"Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God- the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son... To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ... Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him- to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen."
For those of you who are familiar with the Bible, you may notice that the second set of ... includes the entire book of Romans. For those of you who aren't, you will read Paul's beginning message and the final intent of his letter. Somewhere in between Paul and Amen, is some of the finest writing in the New Testament; the letter that makes a difference for so many. There is a short pamphlet often called, "The Romans Road" that highlights the key message of the gospel. When I read Romans this week, I was thinking about the Romans Road and I was looking for it. But when I read Paul's letter to the fractured church living in Rome, I didn't see it. I saw something else, something bigger, and at the same time something smaller. How could this be? It's all a matter of perspective.
As a devoted Christian, who's grown up around the Bible, I expected the Romans Road to pop out and grab me. I've been told by many its in there, and I have taken their word for it. So it came as a shock that as I read the letter from beginning to end I realized the letter was about something else entirely. A church that's been broken apart. In 49 CE the Jews were expelled from Rome, in 54 CE they began to return after the death of the emperor. Within those five years, Gentile (anyone not a Jew) Christians begun to practice their faith outside of Jewish influence. When the Jewish Christians returned, they discovered a cultural rift between them and the Gentiles, despite having the same Savior. Paul's letter is about healing that rift, affirming both Jew and Gentile. I know this because I've studied Romans.
The study of Romans, aka my scholarly lens, was not refined in a Sunday setting. It was an extracurricular activity I undertook by going to college and studying for ministry. My scholarly lens tells me facts and dates about the context of the church. Why the Jews were expelled, how the Jews practiced Christianity and how the Gentiles practiced it differently. This was not the subject of Sunday morning sermons; indeed the sermon is not the place for it, bible study is, although context should be set when we preach the Bible. When we don't preach context, we forget the Bible was not written to us. It was written to people before us, whose questions we still ask and learn from, whose mistakes we still make and whose lives, though thousands of years before us, are part of the human experience translating from generation to generation. The Bible, when we haven't studied its context can be very foreign and alien. In it's foreignness, we can forget what it is and how it has shaped those who have gone before us and those who will come after us. We can believe its a straight forward document that is easy to read and understand. This is not always the truth.
The truth is Romans makes a lot of references to Jewish culture as it was practiced in the 1st century: things like circumcision, Abraham, covenants, holidays and what foods are clean and unclean. To the unstudied eye its total nonsense. It doesn't seem like it could have any application in our world. For those who have not studied the Bible, this is an absolutely valid perspective. The Bible is not always clear. It makes references to times and places and happenings that we have to go back and lookup to understand what's being said, and then understand why the author wants those words to be said. It can be a very complex game of studying, reading, studying, reading, studying and reading.
What's the best way to understand Romans? Read the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) multiple times, study it well and then come back and read Romans. When we do this we can appreciate the genius of Paul's rhetoric. He beautifully weaves into the story the gospel now practiced by the Gentiles, while at the same time not excluding those to whom the gospel belonged before. He masterfully brings the rifted cultures together, uniting them through his study of Scripture, culture and the truth he found in Christ. It's Paul at his best. And for generations when the church is confused it turns to this letter, among others, for guidance. It's about much more than personal salvation, its about the broken church with its many perspectives. It answers the question, "How do we live together when we don't see eye to eye?" We just might need to know a thing or two about Jewish culture to see that picture, otherwise its pretty easy to miss.
When I read Paul's letter to the church in Rome this week, I read it through four lenses: the church follower, the scholar, the studied layman and as one who had never read it before. It made my head hurt! The most confused readings I had were as the church follower and the never read it before. The churchman was confused because Romans wasn't what he expected it to be, and the never read it before was confused because it didn't understand any of the cultural references. The scholar grasped why it had been written, and the studied layman understood the mastery of Paul's writing. Suffice to say I was confused, impressed, grasping its audience, wondering how it could be applied and understanding how it could be applied, all at once. I could feel my perspectives swimming in my mind. Take into consideration my age, gender, heritage, generation and current living situation and suddenly I didn't want to read it again. How could anyone ever truly make sense of this one letter? And if this letter could not be read and understood, then how could anyone even begin to approach the Bible? These were my very frustrated thoughts.
As I stepped out on to my patio, I looked at the night sky. It was cloudy and overcast, but I could remember all the stars and places and times I viewed them. When I was a counselor in Indiana, marveling at how great and vast God's creation was with a group of middle school aged campers. When I was on Mt. Rainer among other high-schoolers; we sat in silence starring at the purity of an untainted canvas. When I was in Idaho as a middle schooler, first learning about constellations and their movement throughout the seasons. What's beautiful about the night sky? It's never the same. Sometimes we can't see the stars, but that doesn't mean they are not there. Other times we can peer into the heavens, seeing galaxies, gas giants, planets, moons, comets, meteors and asteroids all with our naked eyes.
Depending where we stand on earth, the night sky looks different. The seasons change what is visible; the heavens are not stationary. They move. Sometimes the lights go out, never to return. But even though a few lights are missing, the night sky doesn't change. Humanity has looked at the same night sky for thousands of years, even though we have looked at it differently and in different seasons of our lives. We all agree the stars exist. We may not agree on their names, or the story behind them, but we cannot doubt what clearly presents itself. Too often we forget the beauty of what we see and argue about the things that won't change what's in the sky. This is how I like to look at Scripture.
When I read the Bible, I like to think of the people who've gone before. The difficulties they faced, and how they've used the Bible as a star map to safely guide themselves home. Sometimes I worry that I don't know enough about them, that I need to spend more time studying their lives to better understand mine. But when I do this, I take my eyes off the night sky. I start looking at what others have said, instead of what I see. When I take my eyes off the night sky, I forget that I have a life to live, and that my life is as important as anyone else's. That my opinions and perspectives matter, even though they change with time. We may argue about the constellations, but what's more important is to focus on the bigger picture. One we can spend our entire lives looking for and never see all of it. That's the beauty of Scripture. There is very much what's plain and obvious, and then there are the deeply intertwined truths that hold it all together. We will never completely understand the universe around us, just as we will never completely understand Scripture, but there are things we can hold on to, simple truths, that will help us navigate through the darkness.
The most important of these is love. To love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength; and to love your neighbor as yourself. This is the foundation of the gospel. The gospel that has been communicated throughout the ages, even before Christ. When I think of the church today, and of yesterday, I think it struggles with love the most. It struggles to understand love; what it means to have a God that loves us, sees us, hears us and desires to spend time with us. This is who Jesus is. The embodiment of God's love. I've gotten lost in this concept several times throughout my studies, and each time I come back to this simple truth, I am amazed at how I forgot it in the first place. It always happens because I've taken my eyes off the night sky. It's not for me to judge any of the Lord's servants, nor any other being created in his image. I can show concern for them, be worried for them, care about them deeply, but ultimately they must see the night sky for themselves. They must come to understand why it's there. It's a journey I can't take them on, even though I want to, and it's not my responsibility to do so. It's my responsibility to marvel at the night sky. It's my responsibility to love what's been created. It's my responsibility to celebrate that love through my life. And should I come to live my life that way, others will want to know and will join with me, marveling at the night sky. Amen.
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