Envisioning a Hopeful and Peaceful Future—Lectionary Reflection for Advent 2A (Romans 15:4-13)

Romans 15:4-13 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

⁴ For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. ⁵ May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, ⁶ so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁷ Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. ⁸ For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the ancestors ⁹ and that the gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,

“Therefore I will confess you among the gentiles

    and sing praises to your name”;

¹⁰ and again he says,

“Rejoice, O gentiles, with his people”;

¹¹ and again,

“Praise the Lord, all you gentiles,

    and let all the peoples praise him”;

¹² and again Isaiah says,

“The root of Jesse shall come,

    the one who rises to rule the gentiles;

in him the gentiles shall hope.”

¹³ May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

                *****************

               Advent invites us to look forward into the future. While the season precedes Christmas and thus the first Advent, it also points us forward into the future. We live at a time when peace seems far from our minds and hearts. Wars continue. People are dying. The current administration in the United States changed the name of one of the departs from Defense to War. There’s a lot of talk about war fighting and lethality. One wonders if those talking this way are itching to go to battle. I’m not by confession a pacifist, but I do believe that the best way forward is through nonviolence. Having said that, I do recognize the challenges that people face across the world, challenges that require resistance. That resistance may involve armed conflict. For a good resource for pondering this question, I will point your attention to the book Serving God Under Siege: How War Transformed a Ukrainian Community by Valentyn Syniy (Eerdmans 2025), a book that provides a firsthand account of the impact of Russian aggression and how it affected a small ministry in Ukraine. Nevertheless, while peace may seem a distant hope, it remains a hope.

                The Second Reading for the Second Sunday of Advent, Year A, comes from Romans 15, which speaks more of hope than peace. Our reading begins partway through a paragraph in which Paul begins by telling his readers that “we who are strong ought to put up with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Perhaps if we begin there, we have a pathway to peace. Paul speaks here of pleasing one’s neighbor to build them up; such is the model of life that Jesus exhibited.  He endured insults on our behalf (Rom. 15:1-3). That part of the paragraph is omitted. Instead, we begin with the words: “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope” (Rom. 15:4). While Paul has in mind what is written about the one who endures insults on our behalf, so that we might build one another up, we might think more broadly about the instructive nature of Scripture. Here, Paul speaks of the role Scripture plays in bringing encouragement and, therefore, hope. Hope is eschatological in nature.

                While Paul encourages us to remain steadfast, we’re reminded that God is steadfast and provides encouragement so we might live in harmony with one another. Now there is a word that speaks of peace. Peace will involve living in harmony with one another. Why live harmoniously? The answer is rather direct— “So that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 15:6). By living in peace with one another, we place ourselves in a position to glorify God, the Father of Jesus, with one voice. This is calling for communal prayer and worship, which begins with living in harmony with one another. A rancorous community will not find itself in a position to glorify God.

                The second part of our reading speaks to a particular area of concern. That area of concern involves the inclusion of Gentiles into the emerging Church. The earliest members of the community had been Jewish, but now things were changing. Gentiles, many of them because of Paul’s ministry, were entering the Christian community. That was creating tensions with the original Jewish component. It seems that the question of welcoming people to the Christian community is an ongoing concern. There are always people who seem different. We wonder whether they’re a good fit. Paul’s message is straightforward: “Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God” (Rom. 15:7). Beverly Gaventa writes: “‘Welcome’ encompasses the eschatological welcome all have received from Christ and for God’s glory. Here, the unity of Jew and gentile through God’s grace produces unity in praise and glory. Indeed, the unity of Jew and gentile is brought about for the larger goal of God’s glory. [Gaventa, Beverly Roberts. Romans (New Testament Library) (Kindle pp. 679-680).] Paul would want the Jewish Christians to do for others  (Gentiles) what Christ had done for them by welcoming them into the community so that together they might praise God with one voice. Jin Young Choi also speaks of the connection between worship and welcome: “Worshiping God cannot be separated from welcoming others. These are essential components of Advent hope as Christians eagerly wait for the Day of the Lord, when all the nations—usually translated as the “Gentiles” in English—will worship God together. Accordingly, this concrete vision of a future inclusive community inspires believers to practice welcome” [Connections, WJK Press, Kindle Edition. Loc. 1044].

For most Jewish Christians, such a welcome was difficult. There was fear that the influx of Gentiles, that is, people who were not only not ethnically Jewish but had been pagans, might change the nature of the Christian community. Xenophobia is not new. It’s been with us since the beginning. Anti-immigrant and xenophobic beliefs have become commonplace, such that they are a foundational piece of our national politics (at least on the part of the current administration that has made mass deportation a central piece of their agenda). But Paul wants to put a halt to such beliefs and practices.

                Paul acknowledges the importance of those who provided the core for this new mission, telling the Roman Christians that “Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs.” However, Christ has done this so that Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. Paul buttresses his message concerning the inclusion of Gentiles into what had been a Jewish sect by pointing the reader’s attention to Scripture itself. Again, we need to remember that by Scripture, Paul means what we call the Old Testament.  

                To make his claim that God in Christ is welcoming Gentiles into this expanding community, which is deeply rooted in Judaism, he turns to four texts, all of which draw from the Septuagint. The first passage comes from Psalm 18:49 (LXX Psalm 17:50), where the message that God’s name will be confessed before Gentiles. The second comes from the Septuagint version of Deuteronomy 32:43, which calls for the Gentiles to rejoice with God’s people. Then in verse 11, we have a phrase from Psalm 117:1 (LXX Psalm 116:1), which in the Septuagint calls on the Gentiles to praise God. Finally, we have a word from Isaiah 11:10, which speaks of the coming of the root of Jesse, who will rise to rule the Gentiles (nations). Isaiah 11:1-11 is the First Reading for the Second Sunday of Advent; thus, the reading from Romans is connected to the reading from Isaiah.   Beverly Gaventa writes concerning the citations from the Old Testament: “With these four citations, joined by the insistent repetition of ‘and again,’ Paul makes good on the claim that Scripture was written for our instruction (15: 4). He finds in Scripture the fact of Jew and gentile together, their shared glorification of God, and their relationship to Christ’s welcome and to God’s final triumph. [Gaventa, Romans (New Testament Library) (Kindle p. 689)]. Thus, Paul understood his mission to involve taking the Gospel to the Gentiles, so they might find the hope of salvation in Christ, such that Jew and Gentile might worship God together.           

               The question for the day concerns how all of this connects with the observance of the Second Sunday of Advent as Peace Sunday. Of course, in 2025, this Sunday falls on the eighty-fourth anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, a day that, according to Franklin Roosevelt, “will live in infamy.” As we pause to remember that historical event, might we also embrace the call to peace offered by the Prince of Peace? Might do this by joining together across all the boundaries we seem intent on erecting, so that together we might worship God in harmony through the power of the Holy Spirit? Might this be our hope for the future?