A reflection on Romans 11:13-15, 29-32; Genesis 17:4-7
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)
©️2023 Gloria M. Chang
Brothers and sisters: I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I glory in my ministry in order to make my race 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?
For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. Just as you once disobeyed God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, so they have now disobeyed in order that, by virtue of the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy. For God delivered all to disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all.
Romans 11:13-15, 29-32 (Lectionary)
“Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.”
Genesis 17:4-7 (ESV)
Abraham’s Family
From eternity, God chose Abraham to be the father of all nations springing from his seed, the Christ (Galatians 3:16). No matter how circuitously the path of salvation history winds, “the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29). Envisioning an eschaton beyond the first-century division between Jews and Gentiles, Paul foresaw the day when the “natural branches” would be “grafted back into their own olive tree” (Romans 11:24).
Whether Jew or Gentile, branches grafted into the olive tree of God blossom by divine grace so that no one can “boast” (Romans 11:17–20). Ultimately, God’s saving gift returns to the Abrahamic root of Christ, which cannot be underestimated.
For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world,
Romans 11:15
what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
God’s promise to Abraham endures forever,
Through all generations to the last successor.