Saturday 8 November 2025
Romans 16:3-9, 16, 22-27. I will praise your name for ever, Lord – Ps 144(145):2-5, 10-11. Luke 16:9-15.
Communal resilience and collaboration
It’s good to thank people. This passage in Romans functions like credits rolling at the end of a film, or an actor reeling off names while accepting an award. Paul acknowledges all those who helped carry the early church movement forward. Writing from Corinth in 57AD, Paul pauses to salute a cascade of friends, co-labourers and confidantes, reminding us that this nascent and fragile movement was built not by his solitary genius but through communal resilience and collaboration. Paul was obviously a social person, and community made his ministry possible. And women, far from being marginal, were central to it all: Mary, who ‘worked hard’; Junia, named an ‘apostle’ and imprisoned alongside Paul; and Priscilla, who risked her life. Then there’s Tertius, the (probably Roman) scribe, who took Paul’s dictation. In a world often preoccupied with individual brilliance, Paul reminds us that none of us can get very far alone. We need friendship, we need hospitality and we need the help of many people. And if we can remember that, perhaps we’ll remember to offer help to others in return.
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