Morning Devotion for the Season after Pentecost
June 13, 2022
The Invitatory
Send out your light and your truth, that they may lead me, and bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.
The earth is the Lord’s for he made it: Come let us adore him.
Reading: Romans 1:1-15
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,
To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world. For God, whom I serve with my spirit by announcing the gospel of his Son, is my witness that without ceasing I remember you always in my prayers, asking that by God’s will I may somehow at last succeed in coming to you. For I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as I have among the rest of the Gentiles. I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish — hence my eagerness to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
Meditation: Jo Ann B. Jones
When we write letters of introduction, we may or may not know much about the recipient, so we generally fall back on carefully chosen phrases and a set manner of introduction. Rarely do we go so far as to take on positions forcefully until we have established rapport with the recipient of our correspondence. Unless, of course, if our letter is to the editor of a newspaper. But that is not Paul’s audience in Rome. Paul is writing to Gentiles, though there are some Jews among the recipients. We cannot know how much they know and understand of Christianity. Nonetheless, Paul begins this correspondence with both barrels blazing! One can only imagine how overpowering this opening is. It strikes me as very powerful, but in a bracing, reassuring and hopeful way.
But these verses raise as many questions as they answer: What is “the gospel”? What is “the power of God”? What does “the righteousness of God” mean, how does the gospel reveal it, and what does all this have to do with faith?
Before all else, the gospel is about God: what God has done in sending God’s son and what God has done in raising Jesus from the dead. This gospel is mirrored in the human sphere. Because the story is one of God’s faithfulness to Christ, God’s people are now defined as those who are faithful to the resurrected Christ.
What Paul proclaims is part of a larger story. It is an act of God previously promised in scripture. First, it addresses God keeping faith with us. Subsequently, the gospel is about our faith toward God. The promise of this message that Paul proclaims to the Romans is that Jesus Christ is the son of God on account of his resurrection. The gospel, then, is not the human response to the Christ event, but the Christ event itself.
Paul’s undertaking is to bring about “obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for his name’s sake.” His mission is to encourage obedience that flows from faith. The inclusion of the Gentiles is a crucial statement in Paul’s message. Human obedience to God must be as broad as Jesus’ lordship. It is not enough for God to save Israel, as fulfillment of God’s promise in scripture; instead, both Gentiles and Jews must live into the new reality that has begun with Jesus’ resurrection. In Paul’s mind this is the “power of God unto salvation.” Paul expects that God’s people live lives of resurrection power, now, by the Holy Spirit. This power is available to all who believe. Finally, the gospel proclaims the righteousness of God, that is, that God has kept his promise to his people. This is the greatest encouragement to God’s people and the means by which God’s people live faithfully. God’s faithfulness must then be met with a human response of faith. This is the charge to which Jesus has called Paul, to call forth the obedience of faith among the Gentiles.
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
