St. Paul tries to understand why the message of Jesus was received more readily by the gentiles (the non-Jews) than by Jesus’ own people. He trusts that God does have a plan even if he is not privy to it. Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable his ways! We can all relate to St. Paul’s frustration. We don’t understand why innocent suffering, why those who do wrong seem to prosper more than the good, why racism is so persistent. That is to say nothing of our personal puzzlement on what God is doing in our individual lives. Perhaps, like St. Paul, the only thing we can do is to have faith that God is smarter than we are and that the divine plan is for the best, even if we don’t see it right now.
