Proper 13: Epistle, Romans 9:1-5

Romans 9:1-5

Dear old Dr. Mitchell at the seminary used to remind us over and over that the Lord “yearns for all these fellas and girls” at the grad school and the college there on Glisan Street in East Portland. I remember as a fairly new believer in Jesus that the word “yearn” used to strike me with its sense of earnestness. It still does. And as I sat under this godly prince of a man, and grew to understand the gravity with which he dealt with everything regarding our Lord Jesus, to hear him repeat that the Lord yearned for us, well I still think of that often.

In Romans 9 where we look for this Sunday’s epistle reading, we run into what I believe is that very same emotion. And more than emotion. A conviction of the heart that Paul expresses for those who are physical seed of Abraham who at the time he wrote to Rome, rejected the Carpenter of Nazareth. “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.” Paul’s anguish is that his own people, people of his tribe and nation are spurning the very Messiah for which they have been waiting for thousands … THOUSANDS of years. It is crushing to him. He continues by a type of oath in saying he would just as soon live under the curse of God as to see his dear Israelite family miss their Savior. Of course so many did. I wonder if perhaps that was the reason that Paul was sent primarily to Gentiles. Had his target audience been the “seed of Abraham” it may have been too much, even for this champion of the faith.

So Paul goes on to relay to the Roman Christians the exalted place Israel had been given in the plan of God and that belief in the promised Messiah is what marked one as a true Jew. But his yearning for his Old Covenant family never left him and later he would let them know that God was actually using his preaching to them and other Gentiles to drive the Israelites to jealousy.

Is there someone for whom you yearn? That they might embrace the Savior you love? Is there someone or some group of people for whom you would take on the curse of God if it meant they would repent and hold to Jesus? That is the question I run into whenever I read Romans 9 and I believe it to be, at least in part, a reason God let us in on the Apostle’s great affection for his own.

Let’s make it our aim to gain that conviction of heart for someone. If it doesn’t reside in you presently, then ask God for it. I have it on the very authority of the Word of God that He wants that one who is special to you to know and love His Son. Even more than you do. Yearning. What a great word. God grant it. Amen!