Proper 16 / Pentecost 14 / OT 21
Devotional
Water From the Well
Lectionary Devotional For Cycle A
Object:
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God -- what is good and acceptable and perfect.
-- Romans 12:2
Many commentators suggest that, with Romans 12, Paul turned to the subject of ethics. While this is true, it would be a mistake to not keep in mind the connection with the prior theological argument in which Paul explored the mystery of God by which both Jew and Gentile would be reconciled as the one people of God. Because the emperor Claudius had expelled the Jews from Rome in 49 CE, the leadership of the church had fallen upon the Gentile Christians who had remained. A few years later, the Jewish Christians returned to find Gentiles in charge. It is in this context that Paul said, "For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned." It was easy for Jews to claim that since Jesus was a Jew and the faith had come from Judaism, Gentiles were of a lesser quality. It was equally easy for Gentiles to claim that since the majority of Jews had rejected Jesus as the Christ, the Gentiles were now the favored of God. Paul had just shown how the mercy of God in the face of the disobedience of both groups had opened the possibility of a reconciled world. Instead of jockeying for position within the community, they were called upon to follow Christ and "present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."
The lesson for both Judaism and the church in these verses is that instead of competing with one another we are of the same body, but we have different functions. Consider the challenge to the world that would be made by these currently two distinct faiths recognizing that "we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us...." This same truth might guide our different denominations and local competing churches in relating to each other. Is it possible that in the mystery of God's plan, there is a proper function for conservative and liberal, liturgical and free churches in the one purpose of God? "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God -- what is good and acceptable and perfect."
-- Romans 12:2
Many commentators suggest that, with Romans 12, Paul turned to the subject of ethics. While this is true, it would be a mistake to not keep in mind the connection with the prior theological argument in which Paul explored the mystery of God by which both Jew and Gentile would be reconciled as the one people of God. Because the emperor Claudius had expelled the Jews from Rome in 49 CE, the leadership of the church had fallen upon the Gentile Christians who had remained. A few years later, the Jewish Christians returned to find Gentiles in charge. It is in this context that Paul said, "For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned." It was easy for Jews to claim that since Jesus was a Jew and the faith had come from Judaism, Gentiles were of a lesser quality. It was equally easy for Gentiles to claim that since the majority of Jews had rejected Jesus as the Christ, the Gentiles were now the favored of God. Paul had just shown how the mercy of God in the face of the disobedience of both groups had opened the possibility of a reconciled world. Instead of jockeying for position within the community, they were called upon to follow Christ and "present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."
The lesson for both Judaism and the church in these verses is that instead of competing with one another we are of the same body, but we have different functions. Consider the challenge to the world that would be made by these currently two distinct faiths recognizing that "we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us...." This same truth might guide our different denominations and local competing churches in relating to each other. Is it possible that in the mystery of God's plan, there is a proper function for conservative and liberal, liturgical and free churches in the one purpose of God? "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God -- what is good and acceptable and perfect."
