Lent 2010 #17

Romans 2:1-11 (NRSV)
Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things. You say,* 'We know that God's judgement on those who do such things is in accordance with truth.' Do you imagine, whoever you are, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, you will
escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God's righteous
judgment will be revealed. For he will repay according to each one's deeds: to those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honour and immortality, he will give eternal life; while for those who are self-seeking and who obey not the truth but wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be anguish and distress for everyone who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honour and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality.


THOUGHTS:
You might have seen the article in last week's Washington Post about the juror who failed to show up for his second day of jury duty. (Check it out at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/05/AR2010030504193.html?sub=AR) Apparently the man was summoned for jury duty, seated on a jury and then participated in the first day of the trial. On the second day of the trial, however, he failed to show up. By day three the roles had been reversed. The juror suddenly found himself in the courtroom standing before the judge as a defendant who was charged with contempt of court. The one who had been called to judge was now being judged himself.

In many ways, this was kind of role reversal is what the apostle Paul was writing about to the Romans in our text for today. Paul makes clear that "God shows no partiality". Everyone, including the Gentiles, was subject not only to God's judgment, but also to God's "glory and honor and peace". This was quite a reversal in roles. The Jews were experiencing things from the eyes of the Gentiles and the Gentiles from the eyes of the Jews.

Paul suggests that God sees both groups equally. Ancestry alone was not going to give anyone a place of honor before God. All people would be judged accordingly. All people would be in equal need of God's grace and, through Christ's death and resurrection on the cross, all people would receive that gift. Thanks be to God for God's gift of grace to all!

PRAYER:
Loving God, we give you thanks that we all come before you equally as your children. We are in need of your grace and ask that you would freely bestow it upon us. Amen.

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Thoughts by Rev. Meredith Keseley, pastor of the Lutheran Church of the Abiding Presence.

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These devotions for young adults are provided by:

Lutheran Campus Ministry at George Mason University http://www.gmu.edu/org/lutheran

Lutheran Student Association at the University of Maryland http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~lutheran/lsa/

DC Young Adults http://www.dcyoungadults.org/

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