Book of Common Prayer
The remnant of grace
11 So I ask, has God abandoned his people? Certainly not! I myself am an Israelite, from the seed of Abraham and the tribe of Benjamin. 2 “God has not abandoned his people,” the ones he chose in advance.
Don’t you know what the Bible says in the passage about Elijah, describing how he pleads with God against Israel? 3 “Lord,” he says, “they have killed your prophets, they have thrown down your altars; I’m the only one left, and they are trying to kill me!” 4 But what is the reply from the divine word? “I have left for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
5 In the same way, at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer by works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
A stumble with a purpose
7 What then? Did Israel not obtain what it was looking for? Well, the chosen ones obtained it—but the rest were hardened, 8 as the Bible says:
God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that wouldn’t see, and ears that wouldn’t hear,
right down to this present day.
9 And David says,
Let their table become a snare and a trap,
and a stumbling block and a punishment for them;
10 let their eyes be darkened so that they can’t see,
and make their backs bend low forever.
11 So I ask, then: Have they tripped up in such a way as to fall completely? Certainly not! Rather, by their trespass, salvation has come to the nations, in order to make them jealous. 12 If their trespass means riches for the world, and their impoverishment means riches for the nations, how much more will their fullness mean!
The Messiah and the father
19 So there was again a division among the Judaeans because of what Jesus had said.
20 “He’s demon-possessed!” some were saying. “He’s raving mad! Why listen to him?”
21 “No,” said some others, “that’s not how demon-possessed people talk. Anyway, how could a demon open a blind man’s eyes?”
22 It was the Feast of the Dedication in Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was walking in the Temple, in Solomon’s Porch. 24 The Judaeans surrounded him.
“How much longer are you going to keep us in suspense?” they asked. “If you are the Messiah, say so out loud!”
25 “I told you,” replied Jesus, “and you didn’t believe. The works which I’m doing in my father’s name give evidence about me. 26 But you don’t believe, because you don’t belong to my sheep.
27 “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them the life of the coming age. They will never, ever perish, and nobody can snatch them out of my hand. 29 My father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and nobody can snatch them out of my father’s hand. 30 I and the father are one.”
Blasphemy!
31 So the Judaeans once more picked up stones to stone him.
32 “I’ve shown you many fine deeds from the father,” Jesus replied to them. “Which of these deeds are you stoning me for?”
33 “We’re not stoning you for good deeds,” replied the Judaeans, “but because of blasphemy! Here you are, a mere man, and you’re making yourself into God!”
34 “It’s written in your law, isn’t it,” replied Jesus to them, “ ‘I said, you are gods?’ 35 Well, if the law calls people ‘gods,’ people to whom God’s word came (and you can’t set the Bible aside), 36 how can you accuse someone of blasphemy when the father has placed him apart and sent him into the world, and he says, ‘I am the son of God’?
37 “If I’m not doing the works of my father, don’t believe me. 38 But if I am doing them, well—even if you don’t believe me, believe the works! That way you will know and grasp that the father is in me, and I am in the father.”
39 So again they tried to arrest him. But Jesus managed to get away from them.
40 He went off once more across the Jordan, to the place where John had been baptizing at the beginning, and he stayed there. 41 Several people came to him.
“John never did any signs,” they said, “but everything that John said about this man was true.”
42 And many believed in him there.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.