On The Way, Not In The Way

Romans 9:30-33 MSG  How can we sum this up? All those people who didn’t seem interested in what God was doing actually embraced what God was doing as he straightened out their lives. And Israel, who seemed so interested in reading and talking about what God was doing, missed it. How could they miss it? Because instead of trusting God, they took over. They were absorbed in what they themselves were doing. They were so absorbed in their “God projects” that they didn’t notice God right in front of them, like a huge rock in the middle of the road. And so they stumbled into him and went sprawling. Isaiah (again!) gives us the metaphor for pulling this together:

Careful! I’ve put a huge stone on the road to Mount Zion,
    a stone you can’t get around.
But the stone is me! If you’re looking for me,
    you’ll find me on the way, not in the way.

Observation

Romans is a book about righteousness and how it only comes in and through Jesus Christ.  Jesus was “in the way” for the religious leaders of Jesus’ time because they lost focus – “instead of trusting God, they took over” – and heaped on rules (their “God projects) over and above the Law of Moses as a means to obtain righteousness.   For heaven’s sake, they created pages of rules about how and when to wash your hands AND different rabbis had different interpretations of the buckets and buckets of rules.  Have we done the same with many denominations and varying traditions that we hold sacred instead of bonding together as the Body of Christ around Jesus despite our differences?

In Jesus’ time, the religious leaders devalued those who broke their rules, labeling them as irredeemable sinners – unholy and unworthy.  Here, Paul is telling those same religious leaders they are missing God’s point by trading religious duty, works and rules for redemptive mercy, grace and love.  Jesus once accused the religious leaders of straining out a mosquito and swallowing a camel because they were so focused on the minutiae.  Jesus even accused them of locking the door of Heaven to keep the unworthy out but forgetting to go in themselves.  Oops!  There they go, sprawling over the Rock in the road. Jesus died to open up the doors of Heaven to “whosoever will come.”  God placed Jesus prominently as the Rock in the middle of the road to redemption so we would have to make a choice to embrace Him or ignore Him at our peril. 

Impact on Me

As I think about the differences that separate denomination from denomination today, I wonder if we are stumbling on the same Rock?  Are we more concerned with our differences than the Jesus we have in common?  Are we judging others as unworthy because they don’t live up to our expectations, our rules, or have lifestyles with which we do not agree?  I wonder who we consider unredeemable?  Jesus drew much criticism for eating with those considered unclean and unworthy.

So, I have to examine my response to the world around me.  Who do I consider untouchable because of lifestyle, behavior, or differing beliefs?   Would Jesus reach out to those same people with love, grace and truth regardless of what others think?  I was not so pretty and acceptable when Jesus allowed me to embrace His grace and become a child of God.  How can I then execute judgement on anyone else because they don’t appear pretty and acceptable to me?  If I want to be like Jesus, I need to do as He did and look past the outward evidence to see a tortured soul who needs redemption.

Devotion

Lord God, my Redeemer, full of mercy and grace, give me the fortitude to become more like You.  Give me Your eyes to see past the circumstances of another’s life to the soul You created in Your image.  Give me the compassion of Your heart to help me allow You to reach out to that soul through me.  Build in me the resilience to never give up because Your word, Your grace, Your presence, is mighty to save.  Make it so in Jesus’ name.