In his Letter to the Romans, St. Paul makes an assertion worthy of our reflection.
At the beginning of his missive to the faithful in a community that he hopes to visit, he states, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel.” (Rm 1:19).

Wasn’t it obvious that he was not ashamed of the Gospel? After all he was an Apostle, even if called by Jesus in a unique way. At the time of his writing, he had become famous for his struggles for the Gospel, founding local churches across Asia Minor.

Still, St. Paul felt moved to dismiss any sense of embarrassment about Jesus and His teaching. In doing so, he was offering to the Romans and to the Church of all times what has, in every age, been in short supply in human activities.

That is, leadership.

And one of the primary characteristics of leadership has to be full and rock solid commitment to the cause.

Most likely, Paul professes his lack of embarrassment because, even in the first century, the conflict that Christ talked about between Himself and what He called “the world” made believers recognize that our home is not here.

We don’t easily fit in with politics, programs or even families whose goals and visions are earthly alone.
Perhaps even in that first century, the resulting loss of social approval, of fitting in, was already a challenge and a source of a loss of faith. In short, some believers were ashamed to publicly admit their faith. Paul’s leadership was to help believers to stand strong against this common temptation.

The question is the same in our own day. The exclusion of God and faith from the public discourse and policy of our own society is often presented as a great and modern good. It often goes under the title of the “separation of Church and State.”

But for believers, it has many consequences. One is that each of us is required to make frequent choices about how seriously and consistently we will publicly witness to our faith. In short, it forces us to ask ourselves, am I embarrassed by the Gospel?

The issues we urgently need to witness to the world are not in short supply. Others need our reminder that God exists and He rules the world. Creation is His, with His plan both revealed and inscribed in nature, especially human nature.

Today, the greatest challenge in our own society involves witnessing to the demands placed on every person to live the moral life that God wants, particularly in regard to marriage, the family, gender and the use of sexuality.

It is not unexpected that when such important issues are raised in our day, the cost to those who witness faithfully goes up. The world desires to silence the witness of faith. And so we experience, even today, the tactic of isolation, of making sure that faith feels unwelcome, even embarrassing.

Our vulnerability to embarrassment can come for various reasons. Faith is a life-long struggle of prayer and soul against the temptation to doubt. After all, God has chosen to hide Himself in silence and invisibility in order to test us.

In short, embarrassment can flow from doubt.

The temptation to embarrassment can also flow from a lack of study and preparation to make a full response to the objections to faith. Often, as in the conversation between Eve and the Serpent, the conversation in which a response is needed can be one-sided, with no explanation or reference to Jesus allowed as a convincing explanation.

Finally, the desire to be accepted, not be excluded, is a strong motivation in our very sentimentally oriented time.

But acceptance and inclusion in this world is not the great goal for which we are made. It is acceptance and inclusion by Jesus in His Kingdom.

“I am not ashamed of the Gospel.”

That was not merely a plaintive cry of St. Paul. It was a statement of deep faith and conviction.

We need to pray, sacrifice and love Jesus personally so those words become our own.