Mothers Suffer
NL144 for May 14, 2023
The Text
Last Time on Tales of Faith
We have now progressed in the overall flow of the letter to the Romans. After in the introduction, Paul has laid out the theological claim that ‘all have sinned and fallen short of the kingdom of God’ and that God has allowed humanity to do what they want. There is a great transition from ‘them’ to ‘you,’ saying that you have no excuse judging others.
We are now in the sections on Justification through faith, and Sanctification through Christ.
Overview of Romans
Ch 1-3 Condemnation
1:1-15 Introduction
1:1-7 Salutation
1:8-15 Prayer of thanksgiving
1:16-17 The Power of the Gospel
1:18-32 The Guilt of Human Kind
1:18-23 The wrath of God is revealed against ungodliness (THEM)
1:24-32 God ‘gave THEM up’ humanity to their sinful desires
2:1-11 Therefore YOU have no excuse to judge others
2:12-3:20 Righteousness under the Law
Ch 3-4 Justification
3:21-31 Righteousness through faith
4:1-12 Example of Abraham
4:13-25 God’s promise of Justification through faith
Ch 5-8 Sanctification
5:1-11 The Results of Justification
5:12-21 Adam and Christ
6:1-14 Died with Christ and risen with him
6:15-23 Slaves to righteousness rather than sin
7:1-6 An analogy of marriage, died to law
7:7-13 Is the law sin? By no means!
7:14-25 The conflict between law and spirit
8:1-17 Life in the Spirit
8:18-30 Future glory
8:31-39 God’s love in Christ
Ch 9-11 National Section
9:1-18 Anguish over his own people
9:19-29 God shows both wrath and mercy
9:30-10:4 The stumbling block
10:5-21 The nearness of Salvation
11:1-10 Jewish rejection of the Gospel is not final
11:11-24 Gentiles have been grafted onto the tree
11:25-36 All of Israel will be saved
Ch 12-15 Practical Section
12:1-8 the new life in Christ
12:9-21 Marks of Spirit life
13:1-7 Being subject to governing authorities
13:8-10 Love one another
13:11-14 Wake up!
14:1-12 Do not judge
14:13-23 Do not cause a sibling to stumble
15:1-6 Please your neighbor
15:7-13 Welcome one another, just as Christ welcomed you
15:14-21 Reason for writing so boldly
15:22-33 Desire to visit Rome, and go on to Spain
Ch 16 Closing
16:1-16 Personal greetings
16:17-23 Final instructions
16:25-27 Final Doxology
Today’s Story
Faith, not Works: This is a good solid Protestant/Reformed perspective and will not get much direct confrontation. The first thing that we need to acknowledge, however, is the anti-Semitic/Jew-hating history of this verse. Paul’s primary context for Law is the Jewish law, but he is also including the Roman ideal of ‘law’ as well. However, in the history of the church, this has fueled the anti-Semitic and/or dispensationalist branches of theology, which have seen this verse as a polemic against the Jewish faith in general.
The early protestant thinkers held onto this theological idea (salvation through faith rather than works) especially in relation to late-medieval Catholicism, which they believed was inherently and inevitably works-based (certainly the anti-Semitic rhetoric of these thinkers is problematic as well). They saw grace through faith alone as essential to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
While modern protestants (and Catholics for that matter) would heartily agree that salvation is by faith alone, we don’t always act that way. If we’re honest, some of our siblings in Christ (and if we are really honest, some of us) are quite ready to damn fellow-believers because of their actions. This is especially the case if those actions are ‘not acceptable’ sins (e.g. sexuality, being poor, voting the wrong way, being too woke, not being woke enough, etc.) rather than ‘acceptable’ sins (e.g. adultery, idolatry, greed, white-supremacy, cheating on your taxes, hypocrisy, etc.).
Paul is clear here that the justification that a person receives is disconnected from their works (good or bad). Naming the elephant in the room (no matter what it’s trunk looks like), he claims that the Jewish person who is circumcised (along with a bunch of other Mosaic observances) and the Gentile person (who is not under those specific observances) are both justified by the same faith. Their works according to the law are not a part of the equation.
