For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ
for the sake of my own people,
my kindred according to the flesh.
We might imagine this having gone differently. We could understand Paul joining the persecuted sect of the Messiah and then beginning to reciprocate that hostility against his persecutors. He did experience that his own people "opposed and reviled him" to the point that he decided from then on to go to the Gentiles (see Acts 18:6).
Yet although Paul was certainly frustrated he could never close his heart to his own people. Even after all that he still had "great sorrow and constant anguish" in his heart for those around him that did not recognize the Messiah. The Messiah, after all, was not merely some different and superior path to that of "adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises". Rather, Jesus was truly the completion and fulfillment of all of those things.
For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory (see Second Corinthians 1:20).
What Paul discovered was precisely what all the children of Israel should have been so eager to hear. It was to Jesus himself that all of Scripture pointed, he that all the sacrifices foreshadowed, and it was in him that the fullness of the adoption to divine sonship was given. Paul himself had experienced this very fulfillment in his own life and it pained him to see those around him hardening their hearts to the possibility it was true.
For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ
for the sake of my own people,
Paul felt this deeply enough that he wished that his own suffering could imitate that of Christ, bearing the curse for the sake of bringing about the redemption of his people. Paul's sufferings doubtlessly did merit much for the glory of the early Church but God had other plans for the final restoration of Israel. The time has not yet come. But even now we know that eventually every knee shall bow and every tongue confess (see Philippians 2:10-11) "Christ, who is over all, God blessed forever."
From Paul we can learn a deep and abiding concern from those around us who oppose us and who have hardened their hearts to the possible truth of the Messiah. We recognize in them the God shaped hole that Jesus is meant to fill. It is, or ought to be, distressing for us to see when they insist on trying to fit anything other than he into hole. We also ought to learn a profound love for the children of Israel, without whom we would have none of the blessings in which we now rejoice. We do well to pray that the veil be lifted so that they be fully included in the restored Israel, which is the Church.
For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? (see Romans 11:15)
Jesus came to announce a year of jubilee when captives would be set free. The jubilee year was something of an extreme sabbath, coming as it did after seven sabbath years. The freedom it promised was an even more concrete embodiment of what each sabbath was always meant to be. Jesus knew and understood the true purpose of the sabbath, and for this reason knew that even more than any other day the sabbath was fitting for healing and freedom.
“Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath or not?”
But they kept silent; so he took the man and,
after he had healed him, dismissed him.
We tend to make secondary matters primary. We use the law as an excuse to exculpate us from any perceived responsibility that doesn't feel natural to us. We'll care naturally for our ox or our son, but become nervous when we realize that we may be called to open our hearts more broadly and be concerned even beyond the narrow confines of home. Jesus shows us that salvation always has priority over rigid self interest. Paul teaches us how to desire this salvation even for those who don't seem to desire it for themselves. May thanksgiving for the blessings we ourselves have first been given motivate us to prioritize salvation and freedom, like Paul, and like Jesus before him. May we too work until the jubilee year has come in fullness.
Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
No comments:
Post a Comment