We concluded that if James, Jesus’ brother, the guy who grew up with Jesus and arguably knows Jesus better than anyone else, is saying that becoming Jewish is essential to following Jesus, then we can be pretty sure that Jesus never intended for his followers to abandon Judaism. But the fact is, Paul’s way of thinking won the day and that’s because of an important change that takes place in the early church: the composition of the church to shifts from predominately Jewish to predominately non-Jewish.

To understand why this shift takes place, there are two factors at play—geography and Judaism. Let’s start with geography. So as I’ve explained several times, in the initial months and years following Jesus’ resurrection, Jesus’ disciples returned to their hometowns and were preaching about Jesus in their local synagogues. This all takes place in the Holy Land, which is located in this area of the Middle East and is the central location for Judaism. Therefore, for the first 10 years of the church’s existence, from 30-40 A.D., the only people who are hearing Jesus’ message are Jews.

Then Paul comes along and takes Jesus’ message beyond the Holy Land into the various countries of the Mediterranean. Paul establishes churches in all of these areas. Initially, most of these churches are comprised of only a few dozen people. So from 40-50 A.D., Paul is adding to the number of people who believe in Jesus, but that number still pales in comparison to Jesus’ followers back in the Holy Land.

But then, from 50-60 A.D., two major swings take place. The first is that Paul’s churches begin to grow rapidly with people joining who are Gentiles or non-Jews and, before you know it, the population of Paul’s churches greatly outnumber the believers in the Holy Land. The second is that James’ mission to the Jews in Jerusalem begins to fail.

We don’t know very much about why the Jewish mission begins to fail, but the Jews are no longer receptive to the message (some scholars have suggested that the Jews had grown weary of waiting for Jesus to return—remember, some of the Jews have been waiting for close to 30 years as you approach 60 A.D.—whereas the notion of Jesus’ return is relatively new for Paul’s Gentile converts). This failure among the Jews is evident in the letter Paul wrote to the church in Rome.

In our first scripture reading, Paul says, “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people.” Paul is well aware that the mission to the Jews is failing rapidly and Paul is greatly pained by the fact that the Jews are not more receptive to Jesus’ message. But the rejection of Jesus’ message by the Jewish people has raised an important question among the Gentile members of Paul’s churches: if the Jews do not believe in Jesus, what will happen to them when Jesus returns?

Because, you have to remember, the Jews are Jesus’ people. And if what Paul is saying is true—you need to have faith in Jesus in order to be saved—does that mean that Jesus will have to reject his own people since most Jews do not have faith in him? And you have to appreciate that this is no minor issue. This problem is greatly distressing to Paul who believes that Jesus could return any day. Paul doesn’t want his Jewish brothers and sisters to be rejected by Jesus, which leads him to create the argument we read today in Romans.

If you’ve ever read Romans, you probably know that it’s a very long letter, which deals with a lot of different topics. Paul is building his logic towards the section we read this morning from chapter 11. The thrust of his argument is that when God makes a promise, God will keep that promise. The promise Paul is referring to is when God says to Abraham in Genesis that I will be your God and you will be my people. That promise, according to Paul, is irrevocable. The Jews will always be God’s people.

But then Paul pivots and does something unexpected. He says, “I want you to understand this mystery: a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved.” Paul’s premise is that the Jews are rejecting Jesus for the time being so that all the Gentiles can believe. Then, when the full number of Gentiles has been reached, the hearts of the Jews will become jealous. Due to so many Gentiles being in relationship with God, the Jews will change their mind towards Jesus, allowing them to be saved as well. This is how Paul believes that God will fulfill the promises made to Abraham.

What’s so fascinating about this argument is that Paul is essentially saying that Gentiles who believe in Jesus are like honorary Jews. It is through faith in Jesus that the Gentiles have access to God’s promises to Abraham. Therefore, as far as Paul is concerned, Judaism is primary and Jesus’ role is to allow everyone else who is not Jewish to become part of the Jewish faith. Which then leads Paul to drop the ultimate bombshell: For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.

This is crazy! Paul is saying that everyone will be saved. God wants everyone, Jew and Gentile alike, to be shown mercy and to be saved. This is the first real hint of universalism in the New Testament and it comes as a result of Paul’s anxiety over the salvation of his own people. Think about it, Paul draws the line initially and says, “You have to believe in Jesus or you won’t be saved.” Then he moves the line and says, “God will save those who believe in Jesus and God will save the Jewish people.” Then he moves the line again in this passage and says, “God will save everyone.”

Why does Paul do this? Because isn’t that what we all want – for all the people we care about to be with God? I can’t tell you how often I have met families at funerals whose dead loved ones were on the other side of their religious line. So they make an exception and say, “You know, he lived a good life, so even though he didn’t believe like we believe, I’m sure he’s with God in heaven,” because they can’t bear the thought of God rejecting their loved one.

We all draw lines in our lives. We all have places where we say, “If you do this, then you’re in, but if you do that, then you’re out!” We do this because it makes us feel safe. It brings us comfort to know that we’re with people who see the world in much the same way we do. What I find to be so fascinating is the place where we often feel the most firm in our boundaries of where that line should be drawn is with God. Religion is often one of the thickest, most immovable lines in our lives, because religion is often about us and them.