God of Jews Only?: Here we return once again to the scope of this life-changing world-changing news. The idea that the Jewish people; the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; are chosen only for themselves is refuted from the beginning. When YHWH calls Abram (Genesis 12:1-3), God promises:
I will make of you a great nation
I will bless you, and make your name great
so that you will be a blessing
I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse
in you all the families of the earth will be blessed
This blessing is never for Abra(h)am and his family alone, it is always meant to go out to the nations and families of the world. In the Abraham cycle, Jacob, and Joseph cycles of Genesis, in Exodus, Numbers, Joshua, Ruth, Samuel, Kings, etc. we see the theme of the righteous among the nations aligning themselves with this family, and being blessed through that relationship. The prophets present apocalyptic visions where all of the nations bring their treasures to Jerusalem, seeking the blessing of this people and their God.
The Hebrew Scripture is full of other gods and idols, making the claim that YHWH God is the highest of all the gods and heavenly hosts. One of the other names for YHWH is the ‘Lord of Hosts’, the God who is above all the other gods. When Elijah faces off against the prophets of Ba’al (I Kings 18), he does not doubt the existence, but the potency and power of their God. Even when the Jewish people experience defeat from other nations, instead of accepting the greater power of their enemy’s gods (as was customary), the prophets proclaimed that YHWH has allowed such defeat to teach the Jewish people a lesson, and punishment will come upon their enemies (e.g. Jeremiah 51)
Is it any surprise then that Paul claims that God is not only God of the Jewish people, but of all people? The Christian Scriptures clearly speaks to the inclusion of the gentiles into the gospel message, and Paul himself has devoted his life to such an expansion of the good news.
Justification: In the previous section, Paul has laid out the case for justification through faith. That “irrespective of the law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed” (Romans 3:21). In the intervening section, he explores the case of Abraham, who was declared righteous (“Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness” Romans 4:3/ Genesis 15:6) before he had taken on the sign of the covenant (circumcision), therefore by faith rather than by works. Paul makes the bold claim that those who are truly a part of the family of Abraham are the ones who claim the same faith, rather than lineage or law adherence (Romans 4:16-17). This justification is not an assessment of our own righteousness (which is ultimately worthless) but an imputation of the righteousness of the Living God upon us. What we call Chapter 5 of Romans begins the section on Sanctification, what we do with that Justification. This section is marked by the transition “therefore,” which assumes all that has come before, and now seeks to take the next step.
Peace with God through Christ: The results of this Justification is a new kind of relationship with God. The Book of Leviticus explores the ideas of being ritually clean and unclean, namely for the priesthood. The reason for this distinction is ultimately for the purpose of mortal humanity to have relationship with a wholly holy God. Not everyone can have such a relationship, so one nation is chosen among all of the others to be God’s covenant partners. Not everyone within that nation can have that relationship, so one tribe is chosen to represent the nation before God. Within that tribe, all cannot represent the people before God, and so some are chosen a priests, and one is chosen as the High Priest. Once a year, this High Priest would make sacrifices for his own sin, and for all the people, and enter into the Holy of Holies (the throne of YHWH) to sanctify it. This “Day of Atonement” is literally the center of the book of Leviticus, which is itself the central part of the Torah.
Torah begins with a very different picture of the relationship between God and humanity. The creation begins with humanity created as images of YHWH, and perfect garden land where they ‘walk with God.’ It is as if the rest of the Torah, Hebrew Scriptures, and (we believe) Gospel is designed to get us back to that place. Paul’s strong claim is that the righteousness of God’s own self has been revealed through Jesus Messiah, and that through faith we are not only able to become one of God’s covenant partners, but also the ability to ‘stand’ in God’s divine presence (Romans 5:2).
Boast in our Suffering: This gospel reality even redeems even those negative things that we experience. Since the suffering of Jesus has provided the opportunity for us to see and obtain grace and the righteousness of God, our own suffering can also be redemptive. He suggests a progression here, of suffering which produces endurance, endurance character, and character hope. This is a bold and counter-intuitive move. Instead of the suffering experienced in the world being an evil which must be accounted for, it is (or at least can be) ultimately a good which only appears evil.
To be sure, not everyone would be on-board with this move. Our Atheist siblings firmly believe that the suffering of humanity is either proof of either the non-existence of God, or of a God who can or does not do anything about human suffering and therefore is undeserving of honor. This is one of the reasons why Karl Marx said that Religion was the “opiate of the masses” since it causes them to endure the sufferings on earth, in the hope of a reward in heaven (an ideology which has been undoubtedly exploited by wolves within and outside of the church.
