At first, it would appear that we’ve been dealt a weird hand by the folks who assembled the lectionary for this Sunday. We get part of Romans 11 tacked on to part of Romans 12. The part that begins with “Oh, the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!” and ends with “Amen” is the closing to chapter 11. What Paul is so amazed over is how God works in an upside down, inside out, completely counterintuitive way. His chosen people reject their own Christ so the formerly unchosen can proclaim Christ to the chosen. Or to use Paul’s metaphor, a native branch (unbelieving Israel) gets chopped off so that a wild branch (the Gentiles) can be grafted onto Israelite rootstock with the hope and expectation that the wild branch would again be joined to its native root through the preaching of the Gentiles.

She was desperate. You could see it in her eyes, hear it in her voice. The urgency, the fear verging on panic, the despair. Her little girl was suffering from demon possession. We don’t know more than that. How long had it been? What were the symptoms? But our idle curiosity will not be satisfied. Matthew tells us only as much as we need to know. She was a desperate Canaanite woman is seeking help for her daughter.

We’re pressing on with Romans chapter 10 this morning. Last week, we heard Paul speak of his passionate desire that his fellow Israelites, the blood descendants of Abraham, would turn from the religion based on commandment-keeping to the true righteousness of God that comes through faith in Christ. In fact, this is the reason the Israelites missed the boat in the first place - they misinterpret the Torah as a law of works rather than a promise that calls for trust. We also heard that regardless of what gets thrown against God, whether good or evil, faith or unbelief, God uses everything for the grand purpose of salvation. In fact, it’s all so much out of our hands, so entirely in God’s hands, that He has destined us in Christ even before the world was made, and in Christ everything for our salvation is already an accomplished fact.

So what about those Israelites, the blood descendants of Abraham, God’s chosen people? What went wrong? If the Gospel is the power to save, why didn’t they believe? Why did they reject their own Messiah? They had it all: adoption as sons, the divine glory, the covenants, the Torah, the temple, the promises. They had the patriarchs, the prophets. They were the forerunners of the Christ HImself. These are Jesus’ own blood relatives. And yet they did not believe that Jesus, Y’shua, is the Christ, the promised Seed of Abraham, the Son of God and Savior. What went wrong?