Romans 8:26-39
The Rev. Shelby Ochs Owen at Trinity Church
July 24, 2011
The apostle Paul has a rhetorical “hay day” with the book of Romans. Paul, a scholar, a Pharisee, and an apostle often argues amazingly complex theological defenses throughout his letter to the Romans. Paul uses ancient Greco-Roman rhetorical techniques in his discourse. For many of us who are not trained in techniques of legal argument or debate, or rhetoric, many of Paul’s words leave our minds in a tangle, with us asking, “REALLY, Paul? Are you serious?” Kathy Grieb, former seminary professor of mine and author, gives many of us hope as she suggests that Paul’s clever and complex discourse is all based on a great story, the narrative of what God has done in Christ. If you were to read the entire book of Romans you might see how he weaves the salvation story throughout his argument for the righteousness of God. For Paul, the righteousness of God is understood primarily as seen in the faithfulness of Jesus, in his willing obedience to suffer death on a cross.# Today’s passage can best be understood in that context of the faithfulness of Jesus.
Today’s reading from Romans is one of the most hopeful passages in Scripture! (It is no wonder that this passage is often selected for funerals) “If God is for us, who is against us?” Could it be that the answer is that it just does not matter who or what is against us if God is for us? If God is for us, then we have the Ultimate Being watching our back! We have Jesus Christ in our court at all times! And because Jesus was and is faithful we can trust in his goodness towards us. “He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not also give us everything else?” “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
The story behind these powerful words is the story of Paul himself. Of the seven difficulties he lists, he himself has personally experienced six of them! If you read the Book of Acts you will see that Paul, in his zeal to tell the story of Jesus, the story of salvation to those in his path, was stoned, dragged out of cities, imprisoned, ridiculed, maligned and scoffed at, attacked by crowds, beaten, stripped of clothing, arrested, and shipwrecked. He most likely perceived that he would eventually be martyred as well. So how, if he had these difficult experiences, how could he be so sure God had his back, that God was in his court? Well, if we read more about his life, we can see that with each event, God was very present, encouraging and supporting and loving Paul. Somehow through it all, Paul knew in the depths of his being that God loved him as God loved all the world and would see him through, that NOTHING would separate him from the love of Christ. Paul’s confidence and trust were in the love of God even while he knew suffering was real. Paul was not one to let his head float in the clouds; he was a realist. But Paul understood that the reality of suffering and sin and death were subject to a greater reality, the reality of the love of Christ.
In what may have been his last letter, the aging Paul writes God’s story as it relates to his own story. This is no newby to the faith! He has not only endured hardship but he has experienced the amazing love of God. The Christians in Rome to whom he writes are a very particular group of people who have very real problems. They have their own story. Paul’s own faithfulness points to Christ’s faithfulness. Paul helps point the Christians in Rome in the direction of the faithfulness of Christ.
Recently I was at the beach with 14 members of my family. One day several had already gone down to the beach ahead of me. I knew they would have set up a beige tent somewhere on the beach. As soon as I got to the beach I saw the beige tent and started walking toward it. As I was walking toward that tent I happened to glance over in the other direction and noticed someone at another beige tent waving me down. My sister. Bringing me in. I wondered when I would have discovered I was with the wrong group of people if she hadn’t waved her arms so wildly and pointed the way for me.
I think Paul was pointing the way to the Romans, bringing them into a stronger faith, helping them realize that whatever hardships they were enduring, God was still on their side, that God really was for them, that he had their backs, that God really was in their court and could be trusted. And Paul had a certain authority about sharing his faith story precisely because he had endured so much. To hear from any who suffer and reflect the love of Christ makes most of us sit up and take notice. When any of us go to Haiti or Honduras or anywhere else in the world where there is extreme poverty and we hear from the local folks how great God is, we sit up and take notice; when we hear from guests at noon day lunch how God is getting them through, we sit up and take notice; when a brother suffering an addiction turns to God and shares his story of healing, or when a friend knows she is dying and she looks us square in the eye to tell us her faith is still strong, we sit up and take notice. Perhaps our own suffering has greater purpose than we have imagined?
What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will 105 degree heat (I sure hope not!)? Will failure, disappointment, tremendous mistakes, disease, unemployment, divorce, depression, or aging separate us from the love of Christ? We all have a story; we have our great gifts and our deep sorrows, our successes and our failures, we all triumph in some way and we all sin; we all have joys and we all suffer. We are all in the midst of our story right now. When we come up for communion or receive it in our pew, we are saying to God, “YES! With open hands and open heart I want your divine story to continue in me and to live knowing you indeed have my back, that you are always in my court, that your love for me will never fail. And with that sure confidence we may go out into the world as God’s faithful instruments, trusting in a God who can be trusted!
Who or what will separate us from the love of Christ? Absolutely nothing.
