Reading Romans Backwards: A Community Needing Peace pt 2
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The Strong & The Weak
The Strong & The Weak
Romans 12-16
A review:
Four months in the Gospel Matthew - Announcing the Kingdom of God in the midst of Empire
2 Sunday in Acts - how did the early church live out this new reality of living as Kingdom communities?
In both Matthew & Acts, there were hints and no so subtle announcements of God’s intention to include Gentiles.
(Remember in the genealogy in Matthew 1, the inclusion of four gentile women and Peter’s vision in Acts 10 and the conflict between Peter & Paul in Acts 13, 14, and the warning in Acts 15:19 not to create problems or extra obstacles for Gentiles)
Well, now we’re started into Romans. A letter written to a group of housechurches in Rome. Mixed communities of Jewish & Gentile believers… which should surprise us, based on these earlier passages. But also members of “households” which would mean slaves and masters and everyone in between.
And these communities, made up of Jewish and Gentile believers from a variety of social locations… are not agreeing on how things ought to be done.
Shocking. Right?
Yesterday, we held a clean up day and there was digging and raking and mowing and trimming and window washing and dusting and re-setting chairs from the memorial service and digging out the weeds that had grown between the patio pavers - Bonita is amazing!
As we dug and levelled out the front and back areas, ideas were floating about what to do with these spaces. And, of course, there are a variety of opinions. We want to be careful of cost. We want LOW maintenance. (Can I get an amen?) We want it to look nice. And, guess what, we all have slightly different takes on what those things are.
There was no heated debating, so don’t get me wrong, we’re not fighting about these areas, but we are discussing possible ways forward and discovering that it’s not obvious what to do…
And it got me thinking that landscaping a church property is a bit of a window into trying to be a community that lives into the Kingdom is like… in the midst of Empire. And who was more aware of the Empire they were living in than those living in its capital city?
In fact, one thing to note is that under Claudius, Jews had been expelled from Rome. And so that’s how Paul met Priscilla & Aquila (named in Romans 16, and Acts 18) who came to Corinth.
As Paul writes Romans, a young Nero has become the Caesar and Jews have started to return to Rome.
And guess what, while they were away, these house churches didn’t just sit around. They continued on, under Gentile leadership and now as the Jewish believer return, some of them are likely encouraged by what they see. Others, not so much. They are seeing the church become less connected to her Jewish foundations and they aren’t happy about it.
In all likelihood, it wasn’t all the Jewish believers thought this and all the gentile believers thoughts that… as with any group of people, there were probably a contingent of Jewish believers who were insisting on keeping religious traditions as part of their Christian expression, and a contingent of Gentile believers who had begun to follow the risen Jesus and for whom Jewish dietary laws, festival observance and circumcision(!) weren’t part of their faith and practice.
Last week, we began “Reading Romans Backwards” and we were introduced to the community from which Paul was writing this letter, the community who was receiving the letter and to Phoebe who would be the emissary for Paul, bringing the letter and standing in their midst as his proxy.
Becky Castle Miller writes: “Beginning with the end places readers right in the middle of a community deeply divided between the strong and the weak, each side dug in on their position. The strong assert social power and privilege, while the weak claim an elected advantage in Israel’s history.
Paul’s solution to the Roman Christians diversity of opinions & practices is not to name the “right way” but to invite them all into a peace
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in faith so that you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Paul’s prayer is not that they would agree, but that God would fill them with joy and peace that would overflow with hope.
(Sometimes I think we would settle for agreement and forfeit the transformative work of the Spirit that would fill us to overflowing with joy, peace and hope…)
Just before this in vs 5-6, is another prayer:
5 May the God of endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude toward each other, similar to Christ Jesus’ attitude. 6 That way you can glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ together with one voice.
My question for us this morning, is why do these Roman believers need divine filling of joy, peace and hope? Why do they need help having a Christlike attitude towards one another - given by the God of endurance and encouragement?
(And, in case you’re not sure where I’m going, why might WE need these things too?)
Let’s look at what was happening that made Paul pray for the Roman believers in this way? How were they a Community Needing Peace?
