05.03 | The Root of Richness
Romans 11
‘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, 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 11:17-18
I was born in Kidderminster, a town in north Worcestershire, about twenty miles southwest of Birmingham. Kidderminster, if famous for anything, is famous for carpets. The modern carpet industry was founded there in the late 18th Century, and today it celebrates hosting the Museum of Carpet (“the UK’s only museum dedicated to … the heritage, art and industry of carpet making”). To my memory, the football fans used to sing ‘We All Live in a Carpet Factory,’ to the tune of the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine.
It’s in my mind, because I drove through Kidderminster yesterday. And it still has a lot of carpet factories.
Not the most glamorous place in the world. But where I come from.
Paul makes a comment today:
Now I am speaking to you Gentiles.
We’re familiar with the language of ‘Gentile’ now. Those who are not Jews. They’d have been born in towns across the Empire, or in Rome itself. They’d have grown up in the mythology of Roman gods and Roman heroes, with Roman cultural ideals entwined into their self-understanding. The story of Rome was imprinted into the fabric of their souls.
They’d not likely have had much former interest in the Old Testament. They’d not have had much (if any) knowledge of the Jewish Law, circumcision, the promises made to Abraham or the Levitical sacrificial system. Many of the themes that were so utterly formative to the Jewish people, woven through Paul’s writing, would have been new to them. They hadn’t grown up in the rhythm of Passover and Purim, of temple and Torah, or synagogue and Scripture and psalm. Their heroes hadn’t been Samson and David and Moses, but Julius Caesar and Hercules and the gladiators.
The Jewish story was alien to them. Good stories, maybe, but distant and remote. It was not their story.
Paul is speaking to them.
Their roots were in Rome. And yet, Paul wants them to know that their following of Jesus means new roots. The phrase he uses is ‘the nourishing root.’ Literally translated, it is ‘the root of richness.’
He wants them to know that they have now been dug up from the roots that they had, and grafted into a new root of richness. Something so deeply nourishing and so ancient and so alive and so beautiful and so good. It is now this root that gives juice to their lives. It is this root that will define the shape of their growth from now onwards. Following Jesus means being grafted into a whole new Story. It means being restoried.
The Old Testament was now their story.
The Promises were now their promises.
The Vocation was now their vocation.
They had been grafted in, as legitimate and essential elements of the Story of God that began in Eden, and would run into all eternity before us.
My story began in Kidderminster with its carpets. It has shaped me. And a million other things that followed—from family culture to playground values to teenage mistakes to movies watched to advertisements seen—has told me stories—about who I am, and what is valuable, and what leads to freedom and goodness and life. Much has been good; some has been really hard.
But the root of richness is not these stories. They matter, and they have shaped me. But where I now look for my place of identity and belonging is the Story. God’s Story. It is the Story where you, and I, were lovingly created, fallen, called, restored, and re-integrated into a growing movement of truth and beauty and life that contends the darkness of a broken world and sends us on a trajectory into a dazzling eternity.
Where are your roots?
The truest answer to this question is now, and will be forever,
In the Story of God.
Reflect:
Think back over my story. Where you came from, your family culture, key events. What story did these things tell you about yourself, about the world, about life?
Be still with the Holy Spirit. Ask Him to show you one story that you have lived in in that He wants you to step out of. What truth is He inviting you to step into?
Pray:
Father,
I believe many things,
About what is good and true and right;
About who I am and what my value is;
About how to live well and choose well.
Some of my beliefs lead me to truth and fullness,
And some lead me to anger and fear.
I’m a jumbled up mess of competing narratives.
But, Father,
You have given me a new story,
That starts not with me,
But with You.
That begins not in the values and norms of my culture or my pain,
But that draw life out of the nutrients of truth,
And freedom from the soil of eternity.
Today,
Would you take my thoughts,
And make them new.
Contend every false thought and false idea,
And re-story me
Into the Great Story,
That begins, and ends,
In You.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen
Old Testament:
For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:
Numbers 13-14 | Proverbs 9:13-18