dog, puppy dog, lap dog, or pet dog. He is not calling the woman a stray, a cur, or mongrel: dogs that run the street and are dangerous and vicious.
Jesus is using a word for household dog. This is dog that belongs to the home. It is a member of the family. You see, Jesus is not rejecting her. He is selecting her. He is saying, you were not born an Israelite, a child of Abraham sitting at the table, but you too, dear woman, are part of my household.
This woman hears the promise of Jesus. She believes His word. So she says, Yes, Lord, do not take away the children’s bread, for even the puppy dogs get to eat, and the scraps and the leftovers are more than enough.
This woman, she gets it. She knows that she does not deserve anything. She knows that she has no right to sit at the table, that she is entirely dependent on the mercy of God. She also knows that Jesus has not rejected her but selected her. He has welcomed her as a member of the family. And she knows that His provision, even if it appears to be only scraps, is actually more than enough. She is willing to receive God’s kindness, to be grafted into the olive tree, and to dwell there.
Jesus sees and knows this is a great faith. She is one who appears as an outsider, who others would consider a mutt. Yet, in despite of it all, knowing that she is outside of the covenant, she trusts Him, and she trusts His word. Jesus grants her request. Not because of the super-duper size and strength of her faith. But because through that faith she is receiving the promise he spoke to her – I don’t reject you, I select you.
So then, Church, what about us? What about you and me? We know that we have rejected God. But that He has elected and selected us. He has called us by His Gospel and enlightened us with His gifts. He grafted us into His Tree, and has made us members of His family. Like children and puppies, we can run away from Him. But He will not send us away. As did the Syro-Phonecian woman, we too cling to the words and promises of the Gospel. “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Rom. 11:29) for the very purpose “that he may have mercy on all” (Rom. 11:32).
Amen.
S. D. G.
