Grafted In

This morning I’m thinking of wild olive trees, what it means to be grafted in, and Israel.



This is a picture of us taken on the Mount of Olives. If you look closely behind us, you’ll see an Olive Tree. For me, probably the most symbolic thing I can find to represent my faith.

Once a Wild Olive Tree (Gentile), who has now been grafted in to a Cultivated Olive Tree (Israel), to share in the Nourishing Root (Christ) and be shaped and formed by the Cultivator (Father God).

This chapter is why I named my blog “Wild Olive”. Because of a program we completed called Residency at our church, I began to understand Romans 11. I began to understand the difference between the church and Israel. I began to understand that we are a part of a much bigger story, a much bigger God, with a much bigger plan than we can ever imagine!

God choose to graft us into His kingdom to make His chosen people, Israel, jealous.

Friends the only reason we get to eat the crumbs from the Master’s table is because Israel rejects them.

After walking the land of Israel, I love and understand this chapter even more!

Our only response to salvation should be gratitude! We are not worthy, we did not come to faith in Christ because we born in America, grew up in church, or went to camp and “believed”. We came to faith in Christ because God gave us the gift of grafting us in!

Our faith in Christ, His plan of redemption for us the gentiles, is for so.much.more. It is beyond coming to church and participating in bible study, to hear good music, to feel good about ourselves . . . it’s to work out God’s cosmic plan for His people!

God is not done with Israel. There has come a partial hardening because of their rejection of the Cornerstone, but he is not done with them yet . . . not “until the fullness of the Gentiles comes” (Romans 11:25). He will not rest until all who are going to repent will be saved! Until then we as the “Gentiles” get to receive the greatest blessing of all. We get to be grafted into the Kingdom, invited to dine at the Master’s Table, and live a life of worship in response to this gift of knowing the One True God!

Perhaps reading through Romans 11 will help you see it too! Grateful to be grafted in . . . asking the LORD to help me remember, and not forget (Deut 8), all that He has taught me and now shown me of what it means to be a Wild Olive Tree.

Romans 11:1-10 God & His People Israel
5 “So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.”

Romans 11:11-24 Gentiles are Grafted In
17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.

Romans 11:25-32 A Partial Hardening & Mystery of Israel’s Salvation
25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

Romans 11:33-36 Our Response to His Plan: Worship!
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” 35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.


(*This was talken at Qum'ran, on top of a mountain that looks out into the Judean Wilderness-similar place to where Jesus was tempted. We were to write a "Rock of Rememberance" a prayer, a life verse, etc. This was what I wrote on my rock. A prayer of thanksgiving for being grafted in.)

Crumbs

This morning I woke up thinking about crumbs. Thinking about the story in Matthew 15 where the woman begs Jesus to heal her daughter and the disciples are bothered by her.

"And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon." But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her away, for she is crying out after us." He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me." And he answered, "It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs." She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table." Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly." (Matthew 15:21-28)

She begs for just crumbs from the master’s table. Do you hear the desperation in her plea? The hope in her Healer? Knowing that she is not worthy to have her request granted, but believing only Jesus can grant her request.


This Caananite woman recognized she was not a part of chosen Israel, the nation that was set apart, she was a dog, a gentile, a nobody. In her humility, she recognized Jesus was somebody.

This woman recognizes that Jesus is the Son of David. She knows He is powerful. She probably doesn’t have all her theology down or know all of the right answers, but she has heard of His healing power and knows that He is the One who can heal. He is the only one who can free her daughter from oppression.

There is humility, exaltation, faith, and desperation.

Our LORD does not require us to have it all figured out before coming to Him. We do not have to be clean, just a confession of being dirty. We don’t have to be sinless, just honest faith that He is the One without sin. It is not so much about how we ask, but what we believe about the One we’re asking. He is waiting to heal, He is waiting to free us from oppression, if we believe. So comforting.

Our God is like none other. In a time when Gentiles were referred to as dogs, and women even lower than that . . . He grants the request of a Gentile woman.

Jesus is inviting His chosen nation to dine with him and they reject his invitation. This woman is thankful to receive just his crumbs. I love that.

Are you thankful for crumbs from the master’s table? Or do you feel worthy of more? Do you understand that He is the only One who can heal, or do you turn to other things first? Do you understand that we are not Israel, a part of God’s Holy nation? But, because of Israel’s rejection, we are accepted. We are invited to dine at the table, grafted in to the nourishing root.

Today . . . I am thankful for being a part of a much bigger story. I am thankful to be grafted in. I am thankful for crumbs.