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Context No. 977 of 4322 · Romans

Context · Reflection

Romans 15:22-33: in context

22Therefore also I was hindered these many times from coming to you, 23but now, no longer having any place in these regions, and having these many years a longing to come to you, 24whenever I travel to Spain, I will come to you. For I hope to see you on my journey, and to be helped on my way there by you, if first I may enjoy your company for a while. 25But now, I say, I am going to Jerusalem, serving the saints. 26For it has been the good pleasure of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are at Jerusalem. 27Yes, it has been their good pleasure, and they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, they owe it to them also to serve them in material things. 28When therefore I have accomplished this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will go on by way of you to Spain. 29I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of the Good News of Christ. 30Now I beg you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, 31that I may be delivered from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, 32that I may come to you in joy through the will of God, and together with you, find rest. 33Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

Paul is writing to the Roman church he has never visited, and he lays out his plans. He has long wanted to come to them and hopes to, on his way to Spain, but first he must go to Jerusalem on an errand of mercy: the churches of Macedonia and Achaia have made a collection for the poor believers in Jerusalem, and Paul is personally carrying it. He explains the logic, that since the Gentiles have shared in the Jews' spiritual blessings, they owe them material help in return. Then he asks the Romans to pray, urgently, that he will be kept safe from the hostile in Judea and that his service will be accepted.

Two things about Paul's plans are worth catching. First, the great apostle, the man burning to preach in unreached Spain, puts the mission on hold to personally hand-deliver a relief fund to poor Christians. The collection matters to him enormously; he sees it as knitting the Gentile and Jewish churches together, the younger Gentile congregations caring for the struggling mother church in Jerusalem, a spiritual debt repaid in bread. The gospel for Paul is never only words; it moves money toward the poor and binds different peoples into one family. Second, this bold, seasoned missionary asks for prayer with real urgency, strive together with me in your prayers. He does not present himself as self-sufficient; he knows he is heading into danger and openly asks the Romans to labor alongside him on their knees. Even Paul needed the church praying him through his next hard step, and he was not ashamed to ask.

Am I willing, like Paul, to interrupt my own plans to carry help to the poor, and humble enough to ask others to strive alongside me in prayer for what I cannot face alone?

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