From A Way Other Than Our Own...
Romans 10:9 is a well-known Bible verse that has collected "authoritarian baggage" in many church traditions. Brueggemann says that to confess Jesus is Lord is simply to make the claim that "Jesus, not the emperor, nor the system, nor our class or our nation state, can claim our loyalty."
And to affirm that God raised Jesus from the dead is the simple "claim that the executioners did not and could not keep him dead...because God, that deep power for life, has shattered the system of death and made all things new."
The apostle Paul goes on in verse 12 to "draw a deep and decisive conclusion" from these two claims which is: "The Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call upon him."
"The defining mark of the Easter world is divine, cosmic generosity...
"There is no class structure. There is no exceptional tenure or entitlement, no riding in the back of the bus, no exclusion of Gentiles - women, or conservatives, or progressives, or gays, or whomever we fear and want to exclude.
"God is bringing the world to a new inclusiveness on the basis of God's own generosity."
"Deep Power of Life, draw us into your boundary-crossing generosity. May we be on the way toward others, toward new life, in sync with the one who is Lord of Easter. Amen."
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