Read: Romans 16:7, 13; Mark 15:21-24
Greet Andronicus and Junia . . . Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord; also his mother, who has been a mother to me as well. (Rom. 16:7, 13)
Paul writes, “Greet Andronicus and Junia” (Rom. 16:7), most likely a married couple and leaders of one of the house churches in Rome. Junia is a woman’s name. Some have argued that it is Junias, a man’s name, because it is impossible that a woman could be “prominent among the apostles” (NRSV). However, it is possible that Junia was one of the 500 who encountered the risen Jesus (1 Cor. 15:6), or from the beginning she gave apostolic testimony of the resurrection of Jesus.
Paul also writes, “Greet Rufus.” In Mark 15:21 we learn that Simon of Cyrene was compelled to carry Jesus’s cross. The gospel of Mark tells us that Simon of Cyrene was “the father of Alexander and Rufus.” Rufus would have learned from his father the account of carrying the cross of Jesus. Paul goes on to greet Rufus’s mother, “a mother to me as well” (Rom. 16:13). In Acts 13:1-3, after the Holy Spirit set apart Paul and Barnabas, leaders at Antioch laid hands on them and sent them off to do mission work. Perhaps at Antioch, Paul and Rufus’s mother met.
Andronicus, Junia, Rufus, and Rufus’s mother were living testimonies of Jesus Christ in the house churches of Rome. Today, we do not have the early witnesses of the resurrection in our pews, but we do have the living presence of saints in our pews who know the Lord Jesus Christ.
As you pray, give thanks for the saints who have shared their testimony of Jesus Christ with you.
Kent Fry is a retired pastor and visiting research fellow at the Van Raalte Institute in Holland, Michigan. He and his wife, Joyce, are active members of Second Reformed Church in Zeeland, Michigan. Kent is an active cyclist, and he and Joyce enjoy time with their children and grandchildren.
