Proper 6 Year A

Lectionary reflections - Year A
Ordinary Time
Proper 6

Exodus 19.2–8a
Romans 5.1–8
Matthew 9.35—10.8

Christians know that, through the work of God in Christ, made real to them by the Holy Spirit, the world is a different place. We are, to use Paul’s characteristic phrase, ‘justified by faith’, through no merit or action on our part. But what does that feel like, and what does it mean?

In chapter 4, Paul has given a long and complex theological explanation of ‘justification by faith’, and how this is not a new departure in God’s relations with us, but is characteristic of all God’s dealings with us. Now Paul turns from abstract to concrete. So you are justified by faith. What does that feel like? According to Paul, it feels like the end of a war. We are now at peace with God. It is easy to think of peace
as an inner state of quietude, but that can’t be what Paul is talking about, if you read the next few verses, and if you know anything about his life. Peace, for Paul, is not a feeling, but an actual change in the world. He has known what it is like to be at war with God, fighting against what he knew, at some level, was God’s work in Jesus. He has known what it was to be in an uneasy and mistrustful truce with God, when he tried to do God’s will, but failed, over and over again. Peace with God is knowing that you are on the same side as God, for ever. God has sent his ambassador, Jesus, to grant you citizenship. Whatever you do or fail to do from now on, you have rights, a
passport, that signals that you are at peace with God’s kingdom...

Taken from Lectionary reflections year A by Jane Williams - Published by SPCK