Pentecost 2023: Reading Romans Backwards
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 4 viewsNotes
Transcript
A Narrative Leading to Peace
A Narrative Leading to Peace
On this Pentecost Sunday, we come to the end of the top half of the cycle of the Christian calendar. The next season, sometimes called “Ordinary Time” begins a long season that will take us all the way until the Christ the King Sunday the week before Advent when we start the whole cycle over again.
Starting back at the end of November, we have traced the anticipation of Advent, celebrated the Incarnation, God made flesh at Christmas, marvelled at Jesus’ revelation of God to us throughout Epiphany and followed Him towards the Cross throughout Lent and Holy Week, leading to Easter celebration of the Resurrection and these last weeks of the Easter Season, tracing how the resurrection of Jesus led to communities of Jesus followers throughout the ancient world, established by the apostles Jesus’ commissioned to go, fueled by Peter’s vision of all people being part of what God was doing, Jewish and Gentile alike, and then tracing Paul’s mission to the Gentiles, first in Acts and then through his letter to the Romans, put into the hands of Phoebe to deliver this words to communities needing Peace.
In Romans 16, we met the community surrounding Paul in Corinth, as well as many of the people to whom this letter would be delivered.
Then in Romans 14-15 we encountered the two groups Paul is speaking to in his letter: The Strong & The Weak.
And last week, in Romans 12-13 we discovered that the call for everyone - strong, weak or otherwise, is to PEACE that looks like Jesus. Peace that is oriented to God, but not only to God, but also to the Body of Christ and not just to God and to the Body of Christ, but also to the Public. Up, with, and out!
Now this week, we back up to Romans 9-11 in which Paul addresses the Narrative that leads to the Peace these Romans Christians need. Paul reminds his readers that there is a story that grounds their lives and their faith - and that they need to reexamine that story.
What’s your story?
What story is your story grounded in?
The upward mobility story - perhaps you or your parents immigrated to Canada, looking for a better life, more opportunities, … if that’s the story you ground yourself in, everything looks like an opportunity to better oneself. And failure isn’t an option.
Or maybe you’re firmly ensconced in what some might call the “Family Values” story. Take care of your people, focus on what works for your family and fight for what they need and make sure you and yours get the best of everything.
Or maybe you resonate with the idea of improving society, of finding what is wrong with the world and the systems by which we run the world and making them better, and then improving them more, and then discovering new issues and seeking to make the world a more just or equitable place.
Or another common story these days is that of self-actualization. Discover who you really are and live your truest self.
Or maybe it’s something else?
I wonder what the narratives were that the Roman believers were getting caught up in that Paul would remind them of and invite them into the Narrative he does. But I can imagine that they might not have been all that unfamiliar. After all, we know already that the Strong had more privilege and power in society and were very likely having trouble not holding tightly to that. I mean, who wants to let go of influence and access to power? Most of us would do the very same. And the Weak, well
The Strong (Gentiles) knew the stories and laws of Rome. The Weak (Jews) knew the stories of Israel and the laws of Moses. For them all to come together as the covenant people of God, they needed to learn the same story. For the Strong, this meant learning the story of Israel. For the Weak, this meant relearning their own story as it becomes the story of the unified church.
“The story Paul tells is the symbolic universe he wants the Strong and the Weak to inhabit together. Reading Romans backwards stands along- side Paul’s reading of Israel’s history backwards—that is, reading Israel’s history in light of what happens to the people of God in Christ” (59).
Paul is inviting the Roman believers (and us!) into a Narrative - what is that story?
God chooses. God blesses. God is merciful. Thanks be to God.
READING
Becky Castle Miller: The whole section of chapters 9–11 is not about individual salvation or predestination. Rather, it is about God’s choice of redemptive agents throughout history. God has always intended a corporate salvation, the formation of a community of God’s people, and God has made surprising choices along the way about who will play the roles of redemptive work.
Abraham
6 This is what we know: the person that we used to be was crucified with him in order to get rid of the corpse that had been controlled by sin. That way we wouldn’t be slaves to sin anymore, 7 because a person who has died has been freed from sin’s power. 8 But if we died with Christ, we have faith that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ has been raised from the dead and he will never die again. Death no longer has power over him.
Isaac & Rebecca (and Jacob … whose name would become Israel)
10 Not only that, but also Rebecca conceived children with one man, our ancestor Isaac. 11 When they hadn’t been born yet and when they hadn’t yet done anything good or bad, it was shown that God’s purpose would continue because it was based on his choice. 12 It wasn’t because of what was done but because of God’s call. This was said to her: The older child will be a slave to the younger one.13 As it is written, I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.
Moses
14 So what are we going to say? Isn’t this unfair on God’s part? Absolutely not! 15 He says to Moses, I’ll have mercy on whomever I choose to have mercy, and I’ll show compassion to whomever I choose to show compassion.16 So then, it doesn’t depend on a person’s desire or effort. It depends entirely on God, who shows mercy. 17 Scripture says to Pharaoh, I have put you in this position for this very thing: so I can show my power in you and so that my name can be spread through the entire earth.18 So then, God has mercy on whomever he wants to, but he makes resistant whomever he wants to.
Then, appealing to the prophets, Hosea
25 As it says also in Hosea,
I will call “my people” those
who aren’t my people,
and the one who isn’t well loved,
I will call “loved one.”
26 And in the place where it was said to them,
“You aren’t my people,”
there they will be called
“the living God’s children.”
Isaiah (again a prophet)
27 But Isaiah cries out for Israel,
Though the number of Israel’s children
will be like the sand of the sea,
only a remaining part will be saved,
28 because the Lord does what he says
completely and quickly.
