Ninth Sunday After Pentecost (A) 2020

+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.

Text: Romans 9:3-5
Theme: The Consistency of God



Dear friends in Christ Jesus,

The compassion of God is consistent. So is His judgment. He is not fickle. His manner of working is never at odds with His nature. The current pandemic is causing some to ask whether the patience of God is growing thin. Significant events typically incite such claims. People’s awareness is heightened, and their curiosity piqued. Those are generally good things. But the question is not whether God is “speaking” in the current circumstances, but, in which circumstances isn’t He speaking? God didn’t set the world spinning and then stand back to see what would happen. The creation displays His power. The conscience senses His presence. God is not silent.

But, the most important way, the only definitive, way the Spirit speaks to us is through the Scriptures. What does the Bible say about what God is doing in traumas and tragedies throughout human history? He is calling to repentance and offering grace. The Bible says, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”1

Today, as we continue through the Book of Romans, St. Paul laments the lack of repentance and faith in his fellow Jews. His lament is not characterized by criticalness, but by grief. He says, “For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers…they are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.”2

If it were possible, Paul would ask this favour from God, such is his sorrow…that the Almighty would sever him from Christ for the sake of his brothers. It puts him in very elite company. It was like the earnest plea of a Moses, who said, “...please blot me out of your book that you have written."3 Moses could not bear to see the Israelites cut off from grace so he offered himself as substitute. But such is not the way of God with men. There is only one substitute, the God-Man, Jesus Christ. No one else can ransom the life of another.

Why is Paul filled with such anguish and grief? Because he is also an Israelite by birth, descended from the line of Benjamin. In regard to receiving the coming Messiah, his people were in the pole position. And yet so many remained steadfast in their rejection of Jesus. Their rejection cuts a Paul to the heart. Their unbelief pains him deeply. Here we see pastoral concern at its finest. Paul was a preacher, a peerless herald of the gospel. He did it proficiently and professionally, but he wasn’t professional per se, at least not in modern understanding. St. Paul was a curator of souls. He didn’t are about his own skin or his reputation. The term for pastor in Greek is the word shepherd. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, the shepherd par excellence who pastors His people. Paul is one of His most dedicated under shepherds.

So, it was the privileged status of the Israelites that caused Paul’s grief to be so severe. He goes on to list the rationale. Theirs was the law. God gave His law to and through them. Moses came down from Sinai with the Ten Commandments yet had to ascend again after rebuking the people for their idolatry. Still, the commandments became the parameters for their relationship with a God and one another. Those same commandments, unchangeably relevant, are the moral foundation for human society. Jesus did not abolish them. He took our guilt for our failure to follow them.

Theirs was the worship. God established a system of animal sacrifice as central to Israelite worship. The lifeblood of animals was offered in substitution for human life. The sanctity of life and the holiness of God were the central truths. A holy God could not tolerate sinners in His presence. Moreover, they had no means by which to appease Him. Animal sacrifice provided symbolic atonement. Most importantly, it prepared people to expect the all-sufficient sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God, on the cross.

Theirs were the promises. What were the promises? Woven together with the covenants, they were God’s continual re-iterations of faithfulness. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was dependable. His grace and favour would not fail them. Again, and again He forgave them and restored them. Again, and again He returned them from idolatry, exile, and apostasy. His holiness was never compromised, that is, He never condoned or accepted their sinfulness or unbelief. But His compassion was unfailing. Again, and again He ran to them, like the Father rushing to welcome home the prodigal son.

And the list goes on. God’s dealing with the Israelites demonstrated His attitude to all humanity. He cherished them like a firstborn son. In the same way, the only begotten Son, the Son of the Father, cherishes us as His children. All who receive Him by faith are the true Israel. The crucified and risen Jesus is the fulfillment of the law, the promises, the worship. His righteous covers us. His sacrifice reconciles us to the Father. His body and blood feed us. His Spirit leads us.

Dear friends, have no doubt that one day the earth will stop spinning. The Lord will come in glory. And, whether our souls have already been received into God’s presence or we’re still scurrying about on the earth, we will be accounted for on that great and awesome day. Transformed, body and soul, into the immortal image of Christ, our future joy cannot yet be comprehended. God’s people will not go wanting.

Remember last week Paul uttered this unfathomable truth. “We know that is all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”4
The conviction that God has, and can, and will continue to accomplish this mammoth task of bending towards goodness should have us brimming over with confidence while keeping us balanced with humility. These are unsettling times. But sometimes some unsettling is necessary to move people off the sand and settle them on the unshakeable foundation of His truth. We are baptized. Our names are written in the book of life. What do we have that the Father has not given us? What do we lack that the Son cannot supply? What can we risk that the Spirit won’t restore? God is steadfast. Amen.


Ninth Sunday After Pentecost
2 August 2020
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt

1 2 Peter 3:9-10 2 Romans 9:3-5
3 Exodus 32:32 4 Romans 8:28