Matins Devotion: January 22, 2024

Romans 11:1-24

Anyone who has adopted children, in particular through the foster system, can tell you there’s a strange emotional bond you have with your child’s birth mother. So you have this child that you love more than anything, a child who is beautiful and precious and fascinating and wonderful in countless ways, a child you would give your life to protect and defend, a child you would move mountains to keep in your arms. And so when you consider his birth mother, you feel a sense of deep sadness and perhaps even anger.

"Why couldn’t you make this child a priority? Why couldn’t you get rid of the things in your life that were separating you from him? How could you let go of this priceless treasure?"

But then there’s another part of you that realizes two things: First, despite it all, this woman gave life to the greatest thing you’ve ever held in your arms. And second, her struggles and failures and sins were exactly what led that child into your arms. And when you realize that, your sorrow and your anger learn to exist alongside another, better emotion, that of deep and profound gratitude.

There’s a sense in which this is how Paul is telling the early Christians to view the Jews who rejected Christ.

"How could they not see it? How could they have the prophets right there proclaiming the Son of God who would come to them in the flesh and then reject the Son of God when He came? How could they see the miracles of the Christ and then throw Him away?"

Ah, yes. These are fair questions. But this priceless treasure of Jesus Christ and His salvation? He was born of the Jewish people. You wouldn’t have Him without them. And through their rejection, that Priceless Treasure became your eternal possession, just as you became His.

So we pray for the conversion of the Jews, just as we pray for the conversion of all peoples. But don’t hate those whose ancestors wove the very flesh that won salvation for you upon the cross. And don’t hate those whose rejection of your Lord played a pivotal role in God’s plan of salvation, one that wrapped you in the eternal embrace of your God. Let your sorrow over their rejection of Christ stand beside your deep and profound gratitude to them for the Savior who still calls out to them and who will never stop calling you His own.