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Grant now that the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts are pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, first of all, I would like to bring greetings and God’s blessings from the India Evangelical Lutheran Church in India, which was the first overseas mission field of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod since 1895. In bringing the Gospel to India, you saints are the roots, and after 132 years, as our church is established here, you see the fruit, which is preaching the word to you.
So this morning we are going to take in the whole chapter of Romans 9, instead of just the first few opening verses read earlier. This is about Israel, not really the Israel which is more of a 20th century invention. Paul is talking about Israel as the blood descendants of Abraham, the descendants of that group of people who came out of slavery in Egypt, whom God himself made into a people through water and wilderness, to whom God made covenant promises, gave the Torah, swore an oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to whom he sent the prophets, and from whom, in the fullness of time, came Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, son of Abraham, son of David, son of Israel. Here Paul is speaking of God’s chosen people, His treasured possession.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, here I would like to mention Luther’s meaning of the Apostle’s Creed, second article, in which Luther says, “Jesus has redeemed me by his holy precious blood.” The reason why he has redeemed me is that I may be his own. I am here as your own brother from the other side of the earth. So today, Jesus has chosen all the people as his treasured possession.
In our text, Paul is deeply in sorrow and even wishes he could be cut off from Christ, were that possible, for the sake of his fellow Israelites. Here Paul is deeply anguished, but what went wrong? Why did Israel, through whom Christ came, reject Christ? Why didn’t Israel believe? Why, given their special status as God’s priestly people, with all the covenants, promises, worship, legislation, and prophets, did Israel not believe, follow, and support Jesus, the true Son of Israel?
It’s a tough question and important for all of us this morning. Most of us know someone who is Jewish, whose ancestry goes back to Israel and the patriarchs. It’s not as though the word of God failed; not all who are descended from Israel are Israelites. Abraham had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael. Ishmael was Abraham’s son with his wife’s servant, of course, with her permission—a kind of a surrogate mother arrangement—because Abraham and Sarah did not believe God’s promise that Abraham would be the father of nations. So they took matters into their own hands, as we often do when God doesn’t work on our timetable, and they arranged to help God along a bit by having a son with Hagar, Sarah’s servant. That didn’t work out so well. Ishmael is the son of the law, the firstborn by law, but denied the inheritance because he is not convinced of faith but of Abraham’s words.
But Isaac, Abraham’s son with his wife Sarah, is the son of promise. He was conceived by the word of God, conceived in faith, not words. And even though Ishmael is the firstborn son and entitled to be here, he isn’t. The secondborn Isaac is the son of the promise, and being descended from Abraham doesn’t automatically put you in God’s Israel. It is by faith, not by words, trust in the promise, not taking matters into your own hands or being born in the right family. In that sense, not all Israel is Israel. It depends on faith.
Again, consider Rebekah’s twins, Jacob and Esau. Esau was the firstborn as Jacob came out second, grabbing the heel of his brother. You might say Jacob made a career of grabbing his brother’s heel, to the point of tricking Father Isaac into blessing him as the firstborn. But even before the twins were born, while Rebekah was wondering about all the kicking, God told her that the older would serve the younger. Before either of the boys could prove themselves or do anything right or wrong, God chose the secondborn over the firstborn to carry the promise of the seed of salvation.
It takes two points to make a line. Two examples make a theme. The second serves the first. Gospel over law, grace over words. “Jacob, I loved; Esau, I hated,” God says. That doesn’t mean Jacob goes to heaven and Esau goes to hell by the arbitrary sovereignty of God. This isn’t about their election but God’s selection of who will carry the promised seed of salvation forward. God’s choice is Jacob.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I would say our choice would have been Esau, the man’s man, a hunter, a strong-willed body, and appetites. He’s the kind of a man who would work salvation our way. But Jacob, the heel-grabbing mama’s boy, who preferred the kitchen to the outdoors, and duped his near-blind father into blessing him by dressing to smell and feel like Esau? I didn’t think so. And you don’t either. But God does. That’s what counts.
Or look at Moses. Pharaoh was one better than the other. Moses had blood on his hands. He was hiding in the countryside, tending his father-in-law’s flocks when God tracked him down. Moses didn’t even want the job; he would have been happy running sheep in the wilderness instead of a whole nation. If you looked at resumes, Pharaoh had better skills to run a nation, but Moses was the man for God’s nation. God does what he wants, like a potter who makes fine vases, cups, and flower pots. Everyone has a place and purpose as God molds history like the Master Potter. He has Moses, and the Pharaoh, and Jacob, and then Esau, and Ishmael, and then Isaac. He has believing Israel and unbelieving Israel, and all are like clay in the master craftsman’s hands. God has a plan and purpose. He knows what he’s doing.
He makes examples of wrath and examples of mercy. He shows the world the futility of earning his favor by works. He even made a nation and gave them more words than they could count, but they didn’t do. In all of this, God showed the world that a religion based on good behavior and commandment-keeping is destined to fail, dead on arrival, literally dead in trespasses and sins.
So what’s God up to? Salvation. Salvation in His Son Jesus. That’s what God wants, that all be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. He is willing to take people who are not His people, the Gentiles, you and me in that, and make them His own people. He is willing to take those who were not loved, who were loveless, his enemies, and call them, “My Beloved.”
No, God is not crazy. He is merciful and gracious for Jesus’ sake. His mercy and grace simply don’t follow rules, whether the rules of the firstborn, our rules of fairness, or any other rules, and that’s the point of it all. Salvation is by grace, a gift undeserved, unearned, granted for the sake of Jesus’ death and resurrection. God has been at this since the fall, teaching the world that it can’t dig itself out of the hole it has fallen into, but God himself will dive into that hole and raise it all in his own resurrection.
Essentially, God made an object lesson out of Israel and said, “Here is how it works. Trust me, my promises, and you are in. Try to do it yourself and you will fail every time.” The point of God having an Israel is the same as the point of God sending his own Son. He reduces Israel to a remnant, a tiny bunch of faithful believers who trust in God’s promise and not in themselves. And in the end, God reduced Israel to the smallest of remnants, one man on a cross, one perfect Jew who kept the law, the Torah, as no one else could: his only begotten son.
Everything of Israel is only focused on Jesus. He goes through the water and the wilderness, is God’s beloved son and servant, as Israel was God’s son and servant. He wrestles with God—which is what Israel means, “one who wrestles with God,” as Father Jacob wrestled with God. He goes to his exile and returns, his death and resurrection. Out of this one man, Israel, comes the salvation for the world.
Paul concludes Romans chapter 9, verses 30 to 33, by saying this: “What shall we say then? The Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it. That is righteousness, that is by faith. But the Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, ‘Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame.'”
Did the word of God fail because many of the Israelites didn’t believe? Paul’s answer: no. In fact, it succeeded beyond expectations. From one man, Abraham, came a nation, Israel. From a nation, Israel, came one man, capital M, the Christ. From one man named Jesus, the Christ, came salvation to this world.