Lord
of Jews and Gentiles
Stephen
Terry
Commentary
for the May 14, 2016 Sabbath School Lesson
“‘Blessed are those whose
transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose
sin the Lord will never count against them.’ Is this blessedness only for the circumcised,
or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was
credited to him as righteousness. Under what circumstances was it credited? Was
it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! And he
received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by
faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who
believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be
credited to them. And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not
only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our
father Abraham had before he was circumcised.” Romans 4:7-12, NIV
Long ago, a teenage boy was delivering newspapers in a
small town on the Puget Sound in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.
Even though this boy was not Jewish, he had come to believe in a Jewish
messiah. He had been introduced to Him through youth meetings sponsored by
members of the local Nazarene Church. Once he made that commitment, his young
heart received the Holy Spirit, and he was led by that Spirit to begin learning
all he could of Jesus and the Bible. The miracles of Jesus thrilled him, and he
wished to have the kind of faith that would produce them. He felt the Bible
told him that miracles were possible given faith and a willingness to ask for
them. As a result, he spoke to God frequently, constantly hoping that his faith
would grow to a point where God would answer back in some way. Perhaps that is
why events unfolded as they did one spring night.
The streets were glistening from an earlier rain that Sunday
night. It was well before dawn when he went to the
drop point to pick up the papers from Seattle he would be delivering to his
customers. They always arrived in two bundles, one bundle for each half of his
paper route. As usual, he counted the number of papers in the bundles to make
sure enough papers were left for him to deliver. However, when he counted them,
he found himself one paper short. The bundles were always tightly wrapped so that
the cord needed to be cut in order to extract any papers. Nonetheless, he
looked around in case somehow a paper had fallen loose. No other papers were to
be found. With little other recourse and
fearing an irate customer who would be without a Sunday morning paper, he
decided to present the matter to God. Bowing his head, he gave the problem to
God, claiming the promise that God would deliver whatever was asked in Jesus’
name.[i]
Hoping for an immediate answer to his crisis prayer, he
recounted the papers in the two bundles. The count remained the same. Finally,
not knowing what else to do, he cut open the first bundle and recounted it.
Still the count did not change, so he loaded that first bundle into his canvas paperbag
and tossed the bag over the handlebars of his bicycle. The delivery route was
large enough that his bicycle could not hold the papers for the entire route
and still steer the vehicle. Once he was loaded and mounted, he pedaled off
into the night to deliver the first half of the route, hoping that somehow a
miracle would happen. Maybe the second bundle he had left behind would multiply
like the loaves and fishes,[ii] and he would have enough
papers for his customers. But once he had cycled back to the drop point and
dismounted, he discovered to his dismay that the count remained the same. He
felt disappointed in his recently acquired faith. Still, he cut the cord and
loaded the second bundle of papers into the bag on the handlebars, wondering if
the bag would miraculously produce just the right number of papers. It did not.
One house short of the end of his route the bag was
empty. He pedaled past the last house recognizing it as belonging to a customer
who would likely be rather angry. However, as he looked up at the porch, he saw
a Sunday paper protruding from the paperbox. Elated, he pedaled home, praising
God and feeling like he was pedaling several feet above the ground he felt so
good. However, once he got home, he remembered that there were two different
Seattle Sunday papers that were delivered in his town and it was not unusual
for customers to subscribe to both papers. Perhaps it was the other paper he
had seen. Getting dressed once again for the cool of the spring night, he
remounted his bicycle and rode back to the house. Climbing the steps to the porch,
he pulled the paper out of the box and examined it. It was the same paper he
had been delivering. Not knowing how else the right paper could have shown up
in that box at the right time, he praised God for the miracle and once again
rode home.
I am able to share his story with you, because I was
that teenage boy. I have had several similar experiences since then. With each
one, I have marveled at how a God who chose a people to be His that lived on
the other side of the globe from me and were chosen thousands of years before I
was born would bother with the prayers of a teenage paperboy who did not belong
to those chosen people nor was I descended from them. My ancestors were
Vikings, worshipping a pagan pantheon of deities. I had no birthright to
special consideration through Abraham. Nonetheless, on this occasion and
several others, I feel that God spoke into my life in ways that confirmed His
desire for a relationship with me. Through the years I have discovered through
people who have recounted similar histories to me that God appears to desire
that special relationship with each person willing to receive it. I also came
to discover that the life and death of Jesus made it possible for that to happen.
Two thousand years ago, He tore down the barrier that stood between man and God.
Just as the curtain in the temple was rent in two that separated the Shekinah
glory of God from the people,[iii] so also Christ became the
gateway for the sheep to enter in to God’s holy fold.[iv] He also destroyed the
separation that exists between the children of Abraham and the Gentiles. Each
could now enter into fellowship with God through the same messiah, Jesus
Christ, who was born under Abraham but became the second Adam without sin on
behalf of all mankind.[v]
Still, salvation although offered universally, is not
universal. It is conditional on faith. Why would we want a relationship with
Someone we do not believe in? But believing alone is not enough. It is possible
to believe and yet not find that special saving relationship. Even demons are
able to accomplish that much.[vi] No, what is required is
that we act on that belief and diligently seek out the rewards from the One who
promises us salvation and eternal life.[vii] If we do not seek such
rewards, if we do not ask, how shall we receive? We may persist as the Canaanite
woman did. Though we, like she, are not natural descendants of Abraham, we may
hope to receive the rewards of those who are through persistence and diligence
with our request. Though formerly beyond the pale, we may hope to eat of the
same food the children enjoy.
However, we must not presume on our relationship. Some
might wish to claim that every request will be answered favorably. Perhaps
basing their ideas on Mark 16:17-18,[viii] they feel that unless a
ministry is accompanied by such signs it is not truly from God. Yet this may
place us in danger of placing the “lap dogs” (τοις
κυναριοις) above the children (των
τεκνων). For if the children did not receive such
fulfillment, how can the dogs expect it? John the Baptist was a child of
Abraham and came in the power and spirit of Elijah, yet he did none of the
signs Mark recorded. He even met an untimely death, beheaded in Herod’s
dungeon, not experiencing deliverance. Perhaps we can recognize that although
Mark’s signs may accompany the believers, the words do not indicate that they
will be universal to every believer, nor to every ministry. Perhaps we should
allow God His inscrutability.[ix] Should we deny that and
insist that He is little more than a heavenly vending machine for miracles, we
may risk diminishing Him to something less even than ourselves. Let us instead
earnestly seek relationship with Him and petition for His involvement with our
lives, letting Him choose when, where, and how to make that happen. If we do,
we may open the door to experiences like that of that teenage boy of long ago.
But then, why should God stop there? The possibilities may be limitless.[x]
