Devotion • November 14
Today's Scripture
Romans 15:7–13
Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles, and sing praises to your name”; and again he says, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people”; and again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him”; and again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles shall hope.”
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. (NRSV)
Reflection
The book of Romans contains Paul’s epistles, addressed to the early Christian congregation in Rome, which was composed predominantly of Gentiles but also of Jews.
Paul, a devout Jew and Pharisee, was not one of the twelve disciples of Jesus and openly criticized and persecuted followers of Christ, because they strayed from Jewish traditions. It was after Jesus’ death that Paul’s conversion to Christianity happened, on the road to Damascus, when Christ appeared to Paul in a vision.
It’s after his conversion that Paul becomes the representative of Christ to the Gentiles.
In Romans 15:7–11, Paul’s instruction focuses upon welcoming them into the fold.
In Judaism, circumcision was a rite performed on male infants as a sign of the covenant between God and God’s people. In his epistle, Paul is linking the circumcised, or the Jewish followers, with the Gentiles, or the non-Jews, through their acceptance and belief in God’s truth, Jesus the Christ.
How bold and off-putting a concept that must have been to the Jews and the Gentiles, who, historically, due to their differing religious beliefs and practices, preferred their own company.
Now they are building the Christian church together?
Was this notion of working together made more credible somehow since it was prophesied in Isaiah that the descendant of Jesse, who would be Jesus, would build a kingdom on earth that would include the Gentiles?
In the twenty-first century, aren’t we still alienated by our differences, which hinder our capacity for finding common ground?
Did those early Christians have a sense of the magnitude of what they were going to build together, in accordance with God’s plan?
Do we modern-day Christians lose sight of the fact that we’re still kingdom-building and still part of God’s plan?
Finally, Paul tells us that hope lives in the work of the Holy Spirit.
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.
Prayer
Holy God, open my eyes to others and renew my spirit. Bless my work to your glory, and sustain my hope, so that I may become an instrument of your kingdom-building here on earth. Amen.
Written by Holly O’Mara, Member of Fourth Presbyterian Church
Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church
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