A man was flying from Seattle to San Francisco. Unexpectedly, the plane was diverted to Sacramento along the way. The flight attendant explained there would be a delay, and if the passengers wanted to get off the aircraft the plane would re-board in 50 minutes.  Everybody got off the plane except one lady who was blind. The man could tell the lady was blind because her Seeing Eye dog lay quietly underneath the seat in front of her. He could also tell she was a regular on this flight because the pilot approached her, and calling her by name, said, “Kathy, we are in Sacramento for almost an hour. Would you like to get off and stretch your legs?” The blind lady replied, “No thanks, but maybe my dog would like to stretch his legs.” The pilot agreed to take her Seeing Eye dog for a walk.  All the people in the gate area came to a complete standstill when they looked up and saw the pilot walk off the plane with a Seeing Eye dog! The pilot was even wearing sunglasses. People scattered. They not only tried to change planes, but they tried to change airlines!  I share this anonymous story with you because I think it illustrates two important points.  First things aren’t always what they seem.  Second we live in a world where if something is not to our liking we feel free to change it or take it back. In this case no one wanted to ride on a plane with a blind pilot so they changed their tickets. 

            Even in our ever changing world there are some things that can not be undone.  For instance e-mail; once you click send there is no getting it back.  E-mails are irrevocable.  This is the lesson learned by Michael Brown, who for a time headed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). In their book, Send: The Personal Guide to E-Mail for Office and Home, David Shipley and Will Schwalbe share several e-mails Brown wrote during the worst days of the Hurricane Katrina disaster: FROM: Michael Brown TO: FEMA Staff August 29, 2005 If you’ll look at my lovely FEMA attire you’ll really vomit. I am a fashion god. FROM: Michael Brown
TO: FEMA Staff August 29, 2005  I’m not answering that question, but do have a question. Do you know anyone who dog-sits?  When the American public had an opportunity to read these random thoughts of the man who was supposed to be masterminding the recovery from one of the worst hurricanes in our history I am sure “Brownie” wished he could take them back but he couldn’t and not long after he lost his job as FEMA director. 

           The passage we read a few moments ago from Roman’s begins with the question “Has God rejected his people?”  The people of whom Paul is speaking are the Israelites, the Jews, God’s chosen people.   Paul has been making the case that the way to salvation is now open to the Gentiles.  So the question is has God revoked God’s promise to the ancestors of Abraham?  What we don’t pick up on reading Paul’s words in English that we would had we read it in the original Greek language, is the answer to this rhetorical question is an obvious no.  No, God has not rejected God’s chosen people; the reason being Paul says, the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.  Irrevocable…they can not be taken back.  Like the e-mail Paul seems to be saying that once God has issued this promise it can not be taken back.  Once God calls you to be a part of God’s family and once you have received the God given gift of grace there is no turning back, there is no shaking free of it, because God choosing to save you and God’s gift of grace to you are irrevocable.  “God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.” 

          What Paul says here later informs the work of theologian John Calvin who says that all of us are totally depraved, nothing but a bunch of sinners.  There is nothing we can do to save ourselves and it is only by God’s choosing and God’s action that we are saved.  Calvin says also that should God choose to save you that there is nothing you can do to escape from or reject God’s grace.  God’s grace is both irresistible and able to endure whatever you might do willingly or unwillingly to mess it up.  God’s gift and God’s calling are according to Calvin not only irrevocable, but irresistible.  The only difference really between Paul and Calvin on this point is who is included in God’s plan for salvation.  Calvin says that atonement, God’s saving act is limited, limited only by God’s choosing of course, because God can choose to save whomever God wants, but Calvin theorizes that God doesn’t choose everyone.  Paul on the other hand says that it is God’s plan to be merciful to all. 

          So we know that God’s gift and calling are irrevocable and irresistible, but are they given to some or all?  The truth is only God knows the answer to that question and both Paul and Calvin if they were here I am sure would have to admit that the answers they have offered to this question are at best, best guesses.  I don’t pretend to know the answer to whether this gift and calling are offered to all or to some, but what I do know is that it is extended to some surprising people.  Even Jesus, the one who enacts this gift though his life, death, and resurrection seems to be surprised by all who are included.  

          In the first passage we read Jesus and his disciples are taking a break from their ministry, trying to get away on a little retreat.  So they step outside Israel’s territory to a region that would have been considered by all God fearing Jews to be unclean.  Not exactly the kind of place we expect to find Jesus but understandable given the intent, since he is not likely to encounter many Jews there wanting him to teach or heal them.  But it is not long till that theory is proven wrong.  A Canaanite woman recognizes Jesus and approaches him, persistently calling him to help her daughter.  The woman had three strikes against her before she even got started.  First she is a woman in a culture where women were at best second class citizens.  Two she is making a nuisance of herself.  And three she is a Canaanite, of an ancestry at odds with and hostile towards Jews.  It would be hard to find a person farther from the kingdom of God than this lady.  Even so, Jesus’ behavior is shocking.  The man who welcomed all manner of sinners dismisses her with a couple of nasty comments saying first “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” and then “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”  Despite Jesus’ jabs the woman persists saying “even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”  Often this passage is interpreted to be about the Woman’s great faith; persisting even when rejected.  There is something to be said for that but I think it is also and maybe even more so about just how far reaching is the grace and mercy of God.  It would appear that even Jesus is caught off guard by, or at least grows in his understanding of just how far God’s mercy extends.  If we claim to know the extent of God’s grace when even Jesus wrestles with this understanding then we have made a grave error.  Only God knows to whom God has bestowed this gift and calling, but it is likely many who we never would have expected have received it.  As the passage from Matthew points out, when it comes to God’s grace, there is more than first meets the eye. 

          The point to these two passages is this: Whether one is an Israelite or a Gentile, one remains “grafted” into the covenant with God because of God’s actions and not ultimately one’s own. Being in covenant with God is an act of God’s “kindness” and “mercy” not something we do to deserve it. It is precisely because living in covenant with God is God’s work, that “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable”. It does not matter whether one is a Gentile or a Jew; both know “disobedience,” and both are therefore reliant upon God’s “mercy” as are all. 

So what does all of this mean for us in our daily living?   Well we begin with the good news that God’s promise, God’s calling and grace, which have been given to us, are irrevocable.  God loves us and there is nothing we can do about it, nothing we can do to make God love us anymore or any less.  We are enveloped by God’s grace and forever called to be a part of God’s family.  There is one thing however, we can do about God’s love…we can show it to others.  One morning R.C. Chapman, a devout Christian, was asked how he was feeling. “I’m burdened this morning!” was his reply. But his happy countenance contradicted his words. So the questioner exclaimed in surprise, “Are you really burdened, Mr. Chapman?”  “Yes, but it’s a wonderful burden. It’s an overabundance of blessings for which I cannot find enough time or words to express my gratitude!”  In the irrevocable calling and grace we have received we are blessed with the wonderful burden of overabundant blessing for which we are continually challenged to express thanksgiving in word and deed.  May we therefore live in the light of God’s irrevocable grace by dealing graciously with others, even those who on first glance don’t seem to be a part of God’s family or the type of people we want to welcome into our midst. Amen.