Romans 16:23b, 25-27
Today’s scripture is not the usual suspect in the mystery of Christmas; yet, it is found in the lectionary for this 4th Sunday of Advent, along with Luke’s story of how the angel came to Mary proclaiming the birth of Jesus Christ, and Mary asking, “How will this be…?”
The Apostle Paul spoke of this mystery at the end of his letter to the Romans, a letter like no other to so profoundly state the content of the gospel. In a few words, he summarized Mary’s story, a mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed.
I see Paul’s closing words providing a clue to the mystery of the holy one to be born by the power of the Most High and called Son of God. We find clues through the prophetic writings. They point us to the revelation of Jesus Christ so that we might believe and obey to the glory of God. But like a good mystery, there are clues easily overlooked, discovered by chance.
I discovered such a clue when Sheila and I were walking through the ancient ruins of Corinth. Suddenly we heard our friend and leader, Dr. Ken Harper, call to us. “Come here!” he shouted. “I need your help.” ‘We hurried down to an area near the Odeum, a theater for poetry and recitals used during the time of Paul. There we found Ken searching for something along an ancient roadway.
“I want you to help me with some Bible detective work,” he said. He explained: “A friend told me there is an inscription here somewhere…” Just then he saw it, carved into a stone. I moved beside him to get a better look. We could make out a name and a description in Latin. It said: Erastus, commissioner of public works, bore the expense of this pavement.
Literally, a chill ran down my spine. There it was, as Paul had noted, someone sending greetings to the Roman church: Erastus! We had found the earliest reference and concrete evidence – literally – to a Christian by name outside the New Testament.
An early Church teacher said Paul mentioned him to show how the gospel mystery had been revealed even to the great ones that Mary said would be humbled, for Erastus was evidently a prominent and wealthy person. It would have been a significant challenge for someone like Erastus to believe and obey Jesus in a city filled with temples dedicated to popular gods and goddesses, heroes and poets, including a temple to Caesar’s wife, Octavia.
Seeing his name somehow made the gospel mystery less mysterious and more real. Erastus was no longer just a name on a page. He had lived and worked where Sheila and I stood. He had walked where we walked. He had spent his own money here to make sure there was a good road for the people of his city; and through Paul’s gospel he had come to know the love of God in Christ Jesus, born of Mary, the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed.
And there is more to this mystery. In Acts 19 we discover that Erastus became Paul’s helper alongside Timothy. As for Quartus, he was one of many established by the gospel that history did not record in any special way. But that is an important clue in this mystery now revealed.
Erastus and Quartus represent all of us who say yes to Jesus Christ, yes to a little baby, yes to a vulnerable family, yes to angels appearing, yes to people who have influence for good and to people who have no influence, yes to greetings of love and fellowship; yes, to the God who would be glorified through it all.
Christmas should fill us with a renewed determination to say Yes, as Erastus and Quartus did, to not only believing – for many would say they believe in Christmas – but to obeying the grown-up Jesus, to the glory of the only wise God. That’s how Christmas really becomes, well, Christmas! Mystery solved!