Imago Romans - 11:25-36 - Escher
Romans 11:25-36 - All Israel Will Be Saved So that you may not claim to be wiser than you are, brothers and sisters, I want you to understand this mystery: a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved; as it is written, “Out of Zion will come the Deliverer; he will banish ungodliness from Jacob.” “And this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.” As regards the gospel they are enemies of God for your sake; but as regards election they are beloved, for the sake of their ancestors; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, so they have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy. For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all. O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to him, to receive a gift in return?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.
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How unsearchable are God’s judgments and how inscrutable God’s ways? I have experienced that reality many times in my life - I see what is taking place, but I don’t get the how’s or the why’s of it all. I feel that way with this chapter of Romans - there is so much that Paul has going on in this passage and he finally comes to a place where it seems like he says, “This is just the way it seems God is at work.” There are places in this that felt like an MC Escher painting - that pieces connected but I’m still not quite sure how (and I don’t know that Paul definitely knew how they connected either). I took this shot at the hospital today after visiting a parishioner. I just shot with my phone upwards in the stairwell - just seemed like an interesting picture to take and this is what it came out - felt very much like this line about the unsearchable and inscrutableness of God’s ways…