That Verse – Paul 7

This can be listened to here

Gate Pa – Year A  22^nd  Sunday of Ordinary Time,

Readings:

Psalm                          Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26,44                                            

First Reading:             Exodus 3:1-15                     

Second Reading:        Romans 12:9-21                 

Gospel:                        Matthew 16:21-28 

What I want to say:

I want to wrestle with Romans 1:26 which on the face of it condemns homosexuality. I want to look at what Paul might really have been saying as an example of how to keep working with Paul.

What I want to happen:

I want people to be more informed and imaginative in how they approach scripture

The Sermon

      1.     Introduction:

A few years ago I was at a friend’s wedding way down south

at after match function sitting with group – some knew vaguely

            some just met

somehow we got talking about homosexuality and gay marriage

            as you do

some were for and some against

one person said – “what do you do with that verse in Paul??

I vaguely knew what I would do

but only vaguely

at wedding – fun

not deep and meaningful conversations about homosexuality

life is serious enough at best times

so I slid sideways and joined another conversation.

but that question has stayed with me

what do I do with that verse in Paul

that verse being Romans 1:26 and 27

which says

“For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, ²⁷and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error.”

often quoted in discussion about homosexuality

God is clearly against it.

so given everything I have said for the last 6 sermons on Paul and his letter to the churches in Rome

what do I do with it?

       2.     Who is Paul?

first up – want to say that this letter was written by a person

Paul

for a particular group of people at a particular time for a particular purpose.

important –

God didn’t write this

sure Holy Spirit was involved

and Holy Spirit is involved with us as we read it

still written by a person – not God

and I am allowed to disagree with that person

            lots of people disagreed with Paul at the time

            lots have down the years.

       3.     Wrestle Not Ignore

some of you might be shocked with that statement

suggesting that we do exactly what Paul did to his scripture – Torah, (The Law of Moses) History Books, Psalms, Prophets and wisdom literature

as we have seen – Paul wrestles with it

As I said last week – rabbinic tradition said that Torah was like 70 sided jewel

fully appreciate it community needed to look at it from all 70 sides

no one way of reading it

so they would discuss the law deeply

            not to get the right answers

            but to more fully appreciate it beauty and all it offered

which Paul does with radical conclusions

-         you can be followers of one true God

-         belong to new people of God

-         not be a Jew

-         not follow torah

too often with these kinds of passages we take the easier route and dismiss Paul as relic of past and of no help to us today.

Bible is our book

sits in our centre shaping our life as people of God

it is our responsibility to wrestle with it and not ignore it.

following Paul’s example – let’s wrestle

       4.     Wrestling with Paul

what does it mean to wrestle

it means taking seriously the people, places and culture that Paul was writing out of and into

and taking seriously where that verse sits in Pauls letter

so let’s start with the social context

as we do that we can ask “is Paul talking about homosexuality as we understand it? and what does he have to say to our situation?

When I was at university I did classical studies for awhile

one things remember was marriage arrangements

men and women got married

but sex within marriages was seen as only for children

deemed rude for men to bother their wives for any other sex

for that they looked outside of marriage – to other men

-         to temple prostitutes

-         etc.….

Paul writing out Greek social connect where men on men sex was a norm

occurred outside of marriage

so that wives were not having to deal with these needs

not what we are talking about today

Roman context slightly different

            there common people with slaves and servants

force slaves and servants to have sex with them

            today we would call this sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and rape

again – not same as what we are talking about today.

       5.     The letter

so what does Paul say then in the letter

when we read passages like this it is important

to put it back where it came from

read that verse with all the verses that go before it and after it

just like we would any other book

remember

Paul is writing to churches in Rome

-         torah following church

-         not torah following  church

both think they have the truth and look down on the other.

offering way work together – 1:16-17 – all about faithfulness of God to covenant

renew creation

restore humanity.

begins said that this first few chapters setting out problem

problem being idolatry introduced by Adam and Eve

worship false gods

Paul and Romans lived in world surrounded by statues to gods

in roman empire – statues of emperor god

            amazing how many titles Paul and John in revelation apply to Jesus

            are titles come from emperor worship

so subversive and treasonous

put up across the empire remind everyone who was in charge

all were to give thanks to, to worship, the god emperor

where were statutes God put up to remind us to worship the true God

we are

we are living statues

because we forgot who we were

because we worshipped idols made in our image instead

bad stuff happens

so this is all pretty standard stuff within Judaism

as are next bits

leads some wondering whether these are Pauls thoughts

or if he is quoting what Jewish Christians in Rome would have said

begins with warning signs

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among themselves, ²⁵because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever! Amen.

26 For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions… - verses we are talking.

often stop there as if that is the point Paul was making

But wait there is more

goes on with the real issues –

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind and to things that should not be done. ²⁹They were filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, ³⁰slanderers, God-haters,^* insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious towards parents, ³¹foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. ³²They know God’s decree, that those who practise such things deserve to die—yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practise them.

what is Paul doing here?

setting a trap

because this is exactly how torah following Christians in Rome would have seen the non torah following Christians

just as many evangelical Christians see some of us more liberal Christians

if we are honest

but Paul does not stop

goes on and says

“Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgement on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things.”

Just when non torah following Christians thought Paul seems to be siding with the torah following Christians

and torah following Christians think Paul has suddenly become their ally

snaps jaws of his trap shut with them all inside.

Paul isn’t condemning any one group of people at this point

describing problem with us all

and all creation

so that he can fully describe the wonder of what God’s faithfulness in Jesus has done

in breaking power death which holds us all.

       6.     Conclusion

 what would I say today if I were at that wedding

Paul did say that – but let’s look at what he said

don’t know that I agree with him

a.     I don’t think what we are talking about today and what Paul was talking about are the same thing at all

in fact using Paul suggest that his real concern was that people were being unfaithful in their marriages

what he is doing is describing how that happened in his world

not saying homosexuality in itself is wrong

if anything, we can say that Paul would want homosexuals

to live faithful life long relationships with one person

-         set high expectations for these things

b.     that before we use Romans to judge and condemn others as sinful in God’s sights

need realise that in doing so Paul says we are judging ourselves

that we – like all those we condemn – deserve death.

bit strong

get his point

don’t judge

that is God’s job

c.      instead look to God’s faithfulness

know covenant fulfilled

live it – as we said last week

and as he says in the last 3 ½ chapters.