"I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart."

Friday, August 1

Scripture

I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 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. (Romans 9:2-3)

Reflection

With the Apostle Paul’s thorough training and great status as a Pharisee, he might have assumed that his message of Jesus as the crucified Messiah would have received a more serious hearing among his Jewish brothers and sisters, his “kindred according to the flesh,” with the result that most, if not all, would come to embrace Christianity, as he did. He was deeply grieved that this was not the case! Romans 9 is his theological “working through” this dilemma.

We wonder if Paul’s mission to the Gentiles (non-Jews) would have been so explosively successful had he had a more receptive audience among his own “kindred according to the flesh.”

Prayer

Gracious God, Thank you for your servant Paul and for his passionate and self-emptying zeal for sharing the Good News of your Son, Jesus, the crucified Messiah, in whose name we pray. Amen.