I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”? And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

–Romans 11.2-6 (NIV)

In chapters 9-10 of his letter to the church at Rome, Paul has been talking to the Jews in the church. Now he is finishing up that discussion and beginning to address the Gentiles in the church. Throughout his letter, Paul has consistently argued for God’s sovereignty and grace–God will choose whom God will choose and we mortals have no legitimate grounds to question God’s sovereignty, unless of course we aim to elevate ourselves to be equal with God!

At the end of today’s passage, Paul throws out this little nugget about grace and it really does get to the heart of the matter over which many Christians struggle–how can we possibly be reconciled to God? Of course, to the proud, Paul’s statement about grace and works is an affront. “What do you mean that we cannot be reconciled to God based on what we do, Paul? We’re not that bad of people!” But Paul will have none if it. If God is not the author of our reconciliation with him, there really is no Good News.

And for many, Christians and non-Christians alike, this issue of grace can trip us up. For anyone who is remotely tuned into the human condition and how profoundly broken we are when compared to the perfect holiness of God, reconciliation with God seems impossible and we are tempted to fall into despair. This is especially true for Christians during the season of Lent with its focus on self-examination, confession, and repentance. There are times when we want to throw our hands up in despair and cry out with David that, “We know our transgressions and our sin is ever before us.” How can a holy God possibly forgive the likes of us?

But that is precisely when we must look to the cross of Jesus for the answer. It is precisely during these moments that we must come to the foot of his cross and offer our sins and brokenness to Jesus to be crucified with him so that by his wounds we may be healed. We must ask him to bear our burdens for us because we acknowledge that we are unable to do so ourselves.

For you see, the cross is simply not explainable without the love, mercy, and grace of God the Father. But when we by faith accept God’s invitation to us in Christ to be healed and reconciled to him, everything changes for us. We realize that our healing and reconciliation is God’s doing, not ours. We dare to believe, often with bewilderment, that we have a God who really does love us despite who we can sometimes be and who wants us to live with him.

The Bible is replete with stories of God’s gracious initiative toward his called out people. Read, for example, the story of Abraham in Genesis or especially the story of Moses in Exodus. Think about the meeting between Jesus and Peter in John 21 where the Risen Lord condescends to meet Peter where he is by asking him three times if Peter loves him. The Greek for the word love that Jesus uses the third time meets the lower level of love that Peter used in response to Jesus’ first two questions. And keep in mind, this is a conversation with a man who had denied Jesus three times in his hour of need! Remarkable. The Bible is full of stories like this and the same grace God offers in the biblical narrative is available to folks just like you and me in our everyday lives and in our brokenness.

Lent is a time for self-examination, ruthless self-examination. But make sure to remember why you are examining yourself. Don’t fall into despair over what you see. Treat it seriously and seek to kill that within you that keeps you hostile and alienated from God. But don’t stop there. Don’t forget that the key to your reconciliation is what God has done for you in Jesus and what God is doing for you right now through the presence and power of his Holy Spirit living in you. Feed on this wondrous love and grace and let it build you up into the kind of human that God created you to be and desires for you to be. Only then will you be equipped to be a faithful disciple of Jesus and do the work he calls you to do. It will be hard and you will meet opposition on the way. But fear not. It isn’t about you or your abilities (or lack of them). It is about the power of Christ in you and when you have that, you have conquered life.

Beneath the cross of Jesus
I fain would take my stand,
the shadow of a mighty rock
within a weary land;
a home within the wilderness,
a rest upon the way,
from the burning of the noontide heat,
and the burden of the day.

Upon that cross of Jesus
mine eye at times can see
the very dying form of One
who suffered there for me;
and from my stricken heart with tears
two wonders I confess:
the wonders of redeeming love
and my unworthiness.

I take, O cross, thy shadow
for my abiding place;
I ask no other sunshine than
the sunshine of his face;
content to let the world go by,
to know no gain nor loss,
my sinful self my only shame,
my glory all the cross.