29 As Isaiah prophesied,
If the Lord of the heavenly forces
had not left descendants for us,
we would have been like Sodom,
and we would have become,
like Gomorrah.
And more Isaiah
33 As it is written:
Look! I’m putting a stumbling block in Zion,
which is a rock that offends people.
And the one who has faith in him
will not be put to shame.
Deuteronomy and then back to Isaiah
11 The scripture says, All who have faith in him won’t be put to shame.
Starting with Abraham, then with Isaac who would eventually be called Israel. And their descendants. But they would have more than biological descendants. Our merciful God would always be looking at the underdog, the second born, the left out ones and finding ways to include and re-include them.
God chooses. God blesses. God is merciful. Thanks be to God.
And it’s here that I think Paul finally says what he’s trying to get at. This is where the story leads…
12 There is no distinction between Jew and Greek, because the same Lord is Lord of all, who gives richly to all who call on him. 13 All who call on the Lord’s name will be saved.
12 So it matters not whether one is a Tribal Member or from an Outside Nation, for the same one we call Chief is the Great Spirit of all people. He pours out his treasures on all who call out to him. 13 For “anyone who calls out to our Great Spirit Chief Creator Sets Free Jesus will be set free and made whole.”
God chooses. God blesses. God is merciful. Thanks be to God.
Paul seems to think that the Jewish and Gentile believers are part of something bigger than all of them. And he’s begging them to step back and look at how God’s been “playing the long game”…
If you’re chosen, you’ve been chosen as a vessel to bring God’s blessing to others.
If you’re in need of God’s mercy, GOOD NEWS! God seems to love having mercy on those on the “outside”… the outsiders, the second born, the weak.
God chooses. God blesses. God is merciful. Thanks be to God.
In chapter 11, Paul voices the questions that they all must be asking…
1 So I ask you, has God rejected his people? Absolutely not! I’m an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.
And then Paul outlines how the inclusion of the Gentiles may yet lead to Jewish people who have not yet embraced Jesus as Messiah being saved.
He uses several images to express how there aren’t Jewish and Gentile sections of God’s family. There aren’t Jewish and Gentile trees… one tree, with branches cut off and grafted in and God a master arborist who will figure out how to graft in even the branches that have been cut off.
And Paul ends with this:
28 According to the gospel, they are enemies for your sake, but according to God’s choice, they are loved for the sake of their ancestors. 29 God’s gifts and calling can’t be taken back. 30 Once you were disobedient to God, but now you have mercy because they were disobedient. 31 In the same way, they have also been disobedient because of the mercy that you received, so now they can receive mercy too. 32 God has locked up all people in disobedience, in order to have mercy on all of them.
Did you catch that last line?
32 Creator has rounded up into one corral all who have failed to do what he wants, so that he can show his great kindness and mercy to everyone.
So here’s the story that Paul is inviting the Roman believers into… and us too.
God chooses. God blesses. God is merciful. Thanks be to God.
God chooses Abraham. And through Abraham and Sarah, we get Isaac. And through Isaac and Rebecca, we get Jacob. And Jacob is Israel. When the people Israel are enslaved in Egypt, God hears their cries and comes down … through Moses, they are led through the Red Sea and eventually into the promised land. When they are conquered and eventually exiled to Babylon, God continues to speak through all of it, through prophets like Hosea and Isaiah.
And God has mercy on people all throughout the story. Including the one who should have been overlooked. Honouring the younger in favour of the older. Including the outsider. And sometimes, the insiders turn away and become outsiders. And God shows mercy to outsiders. Brings them in. Grafts them onto the tree.
Even you and me.
God chooses. God blesses. God is merciful. Thanks be to God.
God has chosen you.
God has blessed you. (For the sake of others!)
And God is merciful.
If you’re on the margins - good news, you can be included.
If you’re already “in” … good news, your inclusion, your participation is not just about you. It’s for the sake of the whole world. God is still playing long game.
1 When Pentecost Day arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound from heaven like the howling of a fierce wind filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be individual flames of fire alighting on each one of them. 4 They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them to speak.
5 There were pious Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd gathered. They were mystified because everyone heard them speaking in their native languages.
Acts 2:14–21 (CEB)
14 Peter stood with the other eleven apostles. He raised his voice and declared, “Judeans and everyone living in Jerusalem! Know this! Listen carefully to my words! 15 These people aren’t drunk, as you suspect; after all, it’s only nine o’clock in the morning! 16 Rather, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
17 In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your young will see visions.
Your elders will dream dreams.
18 Even upon my servants, men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
19 I will cause wonders to occur in the
heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and a cloud of smoke.
20 The sun will be changed into darkness,
and the moon will be changed into blood,
before the great and spectacular day of
the Lord comes.
21 And everyone who calls on the name of the
Lord will be saved.
If God wants to show mercy and kindness to all. Perhaps that’s a good starting point for us, too. Our story of being shown mercy, or being blessed, of discovering that God has chosen us… that story transforms how we treat others. How we view their story.
God chooses. God blesses. God is merciful. Thanks be to God.
As Melanie comes to lead us in prayer, let me close with these words from poet Malcolm Guite … this is his Sonnet for Pentecost
Today we feel the wind beneath our wings
Today the hidden fountain flows and plays
Today the church draws breath at last and sings
As every flame becomes a Tongue of praise.
This is the feast of fire, air, and water
Poured out and breathed and kindled into earth.
The earth herself awakens to her maker
And is translated out of death to birth.
The right words come today in their right order
And every word spells freedom and release
Today the gospel crosses every border
All tongues are loosened by the Prince of Peace
Today the lost are found in His translation.
Whose mother tongue is Love in every nation.