Reading for Thursday, 2nd Week of Lent

Romans 2:12-24

When was the last time you said of someone, “he is a law to himself,” or something like that. Understandably we don’t quite know what to do with someone like that. They’re unpredictable. We wonder how considerate they will be of our needs and concerns. We fear finding out about something they’ve done after the fact and we have to clean up behind them.

But sometimes, maybe, they may have known something we didn’t. In retrospect, we realize that we wouldn’t have understood their insight however much they tried to explain it to us. Maybe our delay in doing something might have led to a missed opportunity, which they fortunately seized.

Today, Paul says of some Gentiles that they are “a law to themselves.” To Jews, that meant that they were moral anarchists, having no guide to keep them from the litany of sins that we heard yesterday. But was the Creator of the universe an exclusive possession of one tribe? Who were they to deny the possibility that God could write “the work of the law” onto other’s heart? Even if they couldn’t articulate it, would not those Gentiles stand a better chance of being justified in God’s eyes than the Jew who taught the law, but then broke it at every turn?

Now here’s a little thought experiment. Forget “Jews” and “Gentiles.” Today, 2000 years after Paul wrote these words, where might those people be who are a law to themselves, but show that the law of right and wrong , love and hatred, is written on their hearts? Do you know someone who puts the self-professed “Christians” to shame?