What colour is the patch on your back?

 

Reflection Sunday 13^th September 2020 Romans 14: 1 – 12

 

Many years ago, a stranger walked into a small town and stood in the town square. He wore a long black coat but sewn on to it were patches of cloth of many shapes, sizes, and colours. As the day went on the townsfolk began to gather around in curious silence until eventually one brave person plucked up the courage to ask the stranger about his odd coat.

The stranger began to point to the different patches and explained in detail, that they represented the sins of different people in the town. Embarrassed, some left the square. Indignant, other shook their heads in denial of the accusation. After explaining every patch, and denouncing every sin, the man turned around and headed out of town. Then the townspeople saw that on the back of the coat was one large patch covering the man’s back. What could it mean? Whose sin? Why hadn’t he mentioned it? Eventually, a young girl said “I know. That represents his own sin, for he is willing to point out the sin of others yet fails to see his own.”

Matthew’s Gospel puts it this way:

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” Matthew 7:3

It’s easy to criticise others and hold others to our standards whilst at the same time ignoring our own shortcomings isn’t it? It is an age-old problem. It was certainly something Paul had to address with the church in Rome.

In the church in Rome there was tension regarding appropriate religious practices, between what we might think of as Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. The Jewish Christians knew what it meant to be observant Jews – including males being circumcised, and having got follow Jewish dietary rules (eating kosher meat.) Did this observance make them “strong”? But what did it mean to be an observant Gentile Christian? If they ate any kind of meat or if they were vegetarian, did that make them “weak”? (It’s was an issue that had cropped up before in other churches, such as in Corinth.)

In writing this part of his letter, Paul is seeking to bridge the gap between the two. He is seeking to remind the church that they are all in community with one another and the Church, any church, is made up of all kinds of people.

Of course, it is tempting to want to try and form a community of faith with people “like us”. But that is not what being the church is meant to be. When we are followers of Christ we are called to move from our “comfort zones” to places where Christ leads. Let’s not forget, the first “church”, Jesus’ earliest disciples, were a motley crew including fishermen, tax collectors and prostitutes.

Paul insists that the church is made up of those who think of themselves as strong in the faith and those who think of themselves as weak in the faith.

Who are we to think of ourselves as “strong” or “weak” in faith? The problem is we want to define who is strong or weak by our standards not God’s. All too often people think of themselves as “strong” in faith for all the wrong reasons. For example they think they ar strong in faith because they’ve held a church office for many years or have attended the same church for many years. Or have had some theological training.

But our strength doesn’t come from church membership. Strength is not defined by how much Bible we know or even from how much we contribute financially. Our strength comes from knowing how weak we are. Our strength comes from recognising that we all have a patch on the back of our coats signifying our own sin and short comings.

The irony is that those who think of themselves as strong Christians are weak in the eyes of God because they have a judgmental spirit and do not see their own weakness.

For Paul, what seems to make a strong believer is a trust in God’s grace in Jesus Christ and an acceptance of sin and the need for salvation.

In 1988, the poet, Carol Wimmer, became concerned about the self-righteous, judgmental spirit she was seeing in some people. She felt strongly that being judgmental is a perversion of the Christian faith. So, she wrote a poem about this. It's called "When I say I am a Christian" and it reads like this:

"When I say, ‘I am a Christian,' I'm not shouting, ‘I've been saved!' I'm
whispering, ‘I get lost!' That's why I chose this way.

When I say ‘I am a Christian,' I don't speak with human pride. I'm
confessing that I stumble – needing God to be my guide.

When I say ‘I am a Christian,' I'm not trying to be strong. I'm professing
that I'm weak and pray for strength to carry on.

When I say ‘I am a Christian,' I'm not bragging of success. I'm admitting
that I've failed and cannot ever pay the debt.

When I say, ‘I am a Christian,' I don't think I know it all. I submit to
my confusion asking humbly to be taught.

When I say ‘I am a Christian,' I'm not claiming to be perfect. My flaws
are far too visible, but God believes I'm worth it.

When I say, ‘I am a Christian,' I still feel the sting of pain. I have my
share of heartache which is why I seek His name.

When I say, ‘I am a Christian,' I do not wish to judge. I have no
authority – I only know I'm loved."

 

Having the ability to realise we have a coloured patch on our backs, or a plank in our eye, however you wish to think of it, is so important to our faith. Having the ability not to judge others and to overlook the patches on their coats is what is required of us. And knowing that God’s grace, Christ’s love, for each one us, means as weak as we are, we are made strong.