Advent Reflection 2b: Romans 15:4-13

Romans 15:4-13
15:4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.
15:5 May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus,
15:6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15:7 Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
15:8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs,
15:9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, "Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles, and sing praises to your name";
15:10 and again he says, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people";
15:11 and again, "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him";
15:12 and again Isaiah says, "The root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles shall hope."
15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Christian destiny of the messianic prophecy is here given its formal structure. This is the hermeneutical context in which the church is to understand its place in the promise of God – as a grafted branch. Not, it is obvious here, as the sublation of Judaism, but as its supplement. If the church has a share in the promise, it is a share; i.e. that which it shares with Judaism. The shares are different, however. The keyword that distinguishes the Christian share is the one that Paul highlights here: hope. Hope is the crux of this text and hope is unique to Christianity vis-à-vis Judaism. Jews are, if Rosenzweig is correct, without hope. But what is the nature of this hopelessness? Hopelessness stems from a response to a lack – to that which is not-yet. Hope bridges the gap between the now and the not-yet and, in this case, its opposite would be despair. However, hopelessness can also be thought of prior to the lack; in which case the opposite of hope is not despair, but plenitude, a lack of lack, as it were. Jews, as Rosenzweig says, are already in eternity, they already in their liturgical practice – hourly, daily, monthly, yearly – bring eternity into the present. History, so he argues, is a detour that it does not follow. The Church, on the other hand, is not already in eternity, it must attain to it. And hope is what sustains us on this journey.