surprising welcome

Good morning brothers and sisters,
Today's reading lifts up God's freedom to bring whoever God wants into his people. Gentiles who didn't know God can come to God through Jesus. In Christ the doors burst wide open and love pours out to everyone. At the same time, this radical change from relating to God through the law to coming to God simply by trusting his love trips lots of people up. This is the same thing that tripped the religious leaders up when Jesus was with them. He welcomed tax collectors and sinners because they came to him with trust and a humble longing for God. At the same time he had mostly criticism for the religious leaders because they trusted in their own practices to make them righteous in God's judgment.

The same lesson applies to the church. We are called to put our trust in Jesus instead of in our standing in the church. God welcomes all so we can trust that welcome today.

God bless,
Sam

25As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’” 26“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they shall be called children of the living God.” 27And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “Though the number of the children of Israel were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved; 28for the Lord will execute his sentence on the earth quickly and decisively.” 29And as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord of hosts had not left survivors to us, we would have fared like Sodom and been made like Gomorrah.”


30What then are we to say? Gentiles, who did not strive for righteousness, have attained it, that is, righteousness through faith; 31but Israel, who did strive for the righteousness that is based on the law, did not succeed in fulfilling that law. 32Why not? Because they did not strive for it on the basis of faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33as it is written, “See, I am laying in Zion a stone that will make people stumble, a rock that will make them fall, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”