Friday • 3/5/2021
Week of 2 Lent

This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 69:1–23(24-30)31–38); Jeremiah 5:1–9; Romans 2:25–3:18 (and Saturday’s Romans 3:19–31); John 5:30–47

This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 10 (“The Second Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 55:6–11; BCP, p. 86); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9–10, 13, BCP, p. 93)

The devastating truth towards which Paul has been driving since Romans 1:18 is that all of us—no exceptions—are “under the power of sin” (Romans 3:9). Some of us sin “with the law (awareness of the Law in the Old Testament),” in which case the law clarifies our sin. Some of us sin “without the law (without knowledge of Old Testament law),” in which case our own consciences tell us much of what the law would have told us anyway. Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female, fill-in-this-identity-marker, fill-in-that-identity-marker. It doesn’t matter. The entire human experience is one loud verification of the Eucharistic Prayer’s confession: “…we had fallen into sin and become subject to evil and death” (BCP, p. 362). 

Paul wants us to take a good look at our hearts, and view ourselves under the harsh light of honest, difficult truths. Beating a lethal disease, only to lose your soul to the more deeply fatal sickness of sin is no victory. Personal effort to help build a perfect society, only to succumb to the inner rot of envy, rage, pride, or lust is no accomplishment, either. As Jesus said, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28 NIV), and “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (Mark 8:36 NIV). 

The reason Paul confronts us with the bad news of our sinfulness is because he wishes to comfort us with the good news of God’s provision. The God who loves us has done something about our iniquitous condition! (Which, of course, is what Paul had earlier declared as his purpose in Romans 1:16–17.) It’s brilliant. We just have to stay with him long enough to get here. And be honest about the way that Paul’s indictment holds the mirror up to each of us—again, no exceptions. 

What we are ready to see, if only we have been able to see ourselves through the lens of Paul’s indictment, is: 

God set forth redemption. “…through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood…” — Romans 3:24. “Redemption” means purchase price. The phrase “sacrifice (or place) of atonement” here translates a single word in the Greek: hilastērion (literally, “place of laughter”), and it was used in the Old Testament to refer to the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies. Older translations render the term “propitiation,” and here in Romans it refers to Jesus’s self-offering as being a covering for our sin, the means by which God’s displeasure with our sinfulness gives way to his delight in extending us forgiveness and welcome. 

“...the righteousness of God (which is attested by the law and the prophets) has been disclosed...” — Romans 3:21 (NET).  It’s a story long in the telling. God gave us a picture of it when he covered Adam and Eve’s nakedness with animal skins in the Garden (Genesis 3). God gave us a picture of it when he told Abraham to sacrifice the ram as a substitute for Isaac (Genesis 22). God gave us a picture of it when he provided the blood of Passover lambs to cause the angel of death to pass over the Israelite homes during the tenth plague in Egypt (Exodus 12). God gave us a picture of it when he covered and forgave David’s sins of adultery and murder (Psalm 32:1–2; see Romans 4:7–8). Year after year, God gave the children of Israel a picture of it when, on the Day of Atonement, blood would be sprinkled on the mercy seat (Leviticus 16). During all those years, asserts Paul, God “God in his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed” (Romans 3:25 NET). And it all culminated in Christ himself becoming the mercy seat, offering his innocent blood on the cross of Calvary as a perfect sacrifice for sinners. 

That redemption is free to us. “…for all who believe… they are now justified by his grace as a gift… For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works” — Romans 3:22,24,28. No one has to be good enough, rich enough, talented enough, smart enough, “in” enough, of the right lineage or social class or racial make-up to obtain this redemption. All anyone has to do is open their heart to God, and receive the free gift he offers. Period. Full stop. Exclamation point!

God’s redemption reconciles seeming opposites. Law and grace come together in God’s being just (he upholds his own justice) and justifier (he extends grace, mercy, and forgiveness to us—Romans 3:26). 

Furthermore, Paul wants us to know that the gospel shows how Jew and Gentile have one God: “Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one; and he will justify the circumcised on the ground of faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith” (Romans 3:29–30). There isn’t one tribal deity for one set of people, and a different tribal deity for another set of people. The hope of life for every person is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And, because we all come from and give account to one God, we can treat each person as precious bearers of his image. Because of what Paul is teaching here—the bad news about our sinfulness and the good news about redemption—Christians can be a reconciling, peacemaking, and truthful presence in a world of strife, confusion, and incoherence. 

Be blessed this day,

Reggie Kidd+

Image: Mercy Seat, Illustrator of Henry Davenport Northrop's 'Treasures of the Bible', 1894, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons