The outrage of the dilgent

 This week's verses are Romans 8:30-33:

What shall we say then?—that the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness obtained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith, but Israel even though pursuing a law of righteousness did not attain it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but (as if it were possible) by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written,

“Look, I am laying in Zion a stone that will cause people to stumble
and a rock that will make them fall,
yet the one who believes in him will not be put to shame.”

Imagine you'd gone to university to prepare for a career. You took out loans, avoided the parties to study instead, went to office hours, bought books to supplement your learning, and even did a couple strategically chosen internships with high profile firms, only to find that you couldn't find even a single job when all was said and done. 

And worse, the guy who didn't go to college ended up in the career you wanted, without any student loans, without studying, just by spending time with an industry leader. Wouldn't that make you angry? Even bitterly envious? You did all the right things, exactly as your guidance counselor told you to do, and it produced nothing but unpayable debt.

That's the kind of outrage Paul is talking about in this letter to the Romans. Israel was meticulous in their preparation for the afterlife, making a great show of going the extra mile to do what the law told them to do, and yet the Gentiles attained righteousness and Israel did not. Can you imagine how angry they must have been? They worked hard, all their lives, for no result except for wasted years and a debt they couldn't pay. And all of that work was done literally to avoid that very thing happening!

People were probably asking, how did this happen? It doesn't make sense that the people following the advice of the time would fail, and the people who didn't do anything to earn it would succeed. When the workers end up broke and the loafers end up rich, isn't that the very definition of injustice? But the loafers here weren't really loafers, and the workers weren't producing much of value. And that's where the secret to this riddle is found.

Imagine the story of a relationship with two alternate plot lines. A woman meets a great looking guy and they fall in love. He buys flowers and gifts, says nice things about her, all the things that people say you're supposed to do. But he rarely talks with her. He's too busy trying to earn her affection. And when he does see her, he makes rude demands of her, because he feels he's earned it through all of the good things he has done. He doesn't put in any effort to take care of himself, because he has done so many things for her that he feels she owes him her affection. When he talks to her, it's insincere stuff out of romance movies and novels, like he's acting out scenes from a play. He seems perfect on the outside, but it's like dating a selfish robot.

Now imagine the alternate. Woman meets man. They fall in love. He spends time trying to get to know her. He learns what she likes through listening to her and from trial and error. He doesn't take her for granted. He goes out of his way to try to improve himself. He doesn't put on a show. When he messes up, or he's upset with her, they talk. He's not perfect, but his words and his actions line up, and when she needs something done, she can count on him to give it a try, even at great cost.

Which do you think she'll choose, if she could see both plot lines?

Now the injustice maybe seems less unjust. We're in a relationship with God, whether we realize it or not. But what form does that relationship take? Do we just find out from a third party what God likes and slavishly do it to the letter, along with a bunch of other stuff we made up that sounds good? Or do we go to God directly and trust that things will work out if we just communicate?

We come from a world where we're taught we have to earn success. We work to do well in school. We work to produce crops. We work to build a career. We work to keep things in order, to manage our money, to stay in shape. We tell ourselves "if I could just try 10% harder, I'd be at least 10% more successful." And then we expect that the same applies to our place in the universe at the feet of God himself. Sing a little louder. Tithe a little bit harder. Pray a little bit longer. Say the right things on social media so people know how righteous you are.

But what God gives us, who are coming from that world, is a stumbling block. A thing that trips people up. It falls from a great height, like the 2x4 from the high scaffold that hit my friend's brother recently, and it crushes us. We come from a world where we have to work so hard, for so long, and even then we may see no results. And then Jesus tells us "Just trust me, that I love you, and we'll figure things out together." That's it??

We don't believe it. It seems impossible. Surely we misunderstood. Surely there's a conversation we missed, one as long as the old testament itself, full of rules and penalties and deadlines to act. So we ignore Jesus, and we throw ourselves into busywork, hoping to bluff for the fact that we don't exactly know what to do, except for a bunch of stuff we read in a book or which was told to us by people who acted like they knew what they were talking about.

But if we ignore Jesus to do that, we've stumbled and fallen. We try so hard to earn what he gives us for free that we mess it all up. But if we'd just believe him, and try to sort it out together with him as we go along, we would be able to stay standing. In fact, the verses say "the one who believes in him will not be put to shame."

I know it sounds crazy, but believe God. Believe what he said about Jesus. Believe it, even if someone else tells you they have it all figured out, and that you just need to buy their book series, or attend their online course, or whatever. The burden Jesus gives us may still be a burden, but it is light and easy compared to the ones we make for ourselves as the church.

If you're going to be the bride of Christ, don't be the one who puts on too much makeup and just tries every trick she read in Cosmo to be liked. Be the one who is smitten. And if you're going to be working for your future, don't spend all of your time building up some great CV that won't get you in the door in the end anyway. Spend it getting to know your future boss and your future colleagues. Don't ignore God when he says "trust me" and then be all outraged when things don't work out. Trust him and they will.