Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, 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 you 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. (New Revised Standard Version)

To be a Christian is to be a servant of Jesus, called to a specific way of being in the world, and set apart for the gospel of God.

Concerning this gospel, this good news, it is all about God the Son, Jesus Christ, who is also fully human. Jesus is the singular person – both God and human at the same time, all the time. His human credentials are linked to the genealogy of the ancient King David, who was promised by God that one of his descendants would sit on throne forever. And as for Christ’s divinity, it was confirmed and established through his resurrection from death.

It is through Christ that we are called to belong to him; we have received the grace to be called children of God; and we are called to holiness for God. We all, therefore, have a calling. Every one of us is important. All of us receive the grace of God to fulfill that calling in this world.

In our contemporary society, we put a lot of stock into what we do, to the point of identifying ourselves primarily by our job titles and positions. But in God’s society, our primary identification is that we belong to God, and specifically to Jesus Christ.

Belonging to Christ means we are to have a certain way of being – not just doing – on this earth. We are first and foremost human beings, and not human doings. What we do is to flow from our being, and not the other way around. We do not gain identity through actions and accomplishments.

Our way of being has a lot to do with the Advent season. Christ’s coming into this world as a vulnerable baby was a deliberate way of being for Jesus in this world. He would go through all the human travails and trials that we do. He would know both joy and suffering, and would know them as coming together into one:

For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2, NIV)

It’s normal for us to wonder about the nature of our own personal sufferings. Its hard for us to make sense out of all the nonsensical things in this world, especially when it pertains to us personally.

Indeed, it is hard for us to accept the reality that humble suffering is not only a part of living in this world, but is also an important part of being a Christian who belongs to Jesus.

Whenever we lose something or someone important to us, we struggle with why. We may wonder where God was. We might think there is something wrong with us, as if God is punishing us for some unknown sin we’ve done in the past.

But we would be barking up the wrong tree. Methinks we wrestle so much with adversity and hardship because of our predilection for doing instead of being.

Perhaps our life situations are more about our way of being in this world, rather than what we do on this earth.

Maybe my life is meant primarily to be about being a person who is always loving, kind, compassionate, just, good, righteous, and holy – a saint, set apart as one who belongs to God.

Maybe it has a lot less to do with our vocations and only seeing things through what I’m able to do, or not do.

It could be that I am meant to see God’s grace operating through me by means of love, not hate; kindness, not meanness; compassion and comfort, not indifference and annoyance; justice, not injustice; goodness, not bad attitudes; and holiness, not unrighteousness.

It is quite possible that today (and every day) my Christian life has been about, is about, and will continue to be about my suffering for the sake of Jesus, who suffered for me.

“Why be disturbed of things that do not succeed according to your plans and desires? Who gets everything according to his likes? Neither I, nor you, nor anyone else on this earth. No one in this world is without some trial or illness or affliction, not even a king or a pope. Who, then, has it the best? The one who is willing to suffer for God’s sake.” Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ

The believers in the Roman Church, for whom the Apostle Paul wrote his letter, were focused primarily on what they had and what they did as Jews and as Gentiles. Because of their understanding of identity, they kept wrangling with each other and looking down on one another – namely, because they failed to each other as belonging equally to God as the one people of God. Jews were too hung up on how they kept the Law for centuries without any Gentiles. And Gentiles were too myopic to see that they were not replacing Jews out of some superior activity.

To love one another, and to simply love, is to suffer. Apart from love there is no suffering. Without love, there is no peace, no grace; and there is no belonging to God and having a way of being in the world which pleases God.

Furthermore, one can never have possessions or wealth without a great deal of anxiety and apprehension. Our happiness does not consist in temporal things, but in the permanence of relationships, because relationships are the only things we take with us in the end.

In the spirit and practice of the Lord Jesus whom the Christian serves, we must pass through the fire before we arrive at redemption and be at peace with God and humanity.

To reach the joy of Christmas, we must endure the weeks of Advent, of anticipating the hope to come, of waiting to see the Christ child who humbly comes into the world for us and for our salvation. And that means we may likely have to endure any current adverse and hard circumstances.

We are called – not for selfish gain, and not to look down on others who are different – but for a way of being in this world which emulates the Lord whom we serve, Jesus Christ our Savior.

Shepherd of Israel: May Jesus, Emmanuel and son of Mary, be more than just a dream in our hearts. With the apostles, prophets, and saints, save us, restore us, and lead us in the way of grace and peace, so that we may bear your promise into the world. Amen.