Sunday, October 29, 2023

Today’s Scripture Reading
Romans 3:19–28

Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For “no human being will be justified in his sight” by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus. Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By that of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law. (NRSV)

Reflection

I wonder whether most people think of Christianity as a big, heavy guilt trip. I guess I am thinking a lot about young adults who have grown up in times when the urge toward liberation, toward free expression, toward liberty in so many ways, have taken religious legalities to the cleaners. There is little patience and even an outright resistance to the rules and regulations of faith. And you know what? This overreach of rules, of absolutes, of keeping the masses in place. was, ironically, the seedbed of the Reformation.

The church in the sixteenth century had become a powerhouse of rules and regulations. Indulgences – that is ways to buy your way into eternity – were running fast and loose in church communities. Somewhat like the flip side contemporary prosperity gospel, where one gives oneself to God and then waits for rewards to come, the indulgences were giving tons to God and the reward would come in the sweet by-and-by.

But in both of these expressions, the initiative and ordering is done by the church, leaders, interpretations of God’s activity that go sour. Guilt trips, law first, control, doctrine, all add up to “what?” on the part of those who seek release and the generosity of the gospel.

Here’s the essence of the Reformation: “For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

The justification of our life, yes, life itself does not come from landing on us some moral absolute. You cannot buy your way to heaven through actions. Sorry, but even if that is a message you have heard it isn’t the core of the gospel. The justification of our life is a free gift. Jesus’ gift of grace that washes over us, that gives us freedom beyond all that holds us, haunts us, holds us.

Paul Tillich, in a famous sermon, used these words: “Sometimes ... a wave of light breaks into our darkness, and it is as though a voice were saying: ‘You are accepted. You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you, and the name of which you do not know. Do not ask for the name now; perhaps you will find it later. Do not try to do anything now; perhaps later you will do much. Do not seek for anything; do not perform anything; do not intend anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted.’"

This is the gift of grace. And it may just be the toughest gift to ever accept, because it asks nothing of us and everything of us. It asks that we keep the door of our very life open to see it, and it asks that we step through that door to be met with God’s joy by our arrival. Zero guilt. Zero indulgences. Zero harm. And all our heart, mind, soul, spirit. What wondrous love is this?

Prayer
Reform us to the core, O God. Meet us in the sanctuary of our life, and free us to receive the amazing grace of Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

Written by Lucy Forster-Smith, Senior Associate Pastor

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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