Who are you? Yesterday our congregation began a Lenten series called “Reading Romans at the Holy Cross.” That title prompts a mental picture, someone with Bible in hand, specifically Romans, looking at Jesus on the cross. Jesus looks back and what does He say? “What do you do for a living?” “Who’s your pick for March Madness?” “How are the kids doing?” Hardly. In front of someone dying, much that occupies us is trivial. In front of God’s Son suffering on the cross in our place, there comes this question from Jesus, Who are you that I’m dying in your place?
Reading Romans is reading about who you truly are. Our histories shape us. I asked a seminarian how old he was on 9-11, and he answered, “Eleven.” My own view of the world was more shaped by the Kennedy assassination, Viet Nam, the Seminex controversy in our denomination, and recently 9-11. And what about your personal history? Marriage, divorce, death of a child, abuse, addiction? And what if you had been born a century ago on a different continent? If you believe evolution, your identity is chance. Then you’re as significant as a ping-pong ball. Reading Romans with Jesus looking at you can lead to knowing who you truly are.
Maybe our Lenten discipline shouldn’t be giving up something but taking something on, like reading Romans. “We remind ourselves daily of our true identity by reading core Scriptures that tell the truth about who we are. We are God’s beloved—no matter what!” (Stephen W. Smith, “The Lazarus Life,” 150). That’s what one of many passages from Romans teaches us. “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:16-17).
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