As it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.” – Romans 9:33

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 1, 2018): Romans 9

Let me set the scene for you. You are alone in a forested area. Somewhere all around you, there are people who are looking for you; they want something from you. And so you have hidden what is valuable in a certain place that you know you can return to, and then you have walked away. Your pursuers may find you, you probably hope that they don’t, but simply finding you won’t allow your enemies to achieve their objective, because their objective is not to find you but what it is that you happen to possess.

You also decide to set traps in the forest. If your enemies are paying attention, they will see the traps and find the treasure, but you hope that they won’t be paying attention. If they find you, you will run in the direction of the traps. You know where they are, and you will be looking for them, but they don’t and, hopefully, aren’t paying as close attention as they maybe should be. In that case, they will be caught in the traps that you have set, and you will be allowed to escape.

This seems to be the kind of scenario that Paul is trying to describe to his readers. The people of Israel are chasing after a treasure. Like generations after Christ, they are seeking a “holy grail.” The problem is that they don’t seem to know exactly what it is for which they are searching. The grail could be anything. They think that the treasure will be a military leader who will restore Israel. Maybe it is the hope of each of them that they will be that leader. It is not that God has been silent about what it is that they seek. He has set the clues and sent the messengers with the information needed to see exactly what it is that they were to seek. But somehow they have missed it.

So the traps in the forest have been set, except that this time the thing of value is the trap. If they see it, then they will be in possession of the treasure that they are pursuing. The prize is there for the taking. But if they aren’t looking for it, it will be like a tripwire in the forest, a rock which throws their delicate balance off and causes them to fall. But the choice is theirs.

Paul uses the illustration to reveal our pursuit of Jesus. If we see him, if we believe in him, then he will not trip us up, and we will never be put to shame. But the problem with Jesus was, and it still is, that he is somehow not what we were expecting. And so the very treasure that we seek becomes the thing that threatens our balance and causes us to stumble. Even when we look at what we have stumbled over, we refuse to see the prize that we seek. It is just an obstacle that has caused us to fall while we have chased after the treasure. And we miss what it is that we want – and what we need.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Romans 10