"Has God rejected his people?" The Sunday Lectionary Guts Paul's Answer

For those who are trying to better understand Romans 11, you would be better off skipping church today if your church uses the Revised Common Lectionary which leaves out a huge chunk by limiting you to Romans 11:1-2, 29-32. 

I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?  

29 for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30 Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy. 32 For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.

When I read that, I get the impression that if the Jews acted kindly to the early Christians, then they would be saved, that is they could continue in their rejection of Jesus as Lord and Savior.

If you read the omitted material which I will print below, you see that in verses 15 and 23 Paul makes it clear that in order to be saved, all must accept the Lordship of Christ.

(The words of Elijah) 3 ‘Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.’ 4 But what is the divine reply to him? ‘I have kept for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’ 5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written, 

‘God gave them a sluggish spirit,   eyes that would not see   and ears that would not hear,down to this very day.’9 And David says,‘Let their table become a snare and a trap,   a stumbling-block and a retribution for them;10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,   and keep their backs for ever bent.’ 

11 So I ask, have they stumbled so as to fall? By no means! But through their stumbling (transgression) salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. 12 Now if their stumbling (transgression) means riches for the world, and if their defeat means riches for Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!
13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I glorify my ministry 14 in order to make my own people jealous, and thus save some of them. 15 For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead! 16 If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; and if the root is holy, then the branches also are holy.
17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place to share the rich root of the olive tree, 18 do not vaunt yourselves over the branches. If you do vaunt yourselves, remember that it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you. 19 You will say, ‘Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.’ 20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand only through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, perhaps he will not spare you. 22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity towards those who have fallen, but God’s kindness towards you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And even those of Israel, if they do not persist in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. 24 For if you have been cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree.25 So that you may not claim to be wiser than you are, brothers and sisters, I want you to understand this mystery: a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved; as it is written,‘Out of Zion will come the Deliverer;   he will banish ungodliness from Jacob.’27 ‘And this is my covenant with them,   when I take away their sins.’28 As regards the gospel they are enemies of God for your sake; but as regards election they are beloved, for the sake of their ancestors

I think the lectionary overly simplifies Paul's logic, and our simple pewsitters will miss his point that his ministry to the Gentiles to make them Christian will make them the equal of those Jews who come to follow Jesus.

Who knows what a revisionist preacher will make of the expurgated version of Romans 11?  I suspect they will probably ignore it and talk about the Gospel reading instead and tell their pewsitters that the  Canaanite woman changed Jesus' racist views.