Romans 11:1-2a, 11-12, 25-29
The New Chosen People
[11] So I ask, have they stumbled so as to fall? By no means! But through their
trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. [12]
No if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches
for the Gentiles, how much more will their inclusion mean!
The Conversion of the Jews
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Commentary:
2-5. When Israel fell into idolatry, God raised up the prophet Elijah, who confron-
ted the king with the sins of the people, who were worshipping idols and liste-
ning to false prophets (cf. 1 Kings 19:9-18). The king, instead of listening to Eli-
jah, persecuted him; he had to flee to Mount Horeb. There he complained to God
about Israel, and God in reply told him that he would punish them: the sons of
Israel would die by the sword, but not all of them. God would preserve seven thou-
sand of them, who had remained faithful to him. St Paul recalls this episode as
an example of God intervening in Salvation History through men he has specially
chosen. Even in times when sinfulness was rampant the Lord kept certain indivi-
duals faithful; these acted as his instruments to revive and extend people’s grasp
of true teaching and love of his laws, and to render due worship to the Creator:
for example, he chose Noah and his family when the world was full of wickedness
(Gen 6:5-8), and Abraham, when men had forgotten the true God (Josh 24:2ft),
and he did the same when the people of Israel fell into idolatry.
The Prophets describe those who stay faithful to Yahweh as “the remnant of Is-
rael”, or words to that effect (cf. Jer 3:14; Ezek 9:8; Amos 3:12; Is 4:2-3; Mic 4:7;
Zeph 2:7, 9), and prophesy that this “remnant” will be found, first, among those
deported to Babylonia, later among the repatriated exiles and, finally, after the
exile, among the servants of God, after the still unfaithful people are decimated
and purified.
25-32. We all yearn for the fulfillment of these words—threatening yet consoling
— which Christ addressed to the scribes and Pharisees: “For I tell you, you will
not see me again, until you say ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the
Lord”’ (Mt 23:39). “Together with the prophets and the Apostle, the Church
awaits the day, known to God alone, when all peoples will call on God with one
voice and ‘serve him with one accord’ (Zeph 3:9)” (Vatican II, “Nostra Aetate”, 4).
The conversion of the Jews is a secret—a mystery, the text says (v. 25) — hidden
in the future, which will come about when the Incarnation of the Word achieves
its ultimate purpose.
This conversion will follow on that of the Gentiles, which will be as it were a pre-
lude to it. Jesus has foretold that “Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gen-
tiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” (Lk 21:24; cf. note on same),
which in some way suggests that the Jews will be converted at the end of time.
However, when the Church in its preaching touches on the main signs of the end
of the world, it only refers to the proclamation of the Gospel throughout the world,
to apostasy and to the Antichrist, but it has nothing to say about the conversion
of the Jews (cf. “St Pius V Catechism”, I, 8, 7). What the Church does do, and
what we should do, is to pray the Lord to listen to its prayers that the people you
first made your own may arrive at the fullness of redemption” (”Roman Missal”,
Good Friday Liturgy, Prayer of the Faithful).
“The same thing is happening, St Paul explains, now that the Gospel is being
preached. The people of Israel in general are not accepting it and are not beco-
ming part of the Church; only a small number of Jews have believed, and these
are the “remnant” of Israel, chosen by God so that in them the promises might
be kept. The conversion of Paul himself is an example and an earnest of this re-
turn of the people of Israel to their God, in line with the invitation that Hosea ad-
dressed to them: “Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled
because of your iniquity” (Hos 14:2).
Throughout the history of the Church lapses of this type have occurred, with a
consequent breakdown in morality. Whenever this happens, those Christians
who stay true to the faith may, like Elijah, feel inclined to despair; but they should
react with a realistic and vigilant optimism and not indulge in useless lamentation.
In the presence of God, they should reflect on the fact that God actually wants to
use them and their holy lives to turn the situation around: “A secret, an open se-
cret: these world crises are sanctity crises. God wants a handful of men ‘of his
own’ in every human activity. And then...’”pax Christi in regno Christi”—the peace
of Christ in the kingdom of Christ” (St. J. Escriva, The Way, 301).
29. God never goes back on anything he promises; therefore he continues to call
the Jews to enter the chosen people. He does not take account of their disobe-
dience or their sins: he will love them with an everlasting love, as he promised the
patriarchs and in line with the merits accruing to them for their fidelity (cf. Rom 9:
4-5). It is this very immutability of God’s love that makes it possible for “all Israel”
(v. 26) to be saved. God’s calling, which is eternal, cannot cease; but we for our
part can reject his call. The immutability of God’s plan is reassuring to us: it
means that even if we abandon him at any point, we can always return to our ear-
lier fidelity: he is still there, waiting for us.
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
[1] One Sabbath when He (Jesus) went to dine at the house of a ruler who be-
longed to the Pharisees, they were watching Him.
A Lesson About Humility
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Commentary:
11. Humility is necessary for salvation that Jesus takes every opportunity to
stress its importance. Here He uses the attitudes of people at banquet to re-
mind us again that it is God who assigns the places at the Heavenly banquet.
“Together with humility, the realization of the greatness of man’s dignity — and
of the overwhelming fact that, by grace, we are made children of God — forms
a single attitude. It is not our own efforts that save us and gives us life; it is the
grace of God. This is a truth which must never be forgotten” (St. J. Escriva,
“Christ Is Passing By”, 133).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.