DISOBEYING A LAW THEY KNEW
Last month, a Christian family killed in World War II were honored by the Catholic Church for harboring two Jewish families in Poland. The Nazis had invaded Poland and the governor made a law forbidding any citizen from aiding or protecting the Jews. Anyone who so much as gave a piece of bread to a Jewish person would risk the death penalty. Nevertheless, Józef and Wiktoria Ulma, along with their seven children, hid two Jewish families in their backyard for a year and a half, risking their lives every day. Eventually, someone turned them in to the Nazis, and soldiers descended upon the house. They executed the Jewish families on the spot, killed Józef and Wiktoria Ulma right in their yard, then killed all seven children.
OBEYING A LAW THEY DID NOT KNOW
Paul wrote Romans to at least two audiences: gentile and Jewish Christians. In today’s passage, he challenges his Jewish Christian hearers about how gentiles who have never heard the law of God as recorded in the Old Testament can sometimes obey it better than those who do know the law. Their natural obedience will be judged favorably by the Lord, even being declared righteous in God’s sight if they heed the voice of conscience.
Questions
- What factors may have gone into the Ulmas’ decision to shelter the Jewish families?
- How is it that non-Christians sometimes conduct themselves with more compassion or kindness than some believers?
- What comfort can you draw from the knowledge that God will deal fairly with all people?
