Exploring the Scripture

These few sentences in today’s lection are a fitting way to start the season of Lent. For Christians, this is the time we are called to reflect deeply on our life’s practices and how those practices affect the gospel promise set before us.

After elaborating extensively in the previous chapters on the failings (sins) of normal human life, Paul now shares a message of hope, of redemption that is near. If only we would realize it in our hearts and dare to speak aloud that Jesus is our Savior.

Unfortunately, we, too, often are blind to the harm we do to others and all creation. Our eyes need to be opened. Our hearts need to feel the pain in our world, like Jesus felt the pain in his world. We need to be reminded to see the world as God sees it. Also, some people see the pain they have caused, which shames them. It brings them to a dark place full of guilt. They feel unworthy in the eyes of God and society. For both, there is hope, resurrection, and salvation.

When? We do not have a clear answer. But it is not far away, as the first sentence of the text alludes to.

How? By confessing, meaning believing with your entire being that Jesus is God’s Word, Jesus is the One to follow, Jesus is resurrected, and we have the promise of resurrection and new life. Paul’s use of mouth and heart suggests that there is more than simply a verbal expression of our belief in Jesus’s redeeming grace. We must internalize that belief in our entire being, to the core of who we are. This will change how we live and express the Christ in us.

Lent invites us to reflect on our practices. We especially focus on deeply set beliefs and convictions we are not fully aware of but have internalized throughout our lives. They guide and justify what we do daily. Paul’s struggle with the Jewish belief in us versus them, Jews versus Greeks, clean versus unclean, reminds us that in our beliefs or understandings we have unconscious practices contrary to God’s redeeming work.

Paul is direct. God’s grace is for all. Salvation is for all. Thus, we need to assess how we affect others, so they do not believe they are unworthy. Also, we are called to assess how our day-to-day practices justify how others live unexamined lives. Do we walk the talk?

Lent is a time of examination. Paul’s message is not to linger on our sinfulness, but to see the hope of new life and resurrection.

Project Zion Podcast

Hosts Karin Peter and Blake Smith consider how this week's scripture connects to our lives today.

LISTEN

Central Ideas

1. There is hope in confessing our individual and collective failings or sins.
2. The hope of salvation is for everyone, regardless of our background or whether we feel worthy.
3. The promise of redemption and salvation is not in the faraway future, but near.

Questions to Consider

1. When have you felt unworthy? Who have you been close to who felt that way? What brought redemption in your or their lives?
2. What acts of kindness can you or the congregation do, even if they contradict public opinion?
3. What practice has been difficult for you to confess and change?
4. How will you use the season of Lent to examine your life as a disciple?
5. What hope do you have for the congregation and its ministries?