Contemplative Bible Reading

Romans 1:16 (New Living Translation)

16 For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile.

This is early in Paul’s letter to Christians living in Rome. Paul isn’t ashamed of what he writes. He is bold in it.

Great stuff. Right? No big deal. Let’s back up a minute and consider the situation.

There is no city on earth today in 2019 that compares to Rome in the day that Paul wrote his letter. Rome was the capitol of everything. Finance, business, entertainment, luxury, education, sophistication, and so and and so on. To live in Rome meant you were pretty darn special and everyone everywhere else envied you with good reason.

Now consider Paul. A little Jew. His people, his nation (actually his nation no longer existed as a nation. It was just a place.) was small, powerless, conquered. Jews were a bunch of conquered folks who lived out there somewhere with all the other nameless, powerless, conquered folks in the great Roman empire.

Paul was nothing.

Rome was everything.

Yet Paul wrote boldly to Romans. The good news of Christ empowered a nothing to write to everything and explain the power of Christ. The power of Christ overcomes all. It even allows a conquered Jew to boldly tell Romans about a dead Jew who is saving the world.

And so what is scaring me?