Who Are The People Of God And How To Join Up

Saturday of the 30th week in course 2023

Our first reading begins with a question about whether, “then,” God has rejected His people, the Jews of St. Paul’s day. But we must, to have any understanding of these words, look back at the previous chapter, which ends, “But of Israel he [God] says, ‘All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.’”

It’s easy to forget, when the word “Israel” these days is considered to be the name of a political entity at the east end of the Mediterranean, that the word in Hebrew has a meaning. It means “God-fighter.” Israel was chosen by God in its ancestor, Jacob bar Isaac, to whom God repeated the promise originally given to grandfather Abraham. He would be the father of uncountable humans, and possess the land we call “Holy.” But those descendants, ultimately rescued from Egyptian slavery at the time of Moses, rebelled against God and His Law uncountable times. So God chastised them over and over and even exiled them from eretz Israel, most notably to Babylon. That’s one reason the term “God fighter” was so appropriate. St. Paul understood that and is asking in this chapter whether their rejection of God’s Son, Jesus, has led to a total rejection of His people by God, kind of a tit for tat. But Paul says, “no way, dudes.” Their rejection of Christ led to the Church preaching Him successfully to the Gentiles who were believers in the One God. So Paul asks his readers to imagine just what blessings would come from the Jews accepting Christ. Maybe even the Second Coming of Jesus and the resurrection of all believers, Jew and Gentile alike! We can hope and pray and work together toward that goal.

Jesus knew that for the religious leaders of His day, status was their salvation. They spent years either in study or in toadying to mentors, or in crawling over others to gain power. And here comes this hick-town Galilean carpenter and His gang to try to turn things upside down. But Jesus is a wise man beyond Solomon. Remember that about a third of the OT is devoted to what we call Wisdom literature, like Proverbs, especially if you are using the Gentile OT, the Greek version, which has books like Sirach and Wisdom in it. So in noticing the way attendees at the Pharisee dinner party jockey for the best seats, He imparts some really clever strategy. If one takes the lowest spot in the queue, then he can’t get bumped for someone else. There’s no place but up, and if the host is the one putting out the place cards, you have a better shot at being seen as a rising star.

But that’s just secular wisdom, worth remembering. It also has an impact on who you are becoming in the Kingdom of God. Remember, those are blessed who are meek; those are blessed who are pure in intention and action. If–as we all know–the whole point in life is to rely on the grace of Christ to make us fit for heaven, and to attract many others to follow Him as we have done, then becoming meek and humble and merciful is an important–nay an essential–starting point for our eternal life. It’s all part of what Paul calls “the obedience of faith.”