The Great Anguish
The Great Anguish
Romans 9:1-5
Have you ever said or done something extreme or over the top
for someone you love?
Ever made the
statement “I’d do anything” maybe to see something change or to express
something important.
In finding Nemo Marlin
does just that for Nemo. Marlin would
rather be in the safety of his home but his love and desire to not lose his son
drives him to explore the big ocean and do some pretty extreme things to save
his son and bring him back home safely.
I think Paul is expressing the same passion as Marlin the
clown fish in this passage.
He would do anything,
even being cut off and cursed if it meant that his people
the Jewish people understood Christ.
You see the Jewish people – the Israelites were God’s chosen
people, but they still lived with the laws and under the special conditions of
being God’s chosen people. Paul was a Jewish man but had come to understand
Christ as the Messiah and was spreading the gospel among the Gentiles. The Jewish people didn’t understand how they
could be God’s chosen people and the gentiles would be still okay in faith,
because the gentiles didn’t fit in the customs and laws of the Jewish
people.
Paul said he would do anything if it meant that the Jewish
people would understand that all were equal and nothing could separate them all
from the love of Christ.
Where have you felt great sorrow and unceasing anguish in
your heart?
For me I have a great
sense of pain when I meet with students at school and hear their heartbreaking
stories and know they need Jesus but know I’m not allowed to share the gospel
in a public school.
Pauls anguish was
because he understands Jesus as Messiah and yet his people the Jewish people
did not.
Today's passage from Romans comes after we have been hearing
in the first 8 chapters about the hope and gloriousness of God because nothing
can separate us from Christ.
Then comes Chapter 9.
And it’s a tricky one.
Because alone verses
1-5 aren’t the climax of this story but really the introduction of this
tension. It is in these verses we are
reminded that things aren’t right with the Jews.
Paul needs to wrestle with the tension of this realisation.
He has a great love for the people of Israel. But he also
understands the importance of spreading the gospel and understands the Christ
the Messiah is for everyone not just God’s chosen people.
I would do anything for the students at school if it meant
they came to understand their worth and the hope they can have in Christ.
Marlin was willing to go into the depths of the ocean to get
his son Nemo back
Paul felt the same about the people of Israel.
What are you willing to do for the sake of the people you
connect with?
How far will you go to share the gospel?
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