Finding hope
Romans 5.1-8
That word “Therefore…”, at the beginning of our reading, is important because it reminds us that these few verses are part of a larger and longer argument. What we should really do – but rarely do – is read the whole letter, not just a few verses. Paul is writing to the Christian church in Rome, longing for the time when he will be able to see them in person. Right back in the first chapter, he says he wants to be with them, so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.
In lockdown, many of us have been longing for contact with others. Even if we have been able to phone, Zoom or Facetime, or even stand in someone’s garden talking through the window, it is not the same. We long to be able to have relaxed conversations, to breath the same air, to shake hands or to hug. This pandemic has robbed us of the richness of healthy relationships. Whoever we are longing to be with, we can sympathise a little with Paul’s separation from Christian friends in many different places – and his desire especially to visit Rome.
But Paul is not afraid to do some straight talking, and this letter is especially renowned for its straightforward recognition that there is something in the world called sin. And if your response to that is to say, “well everyone makes mistakes”, Paul would say “yes”! That’s the point! As he says in chapter 3, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. That, is you like, is the bad news, and we might not want to hear it. But sin is like a virus, and everyone is infected. Some people will be very clearly infected – the people we might label as evil, or put in prison, or even condemn to death, if we can. But Paul says that everyone has this virus – and we shouldn’t pretend otherwise. We should beware of judging others, says Paul, which is a sin many of us will give in to. We all fall short.
Maybe in lockdown you’ve become more aware of your own shortcomings – or those of the people you live with! As a counsellor, I sometimes see people who are really struggling in their relationships with others. They are all-too-aware that people make mistakes, they know the pain of broken relationships. Trust has broken down and needs to be restored. Repairing relationships needs faith.
And if this is true in our human relationships, it is also true in our relationship with God. Nothing we can do will repair our relationship with God – except putting our faith in him, trusting him. We don’t actually need to do anything, because he has done all that is necessary. As Paul says at the end of our reading today, God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Paul summarises what God has done for us in the word “justified”; that is, he has declared us innocent, not guilty. All we need to do is to accept this – to trust God, to have faith.
I see in human relationships what damage is done when people lose faith in each other, when they can’t trust any more. Maybe your relationship with God is damaged in this way? We’re invited to trust God again – even when we know we keep doing things wrong, even when we live in a world that is struggling, even at a time of pandemic. Have faith, have hope.
Romans isn’t always easy to read, but I love the treasure chest of jewels in this passage – faith, peace, grace, hope, glory – these are the key words in the first couple of verses. Paul encourages those who are discouraged, those who feel disconnected, to trust God, to receive the peace that comes through being in relationship with him, to access his grace (which is his free, generous love), and to look forward with hope to the greater treasures which he calls the glory of God and which we are invited to share. If sin is the bad news, then this is the good news!
But, in this passage, Paul’s argument then takes a strange turn which may not seem such good news at all. And yet, especially at this time in human history, I think this is very good news at all.
It may not sound like good news when Paul invites his readers to “boast” in their “sufferings”. We all know people who like to go on about their latest aches and pains – but I don’t think that is what Paul is talking about here! It’s almost certain that he was talking about the suffering experienced by Christians who were not afraid to talk about their faith, and were persecuted for it. But I think this definition – because of what follows – can be extended to any suffering that comes about when we make positive choices, what we might call sacrifices. When we put the needs of our loved ones before our own, when we work in the NHS or in another front line role, when we volunteer to support people in our community. If any of this is hard, then we will find that we need some endurance to get through it; and this is what Paul recognises, in a developing argument. Like an athlete in training, if we are willing to increase the sacrifices we make, we will learn to endure; that, in itself, will strengthen our character; and as we grow stronger in ourselves we will have more hope for the future. Maybe knowing that suffering can lead to hope will help us when we are finding life to be a struggle at the moment.
If this was purely a human journey, we might doubt this progression, but we have already seen that our hope is linked to God’s glory; and Paul says now that hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
We are not hoping vainly that things will get better; we are hoping in God’s strength, because it is God’s plan that things will improve. The thrust of history, in God’s plan, is towards a glorious fulfilment; the Christian story is one that will have a good ending.
This may all sound very theoretical – or theological – but if you take the time to read the whole of this letter, you will see that it is also very practical. Knowing that we can be right with God, knowing that our sufferings are not meaningless, knowing that there is something to look forward to, all of this motivates us to live lives that are worthwhile, here and now. Knowing our own need of God can make us more tolerant of others; knowing Jesus’s sacrifice for us can lead us to sacrifice more for those in need; having hope can inspire us to be bearers of hope in the world. Paul will go on in this letter to say that nothing can separate us from the love of God; may our trust in our heavenly Father also encourage us to trust and to love one another.