July 22, 2015

“Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I glorify my ministry in order to make my own people jealous, and thus save some of them. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead! If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; and if the root is holy, then the branches also are holy. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place to share the rich root of the olive tree, do not boast over the branches. If you do boast, remember that it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you. You will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand only through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe. For if God did not spare the natural branches, perhaps he will not spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness toward you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. And even those of Israel, if they do not persist in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you have been cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree.” Romans 11:13-24

“Christ crucified extends his arms toward both Jews and Gentiles; he died, St. Paul says, in order to reconcile the two peoples, and to break down the dividing barrier of enmity between them. Agony now is the way of achieving that reconciliation, that breaking down of the barrier of enmity — which the madness of men prevented love from accomplishing, and the frustration of which is the most refined torment in the sufferings of the Messiah.” Jacques Maritain (1882 – 1973) “On Anti-Semitism” in Christianity and Crisis, October 6, 1941 “For All The Saints”, volume IV (p. 309)

I have never grafted one plant onto another, but I am always fascinated by the process of growing plants. When my wife and I moved into the first home that we purchased, we had a garden in the back yard that was filled with several “hybrid” rose bushes. These rose bushes were created through the process of combining the genetic material of one rose variety with another variety — thus creating a new variety.

We did not know anything about caring for these kinds of roses, but we tried our best for the first two years. By the third year, most of the rose bushes were dead.

I learned a few years after that failed experiment that varietal roses are fragile plants. They take a lot of care — and compassion — and they can easily die, never to be seen again, if not cared for properly. Thank G*d that the same is not true for those of us who are grafted on to the tree of salvation — through Jesus Christ — which is for eternity. G*d has the power to graft — it is not up to us. Because we are grafted onto the tree of salvation through the cross of Jesus, we seek reconciliation with all people: people of faith and people of no faith, people of other cultures, people of other religions, and people of other races. We should not boast of our adoption, we boast of Jesus Christ.

Pastor Dave