The Golden Rule?

Romans 12:9-21  

“Is this just a long-winded way of saying we should obey the Golden Rule?” was the question that started our conversation at the roundtable this week. We read through these verses and found a lot to agree with. It’s about peace, it’s about love, it’s about acceptance. Cool. Yes, we were a little bemused by the part about heaping burning coals on our enemies’ heads, but we found reasonable explanations for how we should understand the intention. When someone treats you badly, it is still best to treat them with compassion. When we do, we might even find that our actions have a softening effect on them.

Then, the more we talked about this particular verse, the more we became aware of what this passage is really asking us to do. Paul is asking Christians to be the light that the world wants to snuff out. Return evil with good; return hostility with hospitality; return curses with blessing.

The key to understanding these words is to realize that we are being asked to extend Christian love to people who actively seek to cause us harm. While all of it might be contained in the Golden Rule, it certainly causes us to consider it more deeply than just a saying we would stitch into a needlepoint pillow. And when we think about what is involved in living these words, we quickly see it is more complicated and difficult than we thought before.

Our thoughts turned to the recent protests and counter-protests around the topics of racism and white supremacy, in particular. Our nation reveres the value of free speech, but when speech turns to violence it is no longer free. And when things turn violent, it raises the question: should violence be met with more violence? Or nonviolent resistance?

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” When is it possible? We would not all draw the line in the same place. One of the loosely-organized groups that showed up in Charlottesville is Antifa. The name is short for anti-fascists, and they exist to fight fascism and racism wherever they might be, using violence if necessary. Unsurprisingly, they often find it necessary.

Antifa members have taken on the task of defending peaceful anti-racism demonstrators. When armed Klansmen or Nazis show up, Antifa members are the ones to step between them and their targets. At the Charlottesville protests, clergy of all denominations came together to form a nonviolent resistance to the white supremacist protestors – to be the light that the world wants to snuff out. For much of the day they were the targets of nothing more than verbal abuse and some shoving. But later in the afternoon the white supremacists turned violent, and Antifa intervened, giving counter-protestors a chance to disperse. As one clergy member put it, “That’s when Antifa saved our lives.”

A couple of weeks later the same groups showed up in Berkeley, California. Signs were seen that read “Avenge Charlottesville.” Video showed Antifa members attacking and beating a man, rather too vigorously to be called a defensive action.

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” There is a part of me that would like to remove the first clause of this sentence and leave it at, “As far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” That would be ever-so-much simpler to interpret. But determining what is possible? That is a much longer conversation.

photo credit: By Original work by US government, scanned by Wing-Chi Poon - Scanned, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4578869

Working On It

Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, so they have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy. For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.

A young woman who was active in my campus ministry group some years ago, had a delightful way of dealing with adversity. After describing some setback, disappointment, or loss, she would say “In a way, I’m glad it happened.” Then she would proceed to tell me why: some lesson learned. Some surprise benefit found. Some alternative route discovered. Megan would find the silver lining in every cloud that came her way.

I think about Megan a lot when I think about what we do with problems that we don’t know what to do with. There are some big ones out there. We have white supremacists running around with torches and guns and vehicular weapons. We have a loose wingnut in North Korea threatening nuclear war. Is there any silver lining to be found?

No one can find the silver lining for another – it is up to each one of us to determine if there is any upside or purpose to the difficulties we face. Some trials do have hidden joys; others are simply to be endured with perseverance and hope.

I don’t think Paul’s grappling with the question of the Jews is a simple matter of finding the upside. For Paul, there was no upside, really. His agony is written all over the pages of these chapters of Romans. He cannot believe that there is any way to salvation outside of Jesus Christ, but neither can he believe that God would abandon God’s people and the promises made to them.

Yet he has a strong belief that God works through all the stuff of this world and these broken people. While Dr. King said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,” Paul said, “All things work together for good for those who love God.” God works through it all and God is good.

So, Paul hypothesizes, perhaps it was necessary for the Jews to reject Jesus so the gospel could be taken to the Gentiles. This is a temporary thing, Paul believes. In time, God will bring all people – all of creation – into the fold.

It is a comforting notion, that God is working through it. No matter how abandoned we might feel, God is working through it. No matter how topsy-turvy things might seem, God is working through it – I don’t know how, but God is working through it.

But let’s not miss one essential piece. God might be working through it by working through us. Paul is not giving his readers license to shrug off a problem because God is in control. On the contrary, this is a command to be a part of what God is doing. Our trust in God is lived in the confidence that we might work alongside God, knowing that God will guide us in the right way.

God’s gifts and calling are irrevocable. God’s promises are true. God will not let us down.

photo: By Eric Kilby from USA - Silver LiningUploaded by Partyzan_XXI, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8311839

The Beauty in Brokenness

Romans 10:5-15    Moses writes concerning the righteousness that comes from the law, that “the person who does these things will live by them.” But the righteousness that comes from faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.”

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

The passage we face this week is a hard one. That is the first thing my lectionary commentary tells me when I open the book. Thank you, lectionary commentary, you are correct.

I leaned heavily on the commentary and the footnotes to understand what Paul was doing in these verses. He quotes heavily from the Old Testament law and prophets, and sprinkles in some Christian interpretation along the way. He is engaging with the texts in a creative way, keeping it lively, keeping us on our toes along with him. It is a dance of interpretation. Paul is trying to make the case that, while it is not necessary for the gentile believers to follow the law of Israel, the people of Israel, for whom the law is grace – blessing, along with the glory, the covenant, and the promises.

“For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him.” (10:12)

It is true, then. We are all broken, every one of us. We are all in need of the mercy and grace of God.

My hope, then, is that we can see our brokenness, finding our sameness with our neighbors rather than our differences. My hope is that we understand that denying our brokenness will not magically make us whole. My hope is that we can look right through our pain and understand that it is our common humanity to have flaws, to be hurt as well as cause hurt. My hope is that we can see how malleable we are, that we can be shaped by the evil that is done to us as much as by the goodness we encounter, and that the goodness will evermore crush the evil, shaping us for good.

My hope is that this seeing will sustain our hope.

Photo credit: “Leg Warmers” – Harvey Edwards