Romans 14:1-12
David A. Davis
September 17, 2023
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“So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”
When I was growing up in Pittsburgh, the radio play by play announcer for the Pittsburgh Pirates was a man named Bob Prince. My father actually worked with him broadcasting Penn State Football games in the 1950’s. My father said that off the air, Bob Prince used a swear word in every sentence but he never swore when the microphone was on. He did, however, have a whole bunch of unique Bob Prince-isms to describe things happening in a baseball game. When someone hit a homerun he would say “you can kiss it goodbye”. When a Pirate player named Willie Stargell hit a home run, it was “chicken on the hill with Will.” An easy fly ball to catch was “a can of corn”. I learned years later that “can of corn” was not original to Bob Prince. The phrase in baseball goes as far back as the 19th century. It made its way into baseball lingo by way of grocery clerks using sticks to get things off of high shelves in the store. They would knock cans of corn off the top shelf and catch it in their apron. An easy catch. A can of corn.
“So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”
Just a few weeks ago, my wife Cathy used an expression that I have absolutely never heard in my life. I don’t even remember what we were talking about but it was in reference to something going off the rails; maybe a recipe, or plan we had. Cathy said “it just went pear-shaped.” She explained that the expression means for something to wrong, to go south, the cheese slipping off the cracker. Of course, I didn’t believe her and knew she was just making it up. So I looked up and sure enough there it was “gone pear shaped.” The expression is rooted in British literature. Once again my lack of knowledge related to the Jane Austin library catches up to me.
“So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”
I officiated at a wedding for a clergy colleague a long time ago. The minister was marrying someone who was a member of the Philadelphia Opera Company. The minister had some good vocal chops as well. During the ceremony they sang a duet setting of “Entreat Me Not”. Entreat me not to leave you or turn from following you! Where you go, I will go. It is or maybe was an often-used wedding song. The text comes from the Book of Ruth in the Hebrew Bible. In the biblical context, the expression, the text, has nothing to do with marriage. It is Ruth expressing her love, devotion, and belonging to her mother-in-law Naomi.
“So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”
From the Apostle Paul, the 14th chapter of the Book of Romans. “We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” An expression, a text, a phrase from Paul often paired with other Pauline verses like “For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rules, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8). Or “Behold, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.” (I Cor. 15) Or “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead” (Phil. 3).
“So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”
When one drops the Apostle’s phrase back into the context of Romans 14, it’s a game changer. A meaning changer. Romans 14 is not the soaring theological treatise of Romans 8. Romans 14 is not the rhetorical flourish that tells of Paul’s understanding of the dead being raised. Romans 14 is not the poetic, spiritual yearning to “press on toward the goal of the prize in the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus’ (Phil 3) As you heard and read, in Romans 14 Paul is writing about the issue of food choices, dietary laws, sabbath keeping, judgment, and self-righteousness. It is a plea to avoid quarreling over opinions and an exhortation to honor and give thanks to God in the mundane practice of life. It is Paul writing about life, ordinary, every life and food and relationships and community. Right smack in the middle of it all, Paul drops a resurrection song. “So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” It is Paul, weighing in, not on death but on life. Romans 14. It is not about dying. It is about living.
A bit more than a week ago, I witnessed my first in-person example of unfortunate behavior on an airplane. I was flying back from Louisville, KY. The flight had been delayed for almost three hours because of thunderstorms in Philadelphia. The plane that was to come from Philly and then return to Philly sat on the runaway at the Philadelphia airport for more than two hours waiting for the storms to pass. We were asked to board the plane all at once rather in groups, and board quickly to facilitate a quick turnaround before storms came back again in Philly. It was a very small plane. One seat on one side and two seats across the aisle. 36 seats in total. After we boarded, the pilot called the attendant forward to the cockpit. I could see it because I was in seat 2A in the single row. The attendant turned around to those of us in the front and said, “The pilot has told me that three of you up here in the front will have to go to the rear of the plane where there are plenty of seats because we are currently unbalanced.” I will admit that I expected the physics of flying a plane to be a bit more sophisticated than that. But the person behind me demanded to have further explanation. As a few of us got up to move to the back, a pregnant woman said she would go. The attendant said “no, you stay right here.” The person in seat 3A wouldn’t move and said it was unfair. The attendant was clearly exhausted and now frustrated. “Sir, we just sat on this little plan for more than two hours on a runaway in Philly. I am going to remain polite but I can tell you that if the pilot has to come out of the cockpit he will have you removed from the plane.” At that point another person volunteered. The pilot never came back. The man never moved. As I sat in the back with now two seats to myself and put on some Bach to play in my ear buds, I thought about how I taught my kids when they were about four that life isn’t fair.
Long before social media videos started going viral with bad behavior in the every day experiences of life, the Apostle Paul wrote to tell the church in Roman that how one lives life day to day in and among others matters. And it matters to God. Because “whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” It is more than the promise of resurrection hope and eternal life. It is about a life together infused in absolutely everyway with resurrection hope, resurrection promise, resurrection power. It’s not just about shouting “Christ is Risen!’, shouting it on Easter morning. Its about living it long about Wednesday, and praying in the dark of night, and whispering it with you life into the world’s chaos. It’s about living in the light and mystery of resurrection hope every day, basking in the love and grace of God, and passing forward the life giving, life sustaining power of God’s love to those around you moment by moment.
It’s not just about singing “Abide with Me….Hold thou the cross before my closing eyes, shine through the gloom and point me to the skies…in life, in death, O Lord Abide with me.” it is about dropping a resurrection song with the forgiveness you sow in life, and proclaiming the resurrection gospel with how you treat others in your office, and giving a resurrection witness with the unconditional love you can now give back to a parent whose health and mind is fading fast. It’s the assurance of God’s resurrection presence you cling to when the loneliness of the first week on campus rises up. It’s that resurrection strength you didn’t know you had that carries you the day after the diagnosis. It’s that grabbing hold of a future now and forever in God’s hands as the tears fall down your cheeks as your turn from the baptismal font with infant in arms, as your child climbs the steps of the school bus for the first time, as your newly minted freshman almost forgets the hug outside the dorm.
“So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”
It is the resurrection confidence that calms you at day’s end and lifts you at day’s beginning. It is the resurrection hope that echoes in your ears and beats in your heart when news of earthquakes, fires, hurricanes, and floods never stops. It is that resurrection rising that you see when communities rebuild, people come together for the common good, when hearts are changed and lives are transformed, and when love and kindness rise again out of the ashes of hatred, nastiness, and just plain bad behavior. It is the incomparable resurrection comfort that can carry you all of your days, every day. The belief deep within “that I belong body and soul, in life and in death, to my faithful Savior Jesus the Christ.” “So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”
“So then, each of us will be accountable to God”, Paul writes. Accountable for our judgment and our self-righteousness. Yikes! Speaking just for myself, thank goodness grace abounds. Paul is also calling us to be accountable for the proclamation and witness to God’s resurrection hope. God’s resurrection promise, and God’s resurrection power in our lives. One early twentieth century theologian and biblical scholar notably argued that Christ rises from the dead each and every Sunday when the Word is preached, when the gospel is proclaimed. I for one, can tell you preachers like me, we’re not that good. But you and witness to the resurrection? It starts with you. And in the smallest, most ordinary ways you could ever imagine.
“So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”