6th Sunday after Pentecost, July 20, 2014

The Epistle

Romans 8:12-25: So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Reflections:  Yet another rich reading for St. Paul’s last, most theologically mature letter. God’s call to us is highly personal. Deep within us, our spirit yearns for God, for unity with Christ—this is who we are. So much of popular ideas of salvation—drawing on the writings of St. Paul—seems highly individualistic. My faith, my salvation.

But Paul teaches us here that while the journey into Christ is intimate, it isn’t just a me-and-Jesus thing. From the most intimate and personal, Christ at our deepest center opens into the universal. The whole of creation finds the fulfillment of its purpose in our union with Christ. This suggests that, despite all Paul’s rhetoric about “the world” and “the spirit,” we human beings are not saved from the world; rather, we are saved in creation, and with it.