Sorrow and Anguish

In our reading from Romans today Paul starts a new argument. While we only read the beginning of the argument, I encourage you to read the rest of chapter nine. This argument is about God’s promise to the Israelites. We are not completely sure why he includes this argument. Were the Jewish Christians in Rome troubled that Paul’s theology of salvation seemed to ignore the promise God made to the Jewish people? Was he arguing with non-Christian Jews? Or is this a rhetorical argument with himself? We cannot say which it may be. We can say that this dilemma did bother Paul. In the end he ends up asserting that the answer is with God alone. God is the one who will ultimately decide who will be saved. That argument is supported by what God has already done in the past. God chose Isaac over Ishmael and Jacob over Esau. The choices were not that of people – they would have chosen the older brother over the younger – but God’s. We cannot, then, worry about God’s plan. What we can do is find our place in it.

Our place in God’s plan is to answer the call of Isaiah. Come, you who are thirsty. Come buy and eat. We note that Isaiah was calling to God’s people who wondered if God had abandoned them. They were home from the exile but life in the promised land was difficult and harsh. They had to start from scratch to rebuild Jerusalem, the temple, and their lives and the task seemed insurmountable. You know that feeling. When our lives are disrupted by change, life can become a struggle. We experienced that in the pandemic and the years following it. We see it in our lives when loved ones die. Those things that made our lives - the joys and rewards - seem to disappear and all that is left is trouble and sadness. To you Isaiah is calling. The call is to remember that you have been washed in the waters of Baptism and fed at this table. You who have all these worries and troubles, who have forgotten God’s promise and tried to work out your own salvation, are forgiven of those selfish desires, wants, needs, and are adopted by God.

But, you might say, we do not have enough ability or resources to work on God’s plan. When those doubts assail you, look to our story from Matthew today. While we do not really know how Jesus did it he was able to feed a whole lot of people on five loaves of bread and two fish. However he did it, it was God who provided. That is what the Israelites forgot; what we forget. Whatever it is that God is calling you to God will provide what you will need to perform the task. We learn this be reading scripture. There God tells God’s people many times that God will provide. Usually on top of a story of someone who has heard God’s call but complains that he or she does not have what the task requires. From Abraham and Sarah to Moses and Miriam, Jacob, the prophets and the apostles. You are not alone in hearing the task and believing it to be impossible. You are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who have felt the same way and yet were able to work the task God called them to.

While your task is not the same as mine or the person sitting next to you, it is a joint task. We work together to bring about God’s kingdom. Looking to one another and bearing each other’s burdens, we walk in the light of Christ together. Do not think that worries of the world and the selfish desires of the flesh can destroy what God has begun in you. You have been to the fountain of life and fed at this table made whole in Christ Jesus. Let him shower you with God’s love, faith, and peace. For Jesus is the refuge for the weary and troubled. Seek him in prayer, lay your burdens upon him. For his yoke is easy and his burden is light.