Tuesday • 3/7/2023 •
Week of 2 Lent
This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 61; Psalm 62; Jeremiah 2:1–13; Romans 1:16–25; John 4:43–54
This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 13 (“A Song of Praise,” BCP, p. 90); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (“A Song to the Lamb,” Revelation 4:11; 5:9–10, 13, BCP, p. 93)
Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we draw insights from that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you. This is Tuesday of the second week of Epiphany, as we prepare for Holy Week, and we are in Year 1 of the Daily Office Lectionary.
Romans 1:16–17 sets forth a truth that cannot be heralded enough: In Christ, we receive the gift of a righteousness that comes “from God” and is given to us “by faith.” This is a glorious salvation, says Paul, that is “from faith to faith” (Romans 1:17). It is from Christ’s faith in the Father’s promise to accept his obedience in place of ours (see Romans 5:12-21) to our receiving that gift with the open heart of receptive, obedient trust (what Paul calls the “obedience of faith”—see Romans 1:5; 16:26).
In Romans 1:18–3:20, There’s an obstacle, Paul explains, that must be overcome in order for us to enjoy the benefits of this gift of righteousness, this glorious salvation. That obstacle is the fact that we have, as the BCP puts it, “fallen into sin and become subject to evil and death” (p. 362). Paul wants us to know how desperate our situation is so we can appreciate how wonderful it is that God responds, in his infinite mercy, by sending Jesus Christ, his “only and eternal Son, to share our human nature, to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us to [him], the God and Father of all” (again, BCP, p. 362).
Image: "miserere" by Mitchell Haindfield is licensed under CC BY 2.0
“Therefore God gave them over…” — Romans 1:24 (NET). The most sobering words that the great Anglican lay theologian C. S. Lewis ever wrote are these: “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done’” (The Great Divorce). Paul views the entire human race as falling into that second category, and as needing to be moved into the first.
We have made the tragic choice of denying what we know about God—that is, that he is the Creator who has made us for the joyful task of reflecting his glory into the world. Instead, we have presumed a self-made glory, cultivated hearts of ingratitude rather than thankfulness, and worshiped the creation rather than the Creator (Romans 1:18–23).
We’ve declared, in effect, that we want God to leave us alone! Accordingly and chillingly, God gives us what we’ve demanded. Not just once, but three times, Paul says it: “And God gave them over….” (Romans 1:24,26,28). In Romans 1:24–25, God gives us humans over to the impure and unworthy desires of our hearts. In Romans 1:26–28 (verses which the Daily Lectionary delicately skips over), God gives us humans over to use our bodies in ways that do not reflect his design for us as sexual beings. He lets us follow our desires into disobedient choices. In Romans 1:28–32 (from tomorrow’s reading), God gives us over to develop patterns of thinking that rationalize our wayward wants and lamentable choices. It’s all pretty close to Thomas Cranmer’s formulation (I paraphrase): “What we want, we choose. And what we choose, we justify.”
Happily, Paul is not writing to describe God’s final verdict. He’s writing to show the vast chasm between what we deserve (total and utter wrathful judgment) and what we receive (unspeakable love, grace, and mercy). He writes to make us cry out, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner!” He writes to make us all the more grateful for the fact that God has made himself known to us in the merciful, all-suffering Jesus.
What Paul aims for in Romans, this, his most expansive explanation of the gospel, is how, “from faith to faith,” God recasts our affections (“the love of God is poured out in our hearts”), redirects our wills (“so now present your members as slaves to righteousness”), and renews our minds (“by the renewal of your minds”—Romans 5:5; 6:19; 12:2). God’s aim is that we may bear anew the image of his dear Son (Romans 8:29), our Elder Brother and the Champion of our Salvation. That’s a pretty fantastic lesson for Lent.
Be blessed this day,
Reggie Kidd+