In Romans 14 and 15, Paul will introduce terms… the Strong and the Weak. Now, quickly, before we read about these folks, who wants to be on “team Strong” and who would prefer to be on “team Weak”?
The weak seem to be a group among the Jewish believers who were struggling with Gentile believers not doing things according to Jewish customs and religious traditions. (Paul brings up food laws and practices, and holy days or festival traditions. And in the way Paul speaks of them, the weak are those who are convinced that they must continue to live according to these rules and customs.
David Bentley Hart: “...the separation between Jews and gentiles has been annulled in Christ, opening salvation to all peoples; it does not mean (as Paul fears some might imagine) that God has abandoned his covenant with Israel.”
Is God faithful to the covenant with Israel? Yes!
Is God also faithful to bless all the nations of the world as promised to Abraham? Also yes!
Does one negate the other? NO!
The Strong then, according to Paul, are those who have more freedom, more flexibility. They can eat foods that others feel would be wrong to consume. They don’t mark days and seasons the same way as their Jewish siblings in Christ.
The Strong have access to power that the Weak do not. So there is also a social reality behind these terms. Not only differences of opinion. So instead of Strong and Weak, we could think in terms of powerful and unempowered or disempowered. Or, those who live in homes and those who live in apartments. In the Roman world, where status was everything, elites vs nonelites, … and as we know, when we have access to power and privilege, we are usually quite concerned about how to maintain that power.
According to McKnight: the Strong despised the Weak and the Weak sat in judgment on the Strong.
So what is that Paul tells these Roman believers?
The call to the Strong is to welcome the the weak.
1 Welcome the person who is weak in faith—but not in order to argue about differences of opinion.
The call to the Weak is stop judging the Strong.
10 But why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you look down on your brother or sister? We all will stand in front of the judgment seat of God.
And the Strong are not to flaunt their freedom, but to consider others, including those with whom they disagree.
And then, can’t you see it, Phoebe is reading the letter, looking right at the folks in a particular house church who are among the Weak, and the Strong are nodding. Then the letter addresses the Strong, and the Weak are nodding. So glad that Paul is finally putting them in their place. And then Paul turns it around…
13 So stop judging each other. Instead, this is what you should decide: never put a stumbling block or obstacle in the way of your brother or sister.
19 So let’s strive for the things that bring peace and the things that build each other up.
The call here from Paul is that the Strong and the Weak will welcome one another to the table as siblings.
The call here is that the Strong will use their power and privilege for the sake of those without it.
1 We who are powerful need to be patient with the weakness of those who don’t have power, and not please ourselves. 2 Each of us should please our neighbors for their good in order to build them up.
Scot McKnights summarizes is this way:
“The act of the Strong welcoming the Weak is a Christoform act of crossing boundaries and turning no status into in-Christ-status. It is to say, “Because we are Strong and have Privilege and Power, we will not broker our Power to divide the faith community, but we will disempower ourselves to empower each sibling at the table and so live out the gospel of Christ.”
Now, be honest. At the beginning, when I named the Strong and the Weak, did any of you think, “Sign me up for team Weak!” But now that we see what being named with the Strong requires of us. Maybe it would better to be counted among the weak. Welcomed to the table by the Strong, learn not to judge those who don’t hold our convictions.
But what if we realize we are those with the power and privilege in the situation?
Is the call really to disempower ourselves in order to empower others? To live in this new relationship to power?
And then, how might we discern how we are those with power and privilege? How might be be more aware of the way power dynamics work in our favour and against others we think of as “them.” ...
And, finally, HOW ARE WE TO LIVE LIKE THIS?
Well, back to the prayers Paul prays in these chapters… God does this. God is the One who can enable siblings who have deeply held differences live in peace and to welcome one another to the table… and to receive the welcome when it’s extended to us.
5 May the God of endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude toward each other, similar to Christ Jesus’ attitude. 6 That way you can glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ together with one voice.
Romans 15:7–9 (CEB)
7 So welcome each other, in the same way that Christ also welcomed you, for God’s glory. 8 I’m saying that Christ became a servant of those who are circumcised for the sake of God’s truth, in order to confirm the promises given to the ancestors, 9 and so that the Gentiles could glorify God for his mercy.
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in faith so that you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.