I have been in Rom. 9-11 for a little while (I am currently in Hebrews with its distinct theology of atonement that does not seem to finish at the cross – but that is for another day!) and I have been taken with the hardening that had come on part of Israel with the result that salvation came to the Gentiles. [The hardening uses a different verb to the hardening of Pharaoh… that hardening is perhaps likened to the effect of the sun on material – softening butter but hardening clay; on part of Israel the hardening is a ‘I don’t get that’ a kind of hardening – a statement of fact.]
I wonder if at the current time we could consider that ‘a hardening / I just don’t get it has come on part of the church’ and then we have to look at what is happening alongside / in spite of that? The ultra-nationalism of parts of the church maybe is not too different to the ethnic pride that ensnared a large part of Israel. ‘God is with us’ is always a challenging statement to make – exhibited in the parable of the ‘good’ Samaritan! There was no ‘good’ Samaritan for the Jew. Yet Jesus makes the point; priests, Levites walk the other way – justified in doing so as they have to keep themselves ‘clean'(????), the Samaritan is not restricted by any such conviction and proves to be a neighbour – the path to perfection that Jesus says we have to exhibit (Sermon on Mount where divine perfection is based on treating all others as human, something all forms of religion cannot do).
I think our question should be ‘in the light of some not getting it, we should not be surprised, but should look to what is happening by way of contrast’. How about for us protestants to look no further than the Vatican and listen to a pope who occupies a seat that should not exist? How about us prophesying charismatics take time to look at the comedians who can prophetically quote Jesus so that a wide audience can hear the difference between the voice of Jesus and the voice of politicians who lean on what they think is the support of Scripture?
I am seeking not to be disappointed in the support of Christians for a particular political line; and not to be disappointed by the abuse of the prophetic that is being exposed… and I am seeking to look for where maybe there is something happening where it ‘should’ not be happening. That is the way with God. I like God to work in my space… I suspect s/he would encourage me to look to other spaces.
Days of surprises. They are here!