Romans 1 - Mr. Macaluso and the Comma

Text: Romans 1:1-15

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world. For God, whom I serve with my spirit by announcing the gospel of his Son, is my witness that without ceasing I remember you always in my prayers, asking that by God’s will I may somehow at last succeed in coming to you. For I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you - or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as I have among the rest of the Gentiles. I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish - hence my eagerness to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

When I entered the ninth grade at Montclair High School, I was placed in an advanced English class (to this day, I am still puzzled by that choice!). The teacher of that group of twenty or so students was a man by the name of William Macaluso. He was a skinny, hippie looking type, who had the face which could easily pass for the classic Jesus portrait that one usually finds at the local YMCA. Mr. Macalsuo loved poetry and the classics and when he was teaching about the comma, would read long sections of the apostle Paul to his class.

Those glory days of my ninth grade experience came back to me when I read today’s lectionary passage from the Book of Romans because Paul’s lengthy salutation is only one sentence in the Greek. It goes on and on, with one theological thought after another. I can still see Mr. Macaluso’s face brimming with glee as he read those words to us many years ago.

Icon of Saint Paul

For the next week or so, the daily lectionary makes its way through this demanding epistle. I hope you will follow along as we read the scriptures together. The Letter to the Romans is Paul at his very best. He did not know this congregation very well nor had he ever paid them a visit. As we near the end of the epistle, we will find out one of Paul’s motives for writing the letter: asking this faith community for funds to speed the evangelist on his way to Spain and the western edges of the empire. But before that request for funds, and not having a strong connection with this congregation, the apostle has a chance to lay out before the Romans his understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

William Loader, in his excellent online exegesis, sets forth the opening of this epistle. He writes, “Letter openings followed a set formula, probably an adaptation in Jewish circles of the basic Greek standard. “X to Y, Hi!" becomes a greeting of "grace and shalom/peace". Christians like Paul set this in the context of faith in Christ. Within that framework Paul incorporates elements which reflect the concerns of the letter. Thus here he begins by defining himself with the word, "servant/slave", placing himself and his mission in subordination to Christ. In no sense is this an "ego trip". But it is far from a denial of power. For Paul alludes to his call to be an apostle. That carries authority; Paul has a strong sense of being sent and authorized to do God's work, in particular in bringing the good news of God to Gentiles. Galatians 1 tells us more” (The Text This Week).

What I love about this opening salutation is the clear focus on Jesus. Paul writes that he is a servant of Jesus Christ and called to be apostle. The Good News is not about Paul – no, it is about God’s Son – the Anointed One – who died and rose again at the resurrection. The significance of that story is the very basis for Paul’s ministry. This “Damascus Road” survivor was now an ambassador whose vocation was to carry the Good News of Jesus Christ out to the ever expanding Roman Empire – to the Gentiles.

“Such transforming power,” Loader writes, “which Paul frequently associates with the Spirit (as in 1:4) and in which he experiences the living presence of Christ, draws its energy from God's compassion, which is so radical and far reaching in Paul's mind that it breaks down all barriers, including those erected on biblical principles” (The Text This Week). Wow! Think about that for a moment. With all the division that we see in the present day world, and more importantly in the institutional Church, Paul boldly declares that these walls which divide should forever be broken down by the power of compassion which we find in the life, ministry and example of Jesus of Nazareth.

“Grace and Peace”: these are powerful and hopeful words which I think, all too often, and almost two millennia later, we gloss over so quickly that we miss the author’s intent. For Paul, these words represent the very heart of his gospel. As I reread Paul, I am constantly impressed by his desire for wholeness and healing which is nothing less than the very heart and compassion of God. Paul had discovered and received that grace and peace in his own life and his passion for the gospel was to share that divine compassion with the rest of the world.

For Mr. Macaluso it was the comma that gave him such delight from this passage. Thirty-five years later, for this student, it is Paul’s message of “grace and peace” that fills me with hope for the day ahead.

Love One Another - Brian