There's a Wideness in God's Mercy

https://youtu.be/IMeWbinr4SY

Second Reading

A READING FROM THE LETTER OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS

I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, so they have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy. For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.

ROMANS 11:1-2A, 29-32

Sermon: The Rev. Dr. Maryann Amor

Over the past few weeks we have been reading through Paul’s letter to the Romans. Paul wrote this letter around the year 60, when Christianity was nothing like what we know today. There were no church buildings, denominations, dioceses, or prayer books. There were simply small communities of people gathering in homes, trying to figure out what it means to follow Jesus.

And, as they did this, they argued, fought, and got frustrated with each other, because there was so much they could not agree on...like who was in and who was out, who did God bless and who did God punish, who could lead and who could not.

And even though this text was written almost 2000 years ago, it’s interesting that nothing much has really changed. The church is still wrestling with similar questions...we argue and disagree as much as Paul’s community did. And this is what makes the letter to the Romans especially relevant in our world.

In the excerpt we heard today, Paul is dealing with a very specific issue: the relationship between Jewish followers of Jesus and Gentile followers of Jesus. There were people wondering whether God had somehow rejected the Jewish people in favour of the new Gentile Christian community. Had God chosen the Gentiles and discarded the Jews?

Paul’s answer is an emphatic no. “I myself am an Israelite, a Jew,” he says. God has not rejected God’s people. And then comes this extraordinary statement: “The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” In other words, the gifts and calling of God cannot be taken back.

God doesn’t give a gift and then decide later that you are no longer worthy of having received it. God doesn’t call someone and then, when they disappoint God, cross their name off the list. God doesn’t take a gift and calling away from anyone.

But then Paul takes his point even further.

He says that God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.

Notice what Paul doesn’t say. He doesn’t say that some people are disobedient and others are not. He says all are disobedient. Everyone. And God doesn’t pour mercy on some people and not others. No, God pours mercy on everyone.

Paul is, in a sense, levelling the playing field. Whether one is a Jewish Christ follower or a Gentile Christ follower, all have fallen short, all are disobedient to God, and all stand in need of mercy.

And I think that is where this passage really challenges us, because what Paul is saying doesn’t sit well with how we might view ourselves and other people.

As some of you know, I have spent time tutoring prisoners, and one of my prisoners committed an awful crime...they hired people to kill their parents because they believed their parents had been too demanding. This resulted in the death of one parent; the other survived.

Now, this is a terrible thing for someone to do, and it is easy to think, well, thankfully I am not like that. God will punish them in the end.

But think about what Paul just said.

We are all disobedient, and we are all within the reach of God’s mercy. God never takes gifts away from people. So this person, who arranged their parents’ deaths, still has God’s love and gifts with them now. They too remain within the reach of God’s mercy.

Mercy is a wonderful thing when it is being offered to us. But it is not very comfortable when God offers it to someone we don’t think deserves it. But today Paul is reminding us that we do not get to decide who is worthy of God’s mercy. For Paul everyone receives it, nothing anyone does places them beyond the reach of God’s mercy.

And even though accepting this point can be so incredibly challenging, it is also the most wonderful piece good news. We may not have done what that prisoner did, but none of us gets through life without hurting someone, making mistakes, failing, or doing things we wish we had done differently. And Paul tells us that God’s mercy remains, that God’s gifts and calling in our lives remain, no matter what.

Paul paints a picture of a God who doesn’t abandon people because they have made a mess of things. Paul shows us a God who, in Paul’s words, has mercy on all...including us.

Remember that these words were written almost 2000 years ago, to people who were arguing about exactly the same things we still argue about: Who belongs? Who is right? Who is wrong? Who is worthy?

And Paul’s answer to his early community and to us, all these years later, is the same...We don’t get to decide.

God’s mercy is not something we earn by being extra good, by praying all the time, by coming to worship. It is given to us because God loves us. And on top of this, once God gives it, it will never be taken away. We can fail in the most terrible ways, we could even do something as awful as that prisoner did, and God’s mercy would still be there. The gifts and calling of God would still be there.

After all the church’s arguing about who belongs, God has already answered the question. Everyone. Even the people we struggle to understand. Even the people we struggle to forgive. Even us. God’s mercy is wider than we can imagine, and there is room for all of us within it. Amen.

In response to this sermon, I want to play a hymn that I think really connects with it perfectly. There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy.