There are many wonderful texts from the Bible.
There are texts from the Bible that inspire.
There are texts from the Bible that bring to the eye, a tear.
There are those texts from the Bible that answer so clearly our questions of life that we suddenly feel the presence and power of God with such reality.
Our Scripture reading from Romans is none of the above. It is not a wonderful, much beloved passage. Few have probably said "My whole life changed that night in a hotel room when I picked up a Gideon’s Bible and turned to Romans 16:1 and read, "Say hello to Mary."
Do not feel guilty if during the course of reading this text, you did not feel inspiration, or emotion, or some spiritual insight.
I suppose that the best way to describe this text is to simply say that this is boring stuff.
But I believe what the Bible says about itself in 2 Timothy 3:16, when it says, "All Scripture is God-inspired and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness."
Now if we really believe that ALL Scripture is inspired by God, then we must believe that even those texts that ON THE SURFACE seem mundane, must have a great deal to teach us.
And yes, there are portions of the Bible that ON THE SURFACE may seem somewhat "dull."
After all, take a look at what we read. Romans 16 is nothing more than a LIST, and what could be more mundane and more boring than a list?
I can remember when I was in the 9th or 10th grade, I decided to read through the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation.
I did pretty well at first.
There’s the creation of the universe, sex, murder, the flood that wipes out everyone but Noah’s family.
Then came chapter 10....
Gen 10:1-3
1 This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons, who themselves had sons after the flood.
2 The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras.
3 The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah.
(NIV)
That’s it. Dead stop for me.
Page 12, and only a 1,219 more to go and I’m finished. Can’t make it through the list.
A few months latter, I’d rededicate myself to the goal of reading through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and I’d start once again at Genesis chapter 1 verse 1. And again, I’d do fine, until Page 12.
Gen 10:6-7
6 The sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put and Canaan.
7 The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.
(NIV)
This pattern repeated itself over and over until finally one day I realized, "Hey, I could skip this part." So I did and I found there were lots of things in the Bible that were interesting -- none of the interesting things were lists, however.
I come to Romans 16 and I think, "Oh man, not another list with a lot of hard to pronounce names."
Paul says hello to Priscalla and Aquila. Say hello to Mary. Say hello to Rufus. Say hello to Asyncritus, Phiegon, Hermes, Patrobas, ...
This is like a roll call in a class. How many of you have had this experience. You are in a class and you’ve got one of those teachers who feel it’s important to call the roll. And so the teacher begins calling out a list of names. You wait for your name to be called, and as you do, your mind begins to drift.
Then suddenly, you realize the teacher has stopped calling out names.
You look up, and everyone, including the teacher, is looking at you.
Your name was called, but you were not paying attention, you missed it.
Roll calls are like that. Boring. They put us to sleep.
And Romans 16 is almost like a roll call...
Say hello to Urbanus, and Apelles, and Julia.
It’s like reading the phone book.
David Letterman, on his late night television show, has a rather unusual sense of humor. Several years ago, someone on his staff took a survey and discovered that in the entire city of Bangor, Maine, not one single person was watching his show. In a silly effort to encourage the residents of Bangor, Maine to watch his show, each night for a week or two, David Letterman would pull out the telephone directory from Bangor, Maine, and he would read about a half dozen names.
Smith, David R.
Smith, David T.
Smith, David and Julia
Smith, Mr. and Mrs. E.R.
He did that as a joke of course. After all, what could be more boring than reading the phone book?
And yet, I’ll let you in on a secret. Every time I go to a new town on a trip, and after I’ve settled into the motel and I’m relaxing from the long drive or the plane flight, I pull out the phone book and look to see, if by some wild chance, to see if there is a person named Pittendreigh in the town.
My name is so unusual, that I don’t often succeed in finding it. In fact, it has only happened once that I have seen my last name in a phone book.
Visiting New York City, out of the millions of people there, there was listed: Pittendreigh, George A.
After a moment’s hesitation, I called Pittendreigh, George A. I introduced myself and we chatted for a few minutes about our unusual name, and sharing the names of our fathers and grandfathers, we tried in vain to find a common ancestor.
Sometimes, the phone book is not so boring.
Sometimes, a list of names can be rather interesting.
Today we are honoring our high school graduating class of 2003. The list in this church is short, but I’ve attended my son’s high school graduation, and a few of the graduations of our church members. Those are long, long roll calls.
But among all those names, there is always one you are waiting for – so you listen. Because it is not just a roll call, or a list of names. These are lives that are graduating one thing, and commencing something new.
Sometimes a list is more than a list.
A few years ago, a new memorial was built in this nation. We have so many memorials already. The Jefferson Memorial, the Washington Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Memorial to the Unknown Soldier.
And a few years ago, there was another memorial built. And when it was unveiled, it was criticized.
One columnist wrote, "Who wants to visit this memorial, after all, it’s just a list of names. Thousands of names. It’s like reading a -- phone book!"
But these names were names of Soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War and who never returned.
And this memorial that is simply a list of names is now one of the most frequently visited memorials in the nation.
On any given day you see people visiting that list, that memorial. You might see a disabled veteran staring up from his wheel chair at the names of those friends he left behind.
A man lifts a child, and points to a name of an uncle the child never met.
A woman reaches out and touches a name of her husband.
An elderly man reaches out to touch the list, running his fingers down and across the list of names until he comes to one -- and his finger stops.
It is his son.
Sometimes, a list is emotional, and powerful, and filled with meaning.
You see, it all depends on what, or who, is behind the list. Names printed in a phone book are not that interesting, names chiseled into a granite memorial are dull -- until you connect a person to the name. And then the name becomes alive. And the list becomes interesting.
And the same is true with this list from Romans. It is boring, as long as they are simply names. But begin to understand the people behind these names, breathe life into these names, and the list becomes interesting.
I’m sure you don’t recall the names on the list from Romans 16, but if you were to read it again, you would find on this list a husband and wife, Aquilla and Priscilla.
There is a man and his mother, Rufus and his mother.
There is a brother and sister, Andronicus and Junias.
There are sisters, Tryphaena and Tryphosa.
There is an old man,
There is a single man,
There is a single woman,
There are men and there are women.
In fact one of the women is referred to as an apostle whose conversion preceded Paul’s.
There are names which imply wealth. And there are names that were common for slaves.
It may well be that this is the most inclusive, multi-cultural, ethnically diverse gathering of people to be found in Scripture.
A mildly interesting list.
But not for Paul, it is not mildly interesting. It is vitally interesting.
And it is not a list.
Don’t call it a list.
It is the church.
Paul says to say hello to Tryphaena and Tryphosa. Two sisters, their names mean “dainty” and “delicate.” Sounds like twins, don’t they -- Tryphaena and Tryphosa. I bet they always went places dressed alike.
Reminds me of two people in a church I served in South Carolina -- Reba and Ruth. One tall, one short, both in there 70’s, but both always dressed alike. I had a hard time learning to tell them apart.
At the end of each week’s service, I’d say, "hello Ruth," and she would look at me and say, "No, I’m Reba." Then the next week, I’d greet one of them with, "Hello Reba," and she would say,
"No, I’m Ruth."
It took me a month to catch on. You see it didn’t matter if I was right or wrong, the sister I was addressing would always claim to be the other one.
The whole church was in on it. And it totally confused me. To this day, I have to stop and think, is it Reba, or Ruth.
Oh, by the way, don’t get any ideas about how to treat your next pastor!
Tryphaena and Tryphosa. I wonder if they played that same joke on Paul that Reba and Ruth had played on me.
Paul says to say hello to Aquilla and Priscilla. Paul had met them when he was setting up the church at Corinth and they became missionaries with Paul, going with him to Ephesus. Now-- years later, this husband and wife team are still hard at work for the Lord. This time in Rome.
You know people like that -- husbands and wife teams -- both always at work for the Lord. I don’t know anyone named Aquilla and Priscilla, but I do know other folks just like that.
They go by names such as Barney and Martha. Or Frank and Elizabeth. I’ve met them in every church. I’ve met them here.
Say hello to Stachys, says Paul. An interesting name. It means "an ear of corn." Farm boy I bet. The kind who never goes anywhere without wearing bib overalls.
Reminds me of Bill Wilson. It would always make his wife Etrulia so angry, because every Sunday she felt like he ought to dress up to go to church, but there he’d be in his bib overalls. One Sunday, she put her foot down. She insisted that he wear a coat and tie. So he went to the closet and pulled out a coat and tie that were 20 years out of style, put them on and went to Church. There he was on the front pew. Wearing his tie, his coat, and his bib overalls.
Say hello to Stacys, "ear of corn."
And then, on the very same line, Paul says, "say hello to Urbane.” Urbane, the Greek word from which we get our English word for urban. It means "city bred" and I bet he was. Someone who would feel uncomfortable outside of Metropolitan Rome. Someone who can’t stop thinking about work, who today would carry a pocket recorder for dictation in one pocket, and a cellular phone in the other.
When I was attending Seminary in Atlanta, I was invited to attend a men’s prayer breakfast. When it came time to close the meeting, one of the businessmen stood and offered a prayer.
It was good prayer. It was a COMPLETE prayer. It was a very, LONG prayer. And I guess this man forgot where he was. I guess he forgot to whom he was speaking. I guess his mind had begun to wander back to the office, because instead of ending it, "in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen," he ended it with, "sign it, yours very truly, W.T. Martin."
And yet, there they are, listed side by side in Paul’s letter. Urbane and Stachys. Side by side, one in bib overalls with his mind on milking the cows, the other in a three piece suit with his thoughts on giving dictation. What a contrast.
Such different people. Not much in common. From Rome, from Corinth, from Persia.
Slave and free.
Rich and Poor.
Young and old.
Married and single.
City slicker and country bumpkin.
Not much in common.
Nothing in common.
Except one thing. They do have ONE thing in common.
Jesus Christ and his church.
It is the one thing that unites them. The church of Jesus Christ.
Of all the things that separate them, it is Jesus Christ who brings them together.
Of all the varied interests and concerns they have, it is Jesus Christ who is their only common interest.
Of all the differences they have, it is Jesus Christ they agree on.
When your name is put on a membership roll, your name it is not simply on a LIST,
But you become a part of each other. A part of the church. With all the differences you may have, it is Jesus who unites you.
I met a man a while back who made a significant change in his career. He is a Methodist minister, and he had always served as an associate pastor in churches in the metro Atlanta area. Then one day, he decided to take a completely different kind of ministry, and to work with some of the poorer, smaller churches in the Appalachian mountains of Virginia. Three weeks into his new ministry, he had an interesting experience which he says started off with him thinking he should have stayed in Atlanta, but that ended up wonderfully.
He was invited to do several adult baptisms. Now, many of you may come from Methodist backgrounds and you know that baptisms in the Methodist church is much like it is in the Presbyterian Church. The baptism is of infants or adults, and takes place in a sanctuary, using water from a small bowl.
Not so in that Methodist church in the mountains of Virginia. That church was over 200 years old and they had always baptized only adults, and they had always baptized them in the Watauga River.
My friend did his first baptism in March. Now you have to understand that if you do a baptism in a river, the minister does not get to stand on the riverbank. You have to go into the river and take that person under – and hopefully bring them back up.
And oh, by the way, in March, up Virginia, the water in that mountain river is still pretty cold!
That’s where they would baptize folks -- in that icy water.
They’d set up a couple of tents so that after the baptism people could change into dry, warm clothes.
In keeping with their custom, someone would build a fire, and everyone would gather ’round and get warm.
Everyone except my friend from Atlanta who said he could not get himself close enough to that fire to get himself warm.
Then, finally someone spoke up and addressed the new member who had just been baptized.
"Hi, my name is Fred, and if you ever need anyone to work on your plumbing, give me a call."
Then another voice in the circle. "Hi, my name is Sally, and if you ever need any sewing done, come by the house, be glad to do it."
Then another voice. "Hi, my name is Jane, and if you ever need anyone to look after your kids for a while, drop them on by the house."
And so on, all around the circle.
All around --- the LIST.
Then, the people, one by one would go home until the only ones left were one of the church’s older members, and my friend, the minister, who was standing by that fire STILL trying to get warm.
Standing around the fire, watching it die down, the member looked at the minister and said, "Son, I know this is a lot different from what you find in your home back in Atlanta, but I don’t care where you go in this world. You will never find people any closer than this."
There is a name for that closeness.
It’s called "Church."
And to be a part of a church is not simply to have your name on a list.
But more, it is to be a part of a people, a part of a closeness, a part of each other.
To be part of a church is to be part of Jesus Christ.
