March 1: Reckoning

Romans 4.18-25

¹⁸Hoping against hope, Abraham believed that he would become “the father of many nations,” according to what was said, “So numerous shall your descendants be.” ¹⁹He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. ²⁰No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, ²¹being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. ²²Therefore his faith “was reckoned to him as righteousness.”

²³Now the words, “it was reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone, ²⁴but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, ²⁵who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.

Reflection by Rob Martin

My Grandfather was a cattle farmer in rural Mississippi—and his favorite word was “reckon”:

            “I reckon its time to feed the cows!”

            “Reckon it’s gonna rain tonight!”

"I reckon we ought to tell Grandma about you driving the El Camino to the store!”

The definition of the word “reckon” is “to count or calculative”—and I “reckon” my Grandfather was always calculating when to feed the cows, or when it was going to rain, or when it was appropriate to tell my Grandmother about my mis-deeds and mis-adventures!

Our text today from Paul’s Letter to the Church in Rome also touches on “reckoning”—for it says that Abraham’s “faith was reckoned to him as righteousness!”  His faith was “calculated” as righteous because of many things:

·      He did not weaken in his own faith even as his body was failing and faltering;

·      He did not weaken in his faith even though his wife’s womb was barren;

·      He did not waver in believing that God could do what God had promised;

·    He did not stop growing in his faith but continued to give glory to God at every point of his life-journey.

The Hebrew word for righteousness is tseh'-dek, tzedek,—meaning “integrity, equity and  justice”  And thus Abraham’s faith was reckoned (calculated)  as being righteous (filled with integrity, equity and justice) by the Divine.

But we are also told today that the words “it was reckoned to Abraham” were written not for his sake alone, but for ours also!”

In this Lenten season I “reckon” we must ask ourselves if our faith is truly filled with integrity, equity and justice?  And if not, how do we move such righteousness to its centering place in our heads, and hearts and hands?