Lectionary 18 A - Romans 9: 1-5

Romans 9:1-5Despite Paul’s difficulties with his own people at whose hands he was stoned, beaten, whipped, imprisoned etc. he would still be willing to trade heaven for hell for their sake. Evangelism motivated by great sorrow and unceasing anguish with a willingness to be completely cut off from Christ for the sake of someone else embodies the mind and heart of Christ. He was cut off from the land of living, despised and rejected, a man of sorrow and familiar with grief for the sake of those who betrayed, denied, mocked and crucified him. Too often we act out of spiritual superiority, protecting sacred cows, human institutions and traditions, or our own personal piety etched in stone which even when practiced with all good intentions still obscures the simple truth that the faith is mostly about mercy and a relationship with Christ is worth sharing simply for the sake of the relationship itself.