Ultimately, I think that there is a major difference between boasting in OUR sufferings, and boasting in suffering itself. I can absolutely look back at the times that I have suffered (whether because of someone else’s carelessness of maliciousness, the broken system in which we live, my own negligence or ignorance or downright stupidity, or just dumb un-luck) and because of that suffering, I have gained. However, there is a difference between my self-reflection on my own suffering, and assessment of someone else’s suffering. It may not a great pastoral move to inform someone in the midst of suffering to buck up and that their suffering produces endurance, and that endurance produces character, etc. Surely there are contexts in which this could be helpful, and a great deal more in which it would not be. Imagine saying this to someone who is dying from colon cancer, or whose child has just committed suicide, imagine saying this to the 6 year old who’s family was murdered in front of them at the Dallas Mall.
When I was in high school, a friend of mine was involved in an auto-accident where the driver, also a high school student, was killed. A car cut across multiple lanes of highway and hit my friend’s car, throwing the passenger (dying due to the impact) over into my friend's lap. The small community in the California mountains, and especially the singular high school which the deceased had been well known at, struggled with the news. I remember attending one of the big local youth group meeting where the deceased’s girlfriend spoke, sharing about his faith and claiming this ‘all things work together for good’ message. My friend who also attended the meeting, who was not a believer, and was still processing the trauma of his friend dying in his lap; did not receive this message well. He was deeply hurt by the idea that such suffering could not only be allowed but maybe even caused by God.
Can we claim that suffering produces endurance, character, and hope? By all means! In reflection on our own suffering, and to a certain extent reflection on suffering in general. However, that is not to say that all suffering necessarily does so, or that systems of suffering should be upheld.
Mothers Suffer: A particularly relevant illustration for this Sunday is the suffering of motherhood. This may be a surprise to some, but there is a major element of suffering to motherhood. It begins with suffering: the process of growing a human being is a difficult one, and many birthing persons experience all sorts of challenges, ‘morning sickness’ being only the tip of the iceberg. Vaginal birth is certainly not ponies and rainbows, and cesarean birth is not either. Once the child is external, suffering does not stop; the processes of infancy, toddlerhood, childhood, teen years, and adulthood each have their own sufferings, challenges, and even joys. Yet through this suffering, endurance, character, and hope new life is created, nurtured, and blessed to continue. Mothers endure much for the betterment of their progeny (not to mention their spouses), and that willing suffering is for the purpose of the other. In this we see a healthy and fruitful image of redemptive suffering.
While We Were Still Weak: Paul brings the conversation back to Christ, and his suffering. Just as Abraham’s righteousness was reckoned to him before his observance of the Law, so grace comes to us in our weakness. Before we are able to grapple with what this faith might be, before we have lived lives worthy of that grace, we receive it.
Dying for the Righteous: Here Paul brings up a wonderful point about the willingness and righteousness of God being displayed not only in laying down life for those who are righteous, but for those like us.
Penal Substitution: Here we should be cautious about slipping into the idea of penal substitution. That the angry God who just wants to punish for sin, and substitutes himself in that punishment. To be sure, some of our siblings, and the wider evangelical-ish western ethos is geared to hear that story. However, do we need to assume that Jesus’ suffering is the result of punishment for our sin? Again, the image of motherly love-filled suffering can be helpful. In the middle of the night when you were sick and threw up in your bed growing up, did your mom throw you a towel and tell you to clean up? No, likely not. Did her cleaning up that mess some sort of pain and suffering that she took on because of her need for validation, or because she grew up hoping against hope that she would someday be able to clean vomit off of a bunk-bed at 2:35am? Also, likely no. It is just one way that she displays how deeply she loves and cares for you as her child. Was it absolutely necessary for Jesus to die by crucifixion so that we could have this grace, or rather does the enormous suffering of Jesus on the cross shows us just how deeply God loves us, and how far the divine being is willing to go to show that love (or the righteousness of God, as Paul puts it.).
Pop Culture References
In the recent “The History of the World Part II” (Episode VIII, on Hulu), by Mel Brooks, there is a horrifically funny sketch about the council of Nicea in which a table of white priests decide to make Jesus more white, and that the Jews (rather than the Romans) should be considered the real bad guys of the New Testament. Obviously not literally historically accurate, but…
Because of the brokenness of the entertainment system, movies with healthy mothers are hard to come by, but here is one pretty good one:
Everything, Everywhere, All At Once (If you have not seen the movie, do so before you watch the scene or else a bunch of it will make no sense at all)