As a pastor who works with people at hard and terrible junctures of life, in crisis, in death and loss, I see some terrible wreckage. I see families hurting and at odds with each other. I see people suffering who just don’t know why they should be suffering like this, and sometimes there is just no answer, no reason at all. I see people who have wrecked their lives through bad decisions, who can’t believe what a mess they have made, and they have to keep living in that crash zone they created. I see broken vows and blank misunderstanding of others, and lack of care, and selfishness, and sacrifice for those who don’t appreciate it at all. I see people grasping to stay on the surface when they know very well they are in the depths. I see the history of a family affected over and over by a generational sin, that moves like a serpent to poison every generation. I see family members who are addicted or mentally unwell, who in their own pain hurt others, and I see those who love them quietly picking up the pieces. I see people longing for prodigals to come home. I see people who have done great wrong against those they love, and I see forgiveness, and grace offered, and a new life where there was nothing but hurt.
When Paul says, Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? It sounds as though Paul knows that we are living with death inside. It sounds like a person who is nearly drowning, throwing up their arms to ask for rescue. Who will deliver me? It sounds like someone at the bottom of a well, screaming for someone to come and draw them out. Who will deliver me? It sounds like someone at the end of their rope, with everything crumbling around them afraid of the final fall. Who will deliver me? That’s the state we are in, too. And there is a plan for us to be rescued from this body of death, whether it is literal death, or simply disaster that has come on us or that we brought on ourselves. There is a savior! Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!