|
Against all this work of parsing people out, Paul to the Romans here calls us on the carpet, and does so by comparing us to a holy God, “There is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (verse 23)
It is here that our habit of distinguishing people from one another ends. It is here that it is made painfully clear. Though we may have our differences here on earth, those differences don’t make a difference to God. A footnote to this passage in the Lutheran Study Bible says it this way: “Sinners draw distinctions between people, but God does not.” Standing before this glorious God, one would not be able to tell the difference between us, for we all look the same, covered head-to-toe in the same sin-soiled rags.
Thankfully, verse 23 ends with a comma, not a period, and verse 24 finishes with a much more joyous thought, “and [we] are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (verse 24)
Ironically, in the same way that we are indistinguishable as sinners, we are also indistinguishable as the redeemed. This act of justification completed at the cross by Christ is for all. John says it this way: “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2)
Ours is a God who makes no distinctions. Just as we are all sinners in the face of a glorious God, so are we all justified and redeemed in the light of a loving Savior. Just as our differences cannot cover up our shared sinful state, so, too, our different sins cannot separate us from our share in the redemption that is ours in Christ Jesus.
Much has been rightfully said lately about the moment the Church finds itself in, given recent events. Allow me to share one more brief thought: In a world divided, we are unified. In a world that loves to make distinctions between people, we can present ourselves as one people, one body, one Church, full of members of whom God has made no distinction. We can show ourselves to the world as those who claim these two key traits: sullied sinners who have fallen short of God’s glory; redeemed recipients of God’s grace through faith, nonetheless.
Allow me to share one brief story that illustrates this.
Last weekend (September 25-29), several Crean Lutheran staff members, thirty of our students, and I joined a group of students and staff from Orange Lutheran High School in what has become an annual fall tradition. Together we journeyed to Bishop, CA, for what we call NART (Native American Reservation Trip). Together, we served the Paiute Native American Tribe, the community of Bishop, and the larger Owens Valley in various ways (cleaning and repainting roofs, working in soup kitchens, building fences, to name a few). Together each night, we joined in worship, study of God’s Word, and fellowship as we celebrated what unifies us. Students from both schools made many new friendships and deeper connections; staff from both schools joined in camaraderie that comes with a shared joy of working with high school students.
Our final night together could not have made this clearer. After our usual time of worship and small group discussion, the chaperones were having our nightly pre-bedtime meeting, when we noticed that the students were not done worshipping. Together, without prompting from us, the entire group of students from Crean Lutheran and Orange Lutheran was joined outside our meeting tent around a fireplace, literally shoulder-to-shoulder, singing worship songs. One of the Orange Lutheran leaders remarked the next morning: “You wouldn’t have been able to tell it was two different schools.”
Typically, we talk about the lessons, programs, and opportunities we educators put together to teach our students. We rarely talk about the moments when the students are teaching us. This was one of those moments. The students joined together, leading each other in singing praise and thanksgiving to Jesus, were unknowingly preaching a sermon to us chaperones that night; that with God, there is no Crean Lutheran Saint nor Orange Lutheran Lancer, no young or old, no rich or poor, but only one body of redeemed people, presenting themselves unified to the world.
Until Jesus returns for the final judgment, when we, righteous and redeemed, are distinguished from the rest, may we all follow those students’ example. Amen
| 
