In 2011, I took a trip down to
Atlanta, Georgia. I went with a group of people and the reason for going to
experience or become familiar with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the
civil rights movement. It was a powerful experience to say the least. We
visited the home that he grew up in, several of the churches that he preached
in; Most notably, Ebenezer where he was the pastor. And, we visited several
places in Birmingham, Alabama which at the time had earned the name Bombingham
because of the 16th Street Baptist church in which 3 young girls
died. Again, it was powerful to say the least. I was so moved that it put
confusion and questions in my head.
Today’s reading of Romans can put
questions in our head or may have us feeling a little baffled. To set the
scene; Claudius expelled the Jews and the Jewish Christians in 49 A.D. after
Claudius died the Jews and Jewish Christians came back to find that their
churches were inhabited by Gentile Christians. So, there was tension in and
amongst the churches (which never happens today!). Paul is writing this letter
to try and bring them all together. He is trying to heal the divisions and,
hopefully, unite the churches in a common ministry; and, in this letter Paul
writes of his understanding and experiences of who he believes God is and what
our relationship with God is.
In the fifth chapter that we read
today, Paul speaks of justification. It is a difficult topic in some ways, but
not for Paul. Paul has always been quite open about his life before Christ, his
conversion, and his life after meeting Christ. He is open about how he would
persecute those who refused to adhere to the law…you know…that thing that makes
us unclean in the eyes of God. The law that convicts us when we fall short of
the glory of God. OR, as I said last week, when we eat something, wear some
clothing, etc. Paul is quite open about seeking those people out and bringing
them to HIS form of justice to pay the price.
Paul is also, in his letters, quite
open about how he became a slave for Christ. He speaks of how he fell and was
blinded, how he heard the words “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” AND he
heard God’s word to get up, go, and speak of the wondrous things that God has
done.
With those things in mind, we find
Paul now speaking about our relationship with God in the world. He speaks of
boasting in our suffering because suffering “produces endurance which leads to
character, and then hope – a side note that this might be where some people get
the notion that either A) God doesn’t give you any more than you can handle. Or
B) It must be God’s will that I
suffer – both of which are not true!
What Paul is
saying is that all of that leads to Hope. Hope is the most important element in
that whole string of characters. It is important because it leads us to the
understanding that Hope leads us to the love of God. Meaning, when we fall
short of God’s glory, we live in the hope that God will forgive us for whatever
it is that we have done. We lean on the hope of God’s promises of love and
forgiveness. We hear the stories from God’s Son, Jesus Christ, that God is a
loving God, a merciful God, and a forgiving God. So, when we meet those times
of sin and brokenness, we lean on hope that God is all those things that Jesus
said.
Many times,
we think about what we need to do to get back in God’s good graces. We might
say or promise God we will do things, “if you just forgive me God, I promise I
will do Blank!” That is another area where we get caught up in hope. We hope we
are the ones that can make all this right again. We hope we are the ones that
hold all that power to make God want us again.
The truth is
that it is God who holds all that power! God holds the power of making things
right. It is the God who shows the lengths that God will go to show us hope and
love! God is the one who will go looking for us when we wander off, God is the
one who will throw the party when we are found, God is the one who will come
running out to us (like in the prodigal son) when we have come back home!
That is what
hope looks like! Imagine God running out to greet you or finding you and
welcoming you with open arms? That is hope. But it is not the only hope. The
greatest power of God’s forgiveness and hope is shown to us in the cross upon
which his son will go. God’s Son, Jesus Christ goes to the cross for us…for you
and me. That hope that we have in being forgiven is shown to us in the dying of
Jesus on the cross. Jesus suffers on the cross so that we see and experience,
not the hope, but the new REALITY of being forgiven, for being loved by a God
who will go to any lengths for us. Even to the point of the crucifixion of
God’s Son, Jesus.
It is
because of Christ on the cross that the promise of forgiveness does come. It is
because of the cross that the hope of forgiveness is realized and now
present…AND we are made right with God…we are justified as God’s beloved
children. It is because of that hope and this new reality that Christ on the
cross…God’s justification is not just to be kept to ourselves. Jesus died on
the cross for all of us; and so, we are called to share that Good News with
others. Share the hope and promises that we have learned about and experienced
to our brothers and sisters in the world.
When I came
back from the Atlanta trip, I was feeling a little hopeless. I looked around
and saw so much brokenness. I spoke to a colleague who told me to “go looking
for that hope! It is in front of you and all around. Focus on the cross and
then you will see it through random acts of kindness and being with people you
may never have imagined.”
He was right. I did start looking
around. I looked at myself and the mistakes that I had made in the past. I saw
the times that I hoped and leaned on God’s forgiveness. Whenever I heard the
words Institution of Communion I heard more pronounced Jesus saying those
specific words, “For you.” I started looking around and saw the hope of the
cross in friends of other denominations meeting at the cross and working
together. I see that hope in providing food for families that are in need. I
see that hope in random acts of kindness; and, I see that hope sitting with our
youngest (and oldest) disciples and listening to where they see God in this
world. I see the hope among friends and family with whom I might disagree on
some things but rallying together around the love of God…and working together
to make God’s love known in the world.
Again, it is in this Good Friday
cross where this hope begins. It is because of this loving God whose Son goes
to the cross where this hope begins; is poured out in the spilling of his blood
and the breaking of his body that we now live in this reality of forgiveness,
hope, and love.
So, this
week, focus on the cross. Take in all that it means: Hope, forgiveness, mercy,
and our new reality of being loved by God; and share it with someone you may
not have expected to share it with: AMEN!
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