Give These Folks A Hug For Me

Saturday of the 31st week in course 2023

Saint Paul wrote his letter to the Church at Rome during his lengthy stay with the Church of Corinth, so this happened late in his third and final missionary journey. Today we are offered a delightful look into Paul’s life, as he lists, one after another, friends and coworkers that the Romans might work or pray with in Rome. He uses a tongue-twister word that we usually see in English as “greet.” But in this case, it’s closer to the underlying meaning to say, “give these folks a hug for me.” At least that’s how we might say it in Texas.

But Paul is ever the preacher, the theologian. He–and we–know what Paul is always about. It’s proclaiming Jesus as Messiah and Lord. So right at the end of the letter, he does something we frequently find in his letters to the churches. Paul reminds his readers of their obligation to God, the “obedience of faith.” And he summarizes his whole gospel in just a few words, ending with a doxology–a prayer of praise to “the only wise God [the Father] through Jesus Christ.” You know, maybe we should end all of our emails this day in the same way. “Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised.” So sings the psalmist.

Sometimes when we read the Gospel of Luke, which, remember, is really the Gospel of St. Paul, we stumble when we see Jesus advising us how to “use unrighteous mammon,” or money. So it helps to read the whole passage and find a clarifying verse. In this case, we see “you cannot serve God and mammon” followed by a comment that the Pharisees were lovers of money, which they often obtained by cheating the poor. These people scoffed at Jesus’s teaching. Jesus, in turn, does a little scoffing of the Pharisees: “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts; for what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” So that first command is directed toward disciples who may find themselves in possession of wealth, maybe an inheritance or commission, that had some evil attached. What do you do with that property?

Consider Zaccheaeus, the chief tax collector in Jericho, who had by graft or another unlawful means, become rich. And he probably had invested the proceeds from his tax farming in other questionable activities. His repentance involved a fourfold restitution of anything he had unjustly taken. And when he was through with that, he gave half of the remainder to the care of the poor. Jesus heard this, and declared that salvation had come to the tax man’s house.

So if we find ourselves with questionable property, what do we do? If we can determine who was the loser in the transaction, we have a duty to return the property with an apology and maybe even some interest. If we can’t determine who lost, then there are plenty of charities that serve the poor in housing, food, education and employment who will gladly receive the asset. Jesus and His disciple, Paul, set a reasonable standard of our own discipleship. We can do nothing to improve on their teaching and example.