The Rev. Shelby Ochs Owen at Trinity Church
July 24, 2011
The apostle Paul has a rhetorical “hay day” with the book of Romans. Paul, a scholar, a Pharisee, and an apostle often argues amazingly complex theological defenses throughout his letter to the Romans. Paul uses ancient Greco-Roman rhetorical techniques in his discourse. For many of us who are not trained in techniques of legal argument or debate, or rhetoric, many of Paul’s words leave our minds in a tangle, with us asking, “REALLY, Paul? Are you serious?” Kathy Grieb, former seminary professor of mine and author, gives many of us hope as she suggests that Paul’s clever and complex discourse is all based on a great story, the narrative of what God has done in Christ. If you were to read the entire book of Romans you might see how he weaves the salvation story throughout his argument for the righteousness of God. For Paul, the righteousness of God is understood primarily as seen in the faithfulness of Jesus, in his willing obedience to suffer death on a cross.# Today’s passage can best be understood in that context of the faithfulness of Jesus.
Today’s reading from Romans is one of the most hopeful passages in Scripture! (It is no wonder that this passage is often selected for funerals) “If God is for us, who is against us?” Could it be that the answer is that it just does not matter who or what is against us if God is for us? If God is for us, then we have the Ultimate Being watching our back! We have Jesus Christ in our court at all times! And because Jesus was and is faithful we can trust in his goodness towards us. “He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not also give us everything else?” “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
The story behind these powerful words is the story of Paul himself. Of the seven difficulties he lists, he himself has personally experienced six of them! If you read the Book of Acts you will see that Paul, in his zeal to tell the story of Jesus, the story of salvation to those in his path, was stoned, dragged out of cities, imprisoned, ridiculed, maligned and scoffed at, attacked by crowds, beaten, stripped of clothing, arrested, and shipwrecked. He most likely perceived that he would eventually be martyred as well. So how, if he had these difficult experiences, how could he be so sure God had his back, that God was in his court? Well, if we read more about his life, we can see that with each event, God was very present, encouraging and supporting and loving Paul. Somehow through it all, Paul knew in the depths of his being that God loved him as God loved all the world and would see him through, that NOTHING would separate him from the love of Christ. Paul’s confidence and trust were in the love of God even while he knew suffering was real. Paul was not one to let his head float in the clouds; he was a realist. But Paul understood that the reality of suffering and sin and death were subject to a greater reality, the reality of the love of Christ.
In what may have been his last letter, the aging Paul writes God’s story as it relates to his own story. This is no newby to the faith! He has not only endured hardship but he has experienced the amazing love of God. The Christians in Rome to whom he writes are a very particular group of people who have very real problems. They have their own story. Paul’s own faithfulness points to Christ’s faithfulness. Paul helps point the Christians in Rome in the direction of the faithfulness of Christ.
Recently I was at the beach with 14 members of my family. One day several had already gone down to the beach ahead of me. I knew they would have set up a beige tent somewhere on the beach. As soon as I got to the beach I saw the beige tent and started walking toward it. As I was walking toward that tent I happened to glance over in the other direction and noticed someone at another beige tent waving me down. My sister. Bringing me in. I wondered when I would have discovered I was with the wrong group of people if she hadn’t waved her arms so wildly and pointed the way for me.
I think Paul was pointing the way to the Romans, bringing them into a stronger faith, helping them realize that whatever hardships they were enduring, God was still on their side, that God really was for them, that he had their backs, that God really was in their court and could be trusted. And Paul had a certain authority about sharing his faith story precisely because he had endured so much. To hear from any who suffer and reflect the love of Christ makes most of us sit up and take notice. When any of us go to Haiti or Honduras or anywhere else in the world where there is extreme poverty and we hear from the local folks how great God is, we sit up and take notice; when we hear from guests at noon day lunch how God is getting them through, we sit up and take notice; when a brother suffering an addiction turns to God and shares his story of healing, or when a friend knows she is dying and she looks us square in the eye to tell us her faith is still strong, we sit up and take notice. Perhaps our own suffering has greater purpose than we have imagined?
What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will 105 degree heat (I sure hope not!)? Will failure, disappointment, tremendous mistakes, disease, unemployment, divorce, depression, or aging separate us from the love of Christ? We all have a story; we have our great gifts and our deep sorrows, our successes and our failures, we all triumph in some way and we all sin; we all have joys and we all suffer. We are all in the midst of our story right now. When we come up for communion or receive it in our pew, we are saying to God, “YES! With open hands and open heart I want your divine story to continue in me and to live knowing you indeed have my back, that you are always in my court, that your love for me will never fail. And with that sure confidence we may go out into the world as God’s faithful instruments, trusting in a God who can be trusted!
Who or what will separate us from the love of Christ? Absolutely nothing.
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