Goodbye, Rome

Today was our last day in Rome. Gone is the awe of a new place. Elbowing onto city buses, following the crowds into the metro, ordering a pizza at a local stand and bargaining for a realistic price are almost natural.

Perhaps our visit to the Mamertine Prison captures our day. We leave Rome awed that God reached into Ancient Rome and in a limited time saved and transformed so many. The church was born in a pagan and powerful culture. Yet the prison indicates it was more than the numbers being saved. It says Rome was offended by the transformed lives and tried to restrict the preaching of the gospel by imprisoning men like Peter and Paul. The gospel saves but also so transforms that it brings persecution.

Yet our memory of Rome also includes the reality that the spectacular work of God in building His church did not guarantee it would continue to be pure. The tour of the Mamertine Prison is controlled by an organization that has built a church over it. Their message is about “faith” yet it was unclear what is to be the object of that faith. Our group had only 4 others. As we left, we began to talk and immediately realized they were born again Christians. We shared how disappointing it was to realize a site noted as the place of imprisonment for those who preached the gospel now has only a “form of godliness and denies the power thereof”.

Our final observation at the Mamertine Prison came as we sat on the steps watching modern Italians and tourists pass. I asked a local citizen how many attend church and there was a quick response “virtually no one”. Rome reminds us that God went to the heart of the Roman Empire and built His church yet in time it became only a form of godliness so that today it is a city where few have any real relation to Christ or even a relation to the RC church.

I couldn’t help notice the connection to a book I was reading that gave the message of the Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5-7). The gospel (good news of Christ) impresses the crowds (Mt 5:1,2) and transforms lives (5:3-10) which leads to persecution (5:11f) as followers of Christ become salt and light (5:13ff) doing good works to the glory of God (5:15ff). Following Christ so changes one’s life he does the kind of good works that people hate you for. In response to that, the followers of Christ and the world around them often mix until it is true that “not everyone who says Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom . . . (7:21ff).

As we made our final trip up the street to our hotel, we discussed how Paul entered such a city and spread the gospel. Is it any different today?