Rev. Michael Piazza in Liberating Word says of Romans 1:8-15” Paul commends his readers, and then assures them that he talks daily to God about them. Whatever will follow, Paul wants them to know that his words are to be heard/read as coming from one who prays for them. His prayers include his hope that he will soon be able to come to them to encourage them and be encouraged by them. You see, even as one who believes he has divine authority, Paul understands mutuality. There is, in verse 14, a double meaning that is lost in translation. Paul says he has an obligation to preach to the Gentiles. It is an obligation that grows out of what God has called him to do, but the original text also makes it clear that it is a debt Paul owed because of all he had received from them. That, ultimately, is the key to servant leadership. It is not the act of the wise teaching the ignorant, or the superior commanding the inferior. Rather, there is a sense that we share because we have received, and we honor the giver by offering our gift. Mutuality is a core value that we must live out in our homes, our jobs and our churches. Paul began this message by making it clear he was obligated to give because he had received so much, even from those who were outsiders and marginalized from this faith. I often wonder if others might not hear our witness better if we offered what we have discovered as a response to what we have learned from them, rather than as an attempt to improve or correct them.”
Rev. Michael Piazza in Liberating Word says of Romans 1:8-15” Paul commends his readers, and then assures them that he talks daily to God about them. Whatever will follow, Paul wants them to know that his words are to be heard/read as coming from one who prays for them. His prayers include his hope that he will soon be able to come to them to encourage them and be encouraged by them. You see, even as one who believes he has divine authority, Paul understands mutuality. There is, in verse 14, a double meaning that is lost in translation. Paul says he has an obligation to preach to the Gentiles. It is an obligation that grows out of what God has called him to do, but the original text also makes it clear that it is a debt Paul owed because of all he had received from them.
ReplyDeleteThat, ultimately, is the key to servant leadership. It is not the act of the wise teaching the ignorant, or the superior commanding the inferior. Rather, there is a sense that we share because we have received, and we honor the giver by offering our gift. Mutuality is a core value that we must live out in our homes, our jobs and our churches. Paul began this message by making it clear he was obligated to give because he had received so much, even from those who were outsiders and marginalized from this faith.
I often wonder if others might not hear our witness better if we offered what we have discovered as a response to what we have learned from them, rather than as an attempt to improve or correct them.”