Readings from Romans: Family History

The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
August 2, 2026
Romans 9:1-5

“Readings from Romans: Family History”

In every family, in every generation, there seems to be one person who is the keeper of the family history. This is the person who knows all about the family tree, and becomes the go-to for questions that other family members have about their ancestors. Maybe that’s you in your family. I am that one in my family who knows the names, the stories, etc. In today’s Epistle lesson, Paul the apostle speaks of his own family history within God’s chosen people: “They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.” (Romans 9:4-5). But family history can be problematic. We can discover information about our family that we didn’t really want to know. We can find things that are troubling and difficult. Paul speaks of this in today’s text, expressing the burden that he has for his own people, God’s chosen people. Paul’s heartfelt desire is that they would be open to receive the gift of salvation in Jesus Christ. This is the holy burden that Paul carried. Our summer preaching series, “Readings from Romans,” continues today under the theme “Family History.” May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.

When we read Paul’s letter to the Romans, we may think that he was writing to people he was familiar with and knew well. But in fact, Paul had never been to Rome at the time when he wrote this letter somewhere in the mid-50s A.D. As his ministry in the city of Ephesus was concluding (his third missionary journey) and before he returned to Jerusalem with the offering that had been received for the Jerusalem church (Romans 15:25-27; 2 Corinthians 8-9), Paul was contemplating what would be next in his life and ministry. It is clear from several passages in the New Testament that Paul had long desired to visit Rome (Acts 19:21; 2 Corinthians 10:15-16), but so far had been unable to do so. Paul’s vision was to to “go where no man has gone before”; that is, go where the Gospel had not yet been preached. Paul was a church planter and as such, he didn’t wish to build on someone else’s foundation (Romans 15:20; 1 Corinthians 3:10). There was already a Christian church in Rome that was well-established, but Paul had not founded it. Paul’s letter to the Romans is preparing them for his visit to Rome, where he desired to preach and teach (Romans 1:11-13; 15:24). In truth, Paul had his eyes set not just on Rome, but beyond. He wished to go all the way to Spain (Romans 15:22-28), and use the church in Rome as his base of missionary operations in the west, just as he had used the churches in Antioch and Jerusalem as his base of operations in the east. Paul’s hope was that the church in Rome would help him on his way with moral and material support for church planting in the west (see Romans introduction in Concordia Self-Study Commentary, Roehrs and Franzmann. St. Louis: Concordia, 1971).

Writing to Christians in the capital of the Roman empire, Paul bares his soul about the holy burden he has for his own people. He mourns for his “kinsmen according to the flesh” (Romans 9:3). Like him, they  are children of Abraham and heirs of God’s covenant promise to Abraham. And yet, Paul mourns even as Jesus himself mourned over his people’s refusal to believe (Matthew 23:37-39; Luke 19:41-42). Like Moses of old, Paul was ready to sacrifice himself for their sake and suffer the loss of everything if this would abound for their faith and salvation (Exodus 32:32). To God’s chosen and beloved people belong “the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises” (Romans 9:4). All of this is part of Israel’s rich history and it is Paul’s own heritage as well; a history and heritage he dearly loves. But the stumbling block is what comes next: “To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen” (Romans 9:5). To confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah who suffered, died and rose again to purchase our salvation through his death upon the cross – this was and still remains a stumbling block for many today. It wasn’t Jesus’ miracles, like the feeding of the 5000 that we hear of in today’s Gospel lesson (Matthew 14:13-21 ESV - Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand - Now - Bible Gateway), that turned people against Jesus. What led to his people’s rejection of him and his execution for blasphemy was what he said: that he himself was God (John 10:31ff.; 14:10ff.; 18:4ff.). And yet, if Jesus is not true God and true man, then we are still in our sins and “we are of all men most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:19). All we can do is to share the good news of Jesus. We cannot force people to believe, but this has led to a dark side in our own faith family history. Martin Luther the reformer wrote terrible things concerning the Jews (On the Jews and Their Lies - Wikipedia), which centuries later were later seized upon by the Nazis. Thankfully, these writings of Luther have been repudiated by the church that bears his name (Luther and the Jews Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod). The truth is that anti-Semitism in our nation is increasing at an alarming rate (Assaults against Jewish Americans reach record levels, ADL audit says). This should concern all of us because what impacts one impacts everyone. “Christ crucified extends his arms toward both Jews and Gentiles; he died, St. Paul says, in order to reconcile the two peoples, and to break down the dividing barrier of enmity between them” (Jacques Maritain, from “On Anti-Semitism” in Christianity and Crisis, October 6, 1941, as found in For All the Saints: A Prayer Book For and By the Church, Vol IV. Delhi, NY: The American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, 1996; p. 309).

The burden which Paul carried for his own people certainly weighed heavily on him. But this burden pales in comparison to the burden which Jesus carried for you and me. The crushing load of the evil we have done and the good we have failed to do was placed on Jesus, and he willingly bore this burden. After being rejected by the chief priests, scribes and elders (Matthew 16:21; 17:22; 20:18-19), he was put on trial, scourged and condemned to death. He carried his own cross and fell under the weight of it. But the real burden came when he was nailed to that cross and bore the righteous anger and just condemnation from the Father for our sin and disobedience. Jesus is the One who has “borne our griefs and carried our sorrows… he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4-5). In response, we can only say with the psalmist the recurring words of the refrain from that psalm we spoke together in this service: “for his steadfast love endures forever” (Psalm 136).

Family can be complicated. While there are certainly happy times in family life, there can also be times of stress and strain. Some families may have a long and glorious pedigree, while other families may have a checkered past. Whatever our family history may be, we rejoice that by God’s amazing grace we have been made members of the family of faith in Christ. The family of faith isn’t a closed system, either. There’s room for everyone. Strengthened by Word and Sacrament, we go forth into the world that God dearly loves to give witness to the hope that is within us, doing this with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15). May the Lord use each one of us as his hands and feet and mouth in the world. Amen.