Irrevocable--November 15, 2023

Irrevocable--November 15, 2023

"For the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable." [Romans 11:29]

One of the most exhausting things about parenting for me is how frequently and yet unpredictably children change their minds.  I think it's a human thing, and children are unapologetically, undeniably human, but it can be particularly difficult to be a grown-up and deciding how much flip-flopping the family can abide with.  

It's the ever-changing wish lists for Christmas or birthday presents, and the things they said they wanted last week may not be the things that capture their interest this week, much less by the time Christmas rolls around.

It's the fussiness about foods, where the dinner they loved last time you made it all of a sudden they don't like this time (or say they don't like).

It's the cliquishness of friendships as they get older--the person who was their seemingly close friend last month might now no longer be talking with them because the winds changed about who is "cool" or what off-hand comment got said in the hallway at school.

It's the flightiness of following trends, where the brand or style of clothes that "everyone" was wearing last season is no longer popular, as a new look becomes all the rage.

My guess is you've lived through some or all of those, and maybe some more of your own, whether from when you were the kid or you were the grown-up.  The bottom line is that we human beings are notorious for un-choosing what we have previously chosen, even when we say things like, "I won't change my mind about THIS--I swear it!" Every discarded toy, unworn clothes left in a drawer, uneaten meal left on the plate, and broken friendship is a testament to how fickle our kind can be.  We may grow out of the worst of it as we become adults, but that impulse is always inside us.

God, however, does not unchoose what or who is chosen.  God may well reveal in time that a lot more or wider circle of people end up being included in the "chosen," but God doesn't flip-flop and un-call those who are called or de-gift a gift already given.  There are no "givesies-backsies" with God.  Or, to borrow the apostle's more polished way of saying it, "The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable."

In Paul's mind as he is writing this particular line to the church in Rome, he's talking about the ancient covenant people of Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--a group of whom Paul himself was a member, as he points out elsewhere, "a Hebrew born of Hebrews." (Now, this would be a good moment to note that for Paul the Apostle and the whole of the New Testament, "Israel" isn't the modern nation-state, which of course, wasn't created until 1948 in the wake of the Holocaust and World War II, but of all the collective community of the covenant people who traced their story through the tribes of Israel and the Torah-way-of-life.  When Paul talks about God being faithful to "Israel" that is NOT a blanket assertion that everything the modern nation-state of Israel, or any other nation-state, does is endorsed with a divine stamp of approval.  Even in the Old Testament periods when there was a king and a kingdom, God always reserved the right to critique, judge, and challenge the decisions of the government or the nation as a whole.   Just so we are clear.)  In Paul's mind, he's trying to assert that God hasn't given up on the collective people of Israel even though the crowds and Religious Leaders in Judea rejected Jesus and handed him over to the Romans to be crucified.  Paul is saying, "Even though we have rejected God (or God's Messiah), God does not reject us."  It's a declaration of assurance that God's promise and claim can be counted on, despite the frequent flakiness and flip-floppery of our choices as humans.  Paul is decidedly NOT saying that God approves of everything the "chosen" ones do, but almost the opposite: that God can still choose and call people even when God is NOT happy with their choices.  God can still correct, redirect, and challenge those whom God chooses, even while they remain "chosen."

Now, in our day and time, the context in our minds may be different, but the claim is the same.  We can count on God's love not to end or run out on us, because God's calling and gifts are irrevocable.  God's mind doesn't change to un-love us, un-choose us, or un-claim us, unlike the childishly flighty hate-it-love-it-hate-it ways we often do things.  God never shouts, "I don't love you!" in a fit of momentary anger just to be spiteful.  And God never abandons us because we've fallen out of style or lost popularity.  So when we dare to tell someone else, "You are beloved of God," it is not, like the day's weather forecast, gasoline prices, or a stock quote, just a snapshot in time that's only true for the moment.  It is a promise you can stake a life on.  It is a statement about God's unchanging choice for us, not our unreliable flakiness.

Of course, God's unwavering choice for us doesn't mean God is obligated to endorse our most rotten impulses and selfish choices.  Just as we said that God's persistent calling of the ancient people of Israel that Paul talked about doesn't mean that God must support any given action by the government of the modern nation-state of Israel (or any other country or administration, just so we're clear), God can still claim us and correct us.  God can still say "I love you" while also not signing off on our pet bigotries, habits of greed, structures and systems of injustice, and our impulse for violence and revenge.  God's love for us doesn't end just because we are hot messes who keep adding to the messiness, nor does God's love prevent God from saying "No!" to our crooked and cruel ways.  Both can be true.

Today, then, it's worth holding onto two truths--you can carry one in each pocket.  On the one hand, when we say you are beloved of God, know that you can take that to the bank like an ironclad promise.  God will not back out, rethink, or undo the choice to love you, claim you, and give grace to you.  On the other hand, it's important to remember that just because God loves me doesn't mean every idea, impulse, or action I do get a divine thumbs up.  You and I are forever beloved, but always correctable.  We are unchangingly claimed by God, but that claim will keep changing us as we grow, mature, and deepen our own Christ-like love. Hold those two together as we face the world today.

Lord Jesus, assure us of your unshakable love, and continue to point us in your direction.