Rev. George Miller
May 26, 2019
Romans 5:1-11
Who is ready to feel their age today?
How many remember the TV show “Rhoda”?
How many know that the show debuted 45 years ago?
If you recall, Rhoda Morgenstern was the BFF in the “Mary Tyler Moore Show.”
While Mary was the seemingly goody-goody girl that you wanted to be, Rhoda was the flawed, imperfect person you most likely were.
Rhoda faced real life obstacles and situations.
There’s one episode that always stayed with me. It is the one which Rhoda has finally reached her goal weight. As someone who always struggled with her eating and body image, this was a huge achievement…but it also set her into a huge tailspin and depression.
Now that Rhoda had reached her ideal weight, she had no idea what to do. It was as if her journey had come to a conclusion, and her “Happily Ever After” felt more like a dead end, with no place left to go.
Worse yet, she wasn’t sure if it had made an iota of difference or if she was any happier or better off because of it.
…what Rhoda failed to realize was that achieving her goal was not the end, but actually the beginning, and now the true journey was up ahead…
That’s at least what Paul, the author of Romans, would have said.
If you recall, Paul is writing a letter to the churches in Rome. Paul is in his mid to late 50’s. He’s lived through great highs and he’s experienced great lows, and through it all he’s kept his eyes stayed on Jesus.
The churches he’s writing to are most likely tiny congregations located in the slums of Rome in which they providing safe spaces, sharing food, and caring for the sick even when others refuse to do so.
There is another element to their story.
Many members of the Roman churches were seen as such a threat to the government that the emperor forced them out of the city, fearing their belief in Christ would stir problems.
For 5 years these church members were exiled to another land until a new ruler came in and let them come home and continue their acts of compassion, care, and worship of the Lord.
So as Paul writes his letter to the Roman churches he is aware of the issues: that they are showing kindness and compassion when others won’t, and that their brand of justice and inclusion has been punished by the authorities.
And yet they keep on keeping on, and that’s what Paul tells them to do, doing so in a way that’s steeped in his theological understanding of the Gospel.
Paul has a rather unique view of faith in Christ. He does not believe that once we come to Christ and accept Jesus that our story is over and our problems are all gone.
No- Paul believes that our faith in Jesus is just the beginning of our story, and as such there are going to be trials, tribulations, obstacles to overcome, challenges to confront, new learning curves, and opportunities for continued growth, joy, and hope.
In other words, Paul would tell Rhoda Morgenstern “Your life didn’t end the moment you reached your goal; your life has begun now that you found your goal. So live!”
Of course, Paul was not about weight loss; he was about GRACE GAIN.
Paul was writing to the Roman churches to say “Guess what- now that we found Christ, you are in a state of grace. And in that grace you are freed up to make smart choices and to do good things. But it don’t mean life will be easy, it doesn’t mean problems won’t last all night…”
“But in Christ, with Christ, through Christ- you got this!”
Or, in the words of a song Carnide has written “Now that you know, you can call on Jesus.”
What does this mean?
This means that the more we come to Christ, the more we embrace and understand Christ, the more we realize that there is nothing we can go through that Jesus would not understand or has not gone through himself.
Living paycheck to paycheck? Guess what- Jesus lived that way each and every day of his life.
Gossiped about? Guess what- no matter where Jesus went or how much good he did there were always folks forming no good words behind his back.
Ever feel deserted by the one’s closest to you? Guess what- Jesus had a whole group of friends who fled the moment he needed them the most.
Falsely accused or facing injustice? Guess what- Jesus knows what it’s like to have the authorities come and arrest him in front of his people and make false allegations.
Jesus can even relate with the women in Alabama, Georgia, Ohio and Missouri.
People filled with religious piety trying to tell you what you can or cannot do with your body?
Jesus had to constantly deal with religious leaders and authorities of his day who questioned what he did with and for his body-what we ate, when we worked and who he sat beside.
What does all this mean? It means that since Jesus lived and suffered, Jesus knows what it is like to live and to suffer, to endure, and to hope.
In other words, Jesus knows what it is like to be human.
Jesus knows what it is like to be crucified, both literally and figuratively.
But, as we know, Jesus was not gone for good. His troubles, his trials, his tribulations did not end on Calvary.
But three days later God resurrected what the world had crucified, and God turned what was meant for bad into something that was so, so good.
For us, as Christians, what this means is that our life with Christ does not end the minute we believe;
but the minute we believe is when our life really begins.
No matter what came before, no matter how good, no matter how bad, it is a life lived in Christ that becomes worth living.
But it does not mean our life is trouble free. It doesn’t mean that suffering comes to an end.
What it does mean, as expressed in the lyrics of Carnide’s song “Now that you know, you can call on Jesus.”
Now that your true life has begun, you know that if you are living pay check to paycheck you can call on Jesus, because he will understand and see you through.
Now that your true life has begun when you are gossiped about or left deserted, you can call on Jesus because he will understand and see you through.
Now that your true life has begun, when you face injustice or foolish folk telling you what you can or can’t do with your body, you can call on Jesus because he will understand and see you through.
And now that your true life has begun, when you face what seems to be a dead end or you are crucified, you can call on Jesus and see what resurrection can look like, and what resurrection can mean.
Faith and life lived in Christ does not mean everything is easy and problems and injustice are no more.
What a life lived in the crucified and resurrected Christ means is that when we fall down, we get up.
It means that we open our heart, asking God for guidance.
It means that just as a deer pants for water, we thirst for the Lord and trust that we will be fulfilled…
As Christians we are all on a journey, each and every single day.
Where do we go, what do we do, how do we act?
Do we stay down; do we get up?
Do we close ourselves off; do we open our hearts?
Until we get to our final day, our final breathe, our final goodbye, there is so much left inside of each and every one of us.
We have many rivers to cross.
Many mountains to climb.
Many valleys to walk through.
Many green pastures to lie down in.
Until we get to our final day, our final breathe, our final goodbye, we each have many crosses to bear, easter moments to experience.
Graces to give; and graces to receive.
In Christ, we will know that what we did make a difference and that we are better off because of it.
For that, we can say “Amen.”
A UCC Pastor's walk through the spiritual waters of Scripture, pop culture and life.
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