By Steve Hall
It is highly dissonant to speak of crucifixion and life in the same breath. The very idea that the worst could affect the most wondrous is at best counterintuitive and at worst nonsense. Yet that is the Gospel that Paul is not ashamed to preach.
Tuesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
Romans 1:16-25
Luke 11:37-41
Today’s reading from Romans is the beginning of Paul’s teaching in, this, his longest letter. There were, of course, opening remarks, but with verse sixteen, the letter turns to instruction.
“I am not ashamed of the Gospel.”
What a dramatic opening line!
We today may feel awkward or uncomfortable talking about the Gospel, and that is primarily because we are reserved about the possibility of offending others. But ashamed! No way. The Gospel is about truth, peace, love, inspired teaching, and the life of Jesus. Why would anyone be ashamed? If Paul were to answer, he would point to the vulgar, disgusting, ignominious, humiliating, degrading debasement of the cross. Actually, he wouldn’t have to because crucifixion was well known throughout the Roman world. It was a useful way to keep order. Those who suffered its torments were designated the lowest of the low and/or enemies of Rome.
It is highly dissonant to speak of crucifixion and life in the same breath. The very idea that the worst could affect the most wondrous is at best counterintuitive and at worst nonsense. Yet that is the Gospel that Paul is not ashamed to preach.
The Gospel is not just a story of the life of Jesus; it is a testament to the fact that eternal life is now within our grasp. But that fact is directly related to one harrowing fact that precedes it: Jesus was crucified. It is also directly associated with a second fact, one that is intimately bound up with the first. In short: Jesus was crucified, he died on the cross, he rose again on the third day, thereby demonstrating that he had conquered death, and now, because of this, we may have eternal life.
If that’s not power, nothing is.
There is nothing new here. But it is helpful to remind ourselves that these truths are at the core of our faith and in affirming them, we too are given the power to conquer death.