March 8, 2007

Romans 2:12-24
12All who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God's sight, but the doers of the law who will be justified. 14When Gentiles, who do not possess the law, do instinctively what the law requires, these, though not having the law, are a law to themselves. 15They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own conscience also bears witness; and their conflicting thoughts will accuse or perhaps excuse them 16on the day when, according to my gospel, God, through Jesus Christ, will judge the secret thoughts of all.

17But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast of your relation to God 18and know his will and determine what is best because you are instructed in the law, 19and if you are sure that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth, 21you, then, that teach others, will you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? 22You that forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You that abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23You that boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? 24For, as it is written, "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."

In this season of Lent, which calls us to self-reflection and repentance, this selection from Paul’s second letter to the Romans is particularly apt. Paul tells the Romans, “For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God's sight, but the doers of the law who will be justified.” Knowing what we ought to do is the easy part. Doing it is the hard part. The challenge is to act as God would have us act and Lent is the time to reflect on how close we have come to meeting that challenge in the past and how we can improve ourselves in the future . I believe that it is in the everyday interactions with our families and others—what I call the “little things,”—where we often fall short of the standards of goodness God sets for us. There is relatively little chance any of us will murder, rob, rape, commit mayhem, steal, sell drugs or do anything that would qualify us to serve major jail time. We do what we know we ought to do on the big things. But what about the little things? How often do we take people for granted—families, friends, co-workers? How often do we say or do mean and unkind things—to families, strangers, co-workers? How many good deeds—shopping for a shut-in neighbor or friend---do we put off or just never do? How often should we act –by standing up for someone that is being hurt mentally or emotionally—but say nothing? Doing what we ought to do is easy when it is convenient, comfortable, fits in with our schedule, and poses no chance of embarrassment. The challenge is to do right when it is uncomfortable or doesn’t fit in your schedule, when it requires that you seek out another person, or make a special trip, or go out of your way to do it, or when you’re tired and would prefer to ignore things altogether. When we do good in those situations we can truly consider ourselves to be “the does of the law who will be justified.”