THIS BLOG PROVIDES A MEDITATION ON THE EPISCOPAL DAILY READING ALONG WITH A HEADLINE FROM WORLD NEWS:

BIB LADEN’S SON-IN-LAW ARRESTED IN JORDAN BY USA

Suleiman Abu Ghaith

Romans 6:1-11

6What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? 2By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? 3Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. 7For whoever has died is freed from sin. 8But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Paul has described the crucifixion of Jesus as the price God-and- Jesus pay to buy back humanity from the powers of evil. That sees the process of God’s rescue from the outside, as if humanity was merely an element in a supernatural transaction. Here Paul describes God’s rescue from the inside. Drawn by trust a person unites his life with Jesus’ life. Because he is still attached to evil his life is turned inwards, in fear and selfishness, but now with Jesus he is asked to take the path of the cross, no longer protecting himself and grabbing what advantage he can, but opening himself to others and to the death which no-one can avoid. Paul calls this process “dying with Messiah”. It’s a journey which none of us would make alone but which we become bold enough to start in company with Jesus, that is as a believer in company with other believers. Paul adds that in this process our old self dies and our new self is born. In his life and death, Jesus was completely dead to selfishness and self-protection but in his resurrection life he is completely alive to God. United with him we too can be alive to God even in this present life on earth.

St. Peter-“crucified with Christ”

“Dying with Messiah” is of course a metaphor for a spiritual transformation. Except in very extreme circumstances-such as persecution- believers are not asked to be martyrs. But no-one should underestimate the pain involved in this transformation. Practical love of neighbour, for example, makes demands on our patience, understanding, imagination, time and resources that stretch our characters. When we put our trust in God and the Christian community we may sometimes feel betrayed.

At the same time we become aware that none of us need undergo the extremity of Jesus’ suffering. He has done that for us. He “died to sin”, once for all. Only One has had to pioneer the journey into utter darkness alone. Now every suffering human being can trust that in her own journeys of sorrow, she is never alone. Correspondingly the resurrection, the “being alive to God” has already been made visible in the lives of believers, giving confidence to others that the transformation does not end in darkness.

Believers may have to open themselves painfully to neighbours but the great deed of love has already been done; they may struggle desperately against a particular evil but the great victory has already been won; by God, in Messiah Jesus. George Herbert, the 17th century English poet, expressed this memorably:

“Love is that liquor sweet and most divine
which my God feels as blood
but I, as wine.”

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