Rom 1:1-7
Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus,called to be an Apostle and set apart for the Gospel of God,which he promised previously through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,the Gospel about his Son, descended from David according to the flesh, but established as Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness through resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.Through him we have received the grace of apostleship, to bring about the obedience of faith,for the sake of his name, among all the Gentiles,among whom are you also, who are called to belong to Jesus Christ;to all the beloved of God in Rome, called to be holy.Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Gospel
Lk 11:29-32
While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them,“This generation is an evil generation;it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it,except the sign of Jonah.Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites,so will the Son of Man be to this generation.At the judgment the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generationand she will condemn them,because she came from the ends of the earthto hear the wisdom of Solomon,and there is something greater than Solomon here.At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it,because at the preaching of Jonah they repented,and there is something greater than Jonah here.”
Meditation: Romans 1:1-7
This is the beginning of a letter.
Paul uses the format standard in his day, but from the start he makes it his own. Instead of offering impersonal “greetings,” he wishes his readers “grace” and God’s peace (Romans 1:7).
In Romans, Paul was writing to a community he did not found and had not visited. Still, he knew a lot about it from people like Priscilla and Aquila, whom he met in Corinth. Along with other Jews, this couple was forced to leave Rome by an edict of the emperor Claudius. A contemporary historian says they were expelled over a dispute about a certain “Chrestus,” perhaps tension in the synagogue between those who regarded Jesus as Messiah and those who did not.
Paul hoped eventually to visit the church in Rome, but he had a task to complete first. He had collected offerings from other churches for the mother church in Jerusalem, which was beset by famine. It was his intention to travel to Rome after his mission to Jerusalem. He wanted to meet these believers and enlist their support for a proposed missionary journey to Spain. However, there was a shadow over these plans. Prophets kept warning Paul he would encounter serious opposition in Jerusalem. In fact, we learn from the Book of Acts that the way Paul eventually got to Rome was as a prisoner, not as a pastor.
We all write letters, though not all are as formal as this one. We stick encouraging notes in someone’s lunchbox; we e-mail news, questions, admonitions, and congratulations. Sometimes we write a more formal letter of sympathy or thanks. Like Paul in these introductory verses, our letters try to answer three questions: Who am I, the writer? (Paul calls himself “a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle.”) Who are you, the reader? (Paul addresses them as “the beloved of God … called to be holy, called to belong to Jesus Christ.”) And what does God want me to say to you?
Let’s keep these questions before us as we reach out to others in writing—or in any other way we can reach out.
”Lord Jesus, Word of God, fill my mind with your love so that what I write brings life to the people around me.”
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