It seems
strange at first to write about gratitude with these last few chapters of Romans. Strange, because Paul refers explicitly to
gratitude or thankfulness only one time in this section. After guilt and grace, is this just a
shameless attempt to shoehorn one more ‘g’ word into the series?
No, it
isn’t. While the word ‘gratitude’ is not
used much, it is hard to deny that the humor and temper of the Christian life
which Paul describes is aptly characterized by the word gratitude.
Consider
this request, which comes from an 18th century Christian hymn: “In
this posture, let me live, and hosannas daily give; in this temper let me die,
and hosannas ever cry.”
Which
posture? Which temper?
Consider
also this verse from Romans 15:18: “For I will not venture to speak of anything
except what Christ has accomplished through me to win obedience from the
Gentiles, by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of
the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and as far around as Illyricum I have
fully proclaimed the good news of Christ.”
What strikes
me first about this passage is this: Paul is satisfied. It is enough.
How surprising to consider what strikes me next: the restless,
dissatisfaction with staying still.
Winning obedience, proclaiming – working – spreading the good news of
Christ from Jerusalem to Illyricum – modern day Croatia and Bosnia: this is
what Paul’s life is about.
What a
strange brew of satisfaction and dissatisfaction, of restfulness and
restlessness! The activity is fueled by
a deep rest in the love of Jesus. Jesus
describes it in the Gospel of John, the night before his death:
“Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice;
you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy…So you have pain now; but
I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your
joy from you. On that day you will ask
nothing of me.” (John 16:20-23)
Many
pleasures of life cost a lot of money.
When we enjoy them, we can’t entirely escape pangs of guilt: “I don’t
deserve this. A lot of people can’t
afford this.” The joy of new life is
much sweeter. We deserved death. Christ’s sacrifice and new life brings joy to
the deepest darkness of our lives. Every
room of our sin-sick hearts is fumigated.
Observe the
many marks of the restless restfulness of gratitude in Romans 12-16: “Bless
those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with
those who weep.” (12:14-15) “Beloved,
never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God.” (12:19) “Welcome those who are weak in faith…”
(14:1) “We who are strong ought to put up
with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.” (15:1) “Welcome one another, therefore, just as
Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” (15:7) And finally this line – “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in
believing, so that you may abound in
hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Have you ever been too full from a big lunch? You don’t exactly abound, do you? But in God’s
logic, to be full is to abound, to overflow.
That’s exactly what the Holy Spirit does within us.
Each of
these lines (and many more) suggests Paul has cast aside whatever ambitions he
had before. In Christ, the only ambition
that remains is love: love for God, and as we can see in chapter 16, love for
people. I count 17 uses of the word
‘greet’ in Romans 16:1-16. 17 greetings
in 16 verses – now that’s a life of gratitude.
Paul knows people. He’s
comfortable with them. He gets to know
them. But he yearns for them. He prays for them. He thinks about them when they’re apart. He burns in his heart for them to grow in the
Lord.
“For I will
not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me
to win obedience from the Gentiles.”
In the end,
it is right to come back to this word – gratitude. Jesus had said, “On that day, you will ask
nothing of me.” We know why this
is. This is the vivid sense of all God
has done, that God has given us far more in Christ crucified than we ever would
have dared to ask. What more could we
ask? In such moments, our laziness and
complacency burn away. Our gratitude
overflows – abounds – into the life
of love God meant for us – the life of love Paul describes in these last
chapters of Romans.
No comments:
Post a Comment