Which raises the most fundamental question of this sermon: Where is your line? Where do you draw the line of who God will and won’t accept? Paul drew the line around his own people because he didn’t want them to be rejected. So I ask you: is your line fixed or can it be moved based on those who you love? God hates thieves, but not my husband because my husband just made a small error in the books of his company. God hates drug addicts, but not my brother because everybody gets drunk once in a while. God hates homosexuals, but not my daughter, because my daughter is different. God hates adulterers, but not me because pornography doesn’t count as cheating.

When it comes down to the people we love, we’ll draw the line around them in an instant. Your love will always cause you to make an exception, even for yourself. So most of us understand what it means to love unconditionally because our love compels us to make exceptions all the time. And yet, many of us struggle with the notion of how God’s love could be unconditional. And it makes sense to me that this would be the case.

So here we have Paul, in our scripture for today, promoting this idea that when it comes to God’s love, there are no lines. And yet, the Christian religion is built of nothing but distinct lines of who’s in and who’s out. Therefore, the Christian religion is not an accurate reflection of the Christian God and if we want our church to thrive, then that has to change. If we truly believe that our God is a God of unconditional love, then our church must embody that unconditional love. Not only do we have to erase the lines from our church, but we have to live as though those lines don’t exist.

To help you understand what this looks like, I want to end this morning by telling you a morality tale that I once heard when I was studying Latin. The tale goes that, long ago, there was an Italian merchant named Giovanni who lived on an estate in the foothills of the Alpine Mountains in Italy. Although he was now an old man, during his youth, Giovanni had spent time travelling the Silk Road from Asia to Turkey and had learned certain dialects of the Chinese language, which enabled him to negotiate for goods that other foreigners could not so easily obtain.

Giovanni was such a good merchant that the Pope had once enlisted him to broker a contract with Indian and Chinese merchants for the sale of raw Italian marble from the quarries. The proceeds would be used to renovate St. Peter’s Basilica, which was badly in need of repair at the time. Not only did Giovanni reap a handsome fee for negotiating the deal, but the Pope told Giovanni that if he ever required any special favors, all he needed to do is ask and his wish would be granted.

On top of all this, Giovanni had two beautiful daughters who married two very well to do young men. One husband was the son of a governor, the same governor who had helped Giovanni gain the rights to the marble in the quarry. The other husband was heir to one of the largest shipping empires in all of Italy. His father had agreed to ship the marble to India and China for a reduced fee. Giovanni was very proud of his family because, although he was born to a house of modest means, he now only associated with the most affluent families in Italy.

Well, one day Giovanni’s two daughters and their husbands show up at his doorstep with very bad news—in the cities of Rome and Florence, plague had ravaged the population. There was massive looting and crime was rampant. In all of the chaos, their families had been robbed and they were coming to him to find relief. Giovanni said, “Of course, you can stay here! You’re my daughters. I would never turn you away.” But Giovanni said to his servants, “Let no one else in, for I am afraid they might bring plague with them and we too might die.”

The next week, the families of his daughter’s husbands showed up at his doorstep. They too had fled the outbreak of plague and had lost their wealth in all the chaos. Giovanni was willing to make an exception for them. These were the men who had helped him become wealthy. He couldn’t turn them away. But Giovanni said to his servants, “Let no one else in, for I am afraid they might bring plague with them and we too might die.”

The next week, the servants of the families of his daughter’s husbands showed up at his doorstep. At first Giovanni told them to leave, but then the Governor and the shipping merchant pleaded with him, “Please, they may be our servants, but they are like family to us. We would be devastated if you sent them away.” Giovani was willing to make another exception, but things were starting to get tight. So Giovanni said to his servants, “Let no one else in, for we have no more room.”

The next week, the children of the servants of the families of his daughter’s husbands showed up at his doorstep. Giovanni refused to even consider letting them in. He told his servants to say to the children, “Tell them they are not welcome here for we have no more room.” But they did not leave and after hearing the wailing and the tears of the children outside of his door for days, Giovanni relented and let them in as well. So Giovanni said to his servants, “Tell anyone who comes to our door that they are welcome to stay here and they will be cared for.”

Days turned into months turned into years. Hundreds of people lived on Giovanni’s estate, until Giovanni had spent his entire fortune caring for all of these people. Destitute, Giovanni sent everyone away and spent the last of his money to send a messenger to the Vatican. There the messenger relayed what had happened over the last several years, how Giovanni had housed and fed refugees from all over Italy to save them from the plague.

For his one favor, Giovanni asked the Pope if he could provide a small dwelling place where Giovanni could rest his head until his death. The Pope replied, “Because you have made such a sacrifice and made so many exceptions by welcoming more than just your family, I will not only restore you to your former glory, but the families of your daughter’s husbands as well. For you could have said, ‘No,’ but the love in your heart forced you to say, ‘Yes.’”

May the love in our hearts force us to say, “Yes,” and may we be a reflection of God’s unconditional love in the world by never drawing lines and always being willing to make an exception. Amen.