Now we have a cascade of questions, as Paul digs deeper into the mystery of belief and unbelief, laying bare again his passion for people to call on ‘the name of the Lord’ (v 13). It is clear that people will only call on God when someone, who God has called, tells them of Jesus the Messiah. Maybe you are a preacher. If so, treasure that calling. God will touch lives through your words. If that doesn’t stir us to proclaim with urgency and passion, I don’t know what will! Proclamation: that’s today’s jigsaw piece.

But Israel turned away. Why? Were they deaf? Was it a hearing problem? ‘Of course not’, says Paul. There had been plenty of preachers (v 18). So, were they dim? Did they not understand? Well, the Gentiles, with no spiritual background, got the message. No, the conclusion is stark. Disobedience and obstinacy were the problem (v 21). They still are. As we offer Christ to those who do not know him, we may be met with ridicule and rejection, and it always hurts. Think what it means to Christ, who is constantly holding out his nailed-pierced hands to an unbelieving world (v 21). Like him, we are called to keep going. He knows, he cares and his purposes will not be thwarted.

‘Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”’¹

How will they hear? How can they believe? How can they get to understand about Jesus… unless someone tells them (v 14)? We can’t help but hear the voice of Paul the evangelist here – but, there’s more. As he speaks, he wrestles with this question of Israel’s unbelief on the big, wide scale of Israel’s relationship with God through their history (v 16). Teachings from the breadth of Scripture – the Law, the Prophets and the writings – impregnate his thinking.

We might ask similar questions of the unevangelised in our world today. For the Israelites, the message of Jesus the Messiah was always present in the words of God’s prophets. ‘Good news’, wrote Isaiah² of the rescue promised for the exiles and – into the future – for the young church of Paul’s day (v 15) – and for us too. It may only take a ‘word about Christ’ for others to get the message (v 17). Are we willing to speak of him? For others through time, the voice of God has gone out into the world, clearly visible in creation.³ Amazingly, there are those who encounter him without knowing much about faith. 

Some Jewish believers were angry and confused because God’s good news had been made available to others – those who weren’t ‘my people’ had been accepted into God’s family.⁴ Paul points out again that this had always been God’s good plan (vs 19,20). They should not react with anger and envy – like that jealous elder brother in the story⁵ – but should remember their long history with God: their repeated rebellion, God’s repeated, patient faithfulness in recall and forgiveness. Now, like a loving parent with a disobedient child, he patiently waits with outstretched arms (v 21). To us, too, as we sometimes look away from God, he calls to us, ‘Take my hand’.

Who do you know to whom God is holding out welcoming hands? How might you help them to respond to Jesus?

¹ Isa 6:8  ² see Isa 52:7  ³ Rom 1:20  ⁴ Rom 9:25,26  ⁵ Luke 15:25–32