[ Today's Readings ]
Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”
As Gentiles we might feel left out here. But it is not for any particular merit on the part of Israel that the mission of Jesus starts there. The kingdom is proclaimed to Israel first almost in spite of itself.
If they would say,
“We have no king”—
Since they do not fear the LORD,
what can the king do for them?
God comes to the lost sheep of Israel first in fidelity to his promise. Yet first does not mean only.
It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles (see Acts 13:46).
He was planning this pivot to the Gentiles all along. Here we feel bad for the Jews, as if they have been abandoned.
I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! (see Romans 10:11).
What we see are the lengths to which the LORD will go to save everyone. He wants everyone to be saved (see First Timothy 2:4). He does all he can to make this happen. He doesn't just do it for us, though. Our wills are involved. Even so, we can learn from this to trust his process for us. We can see how deftly he works with our longings and desires so that we come to long and desire him more and more. He calls us according to his purpose and invites us to love him so that he can make all things work together for our good. The invitation to love may take many forms. God may use others to make us jealous of the love only he can give. He may shatter the idols which take his place in our lives. But he has begun a good work in us. He has the power to bring it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (see Philippians 1:6).
Augustine reminds us, “God who created you without you, will not save you without you”. This ought to make us a little bit nervous. We know that we could botch the whole thing. But it only makes us nervous so that we trust in God and not in ourselves. When we have this trust there is no failure that can stand between us and salvation. Every failure is transformed. Even the sin of Adam can now be said to be necessary and happy because of the way that God responds.
Even when history is long and winding and we can't see the thread of the plot we can trust that God is at work. The same holds true for each of our lives. He starts with Israel because he is faithful to his promise. That same promise includes the salvation of the nations. We can trust that he will be faithful to us as well.
Sing to him, sing his praise,
proclaim all his wondrous deeds.
Glory in his holy name;
rejoice, O hearts that seek the LORD!
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