Putting Together the Pieces

Our passages for today from Romans are possibly the most often read and quoted out of the whole letter. Verse 28 is quoted when great tragedy happens and one cannot explain why it happened. Verse 29 is sometimes used to suggest that God, from the beginning of the world, predestined those who will be saved and, some suggest, those who will be condemned. Verses 31 through 39 are often read at funerals because it mentions death as one of the things that cannot separate us from God. While the correctness of these uses are debatable, in the end, Paul was trying to say something different.

In these verses Paul is reminding the Romans and us that, while we have little control over the events in our lives, we are not to give up hope. For the opposite of hope is despair. That could well have been the Roman Christians’ state when Paul wrote to them. They certainly had their set of problems. Living in the capital city of Rome, so near to the emperor, meant they saw their share of persecutions. Added to that the church was broken up when all the Jews were banished from Rome because Claudius blamed them for a great fire that had occurred. When they returned to the church they found that the gentile Christians who had remained changed some things about the church and they wanted to return to the old ways. There were struggles inside and outside of the church and some, it seems, were giving up on the faith and returning to the way they lived before hearing the good news of Jesus.

These verses, then, are about living life in the present age. It is about the assurance that in the struggles within and without the church God works with God’s people to bring about those things that God has planned (predestined) for the world. The hard part is for each of us to decide what work God is calling us to do. There are plenty of positions open in God’s plan. Which one (or ones) are you being called to? While for some discerning this call comes easy. For most of us it is a struggle. That is where Bible study, prayer, and worship come in. It is through them that the Spirit leads us. Although, as Paul points out in these verses we often do not even know how to pray. Even then, the Spirit intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. It was hard to be a Christian in Rome so close to the seat of power with the struggle of everyday life and the constant threat of persecution. Not to mention the ridicule and ostracization by family and friends. While we have lives that are easier than the early Christians we still struggle to answer God’s call. We live in a time that is less violent and more stable than Paul’s time, yet, a quick look around will show that many of the struggles of the early Christians are still with us. That is where we come in. For those who feel their life is dried up we are to be the living waters. For those who hunger for truth we are to provide the bread of forgiveness.

You have been washed clean in the waters of baptism and fed at this table so that you will have the strength to answer God’s call when it comes and to provide yourself as a vessel for Jesus to use. For it is with your voice that Jesus speaks and with your arms embraces the world. Pray with the Spirit that you may always share God’s love in Christ Jesus with all the world.