Advent
December 2, 2016

Scripture Reading: Romans 15:4-13

‘Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles,
   and sing praises to your name’;
and again he says,
‘Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people’;
and again,
‘Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
   and let all the peoples praise him’;
and again Isaiah says,
‘The root of Jesse shall come,
   the one who rises to rule the Gentiles;
in him the Gentiles shall hope.’ –Romans 15:9b-12

Who are the Gentiles in our world today? The Greek translated “Gentile” is the word ethnos. We might think of the English word ethnicity. The definition of ethnos is a race, people, nation; the nations, heathen world, Gentiles; people joined by practicing similar customs or common culture*. Essentially Gentile in the New Testament refers to anyone who is not a Jew. Today we must consider who we cast in the role of “Not My/Our People.” There seems to be a lot of that going around recently.

I just saw a picture of the Congressional Districts in North Carolina. An appeals court recently ruled that the gerrymandering done in North Carolina was illegal and they must redraw it. The Supreme Court will likely have the last word. The picture is interesting. Some Districts were apparently, unofficially designated the African American district as they meanders around a large section of the state picking up one big area and multiple small pockets of the population all largely composed of African Americans. What the gerrymander did was box in an area to limit the number of African American supported candidates while reducing the power of African Americans to impact other areas. Gerrymandering designates someone’s Gentiles.

Paul quotes several** Old Testament sources to create this treatise in our scripture today on God’s welcoming Gentiles. Perhaps he wanted to say to the Gentile Romans that God always had them in God’s heart. Perhaps we need to hear that lesson ourselves.

Prayer: Lord, help us to see all humans as being made in your image including each of us and in so doing empower us to love them as your children and our siblings by treating them justly. Amen.

*http://biblehub.com/greek/1484.htm
**Psalm 18:49, 2 Samuel 22:50, Deuteronomy 32:43, Psalm 117:1, and Isaiah 11:10

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.