An extract from the Letter to Diognetus is in the Office of Readings for December 18.  The letter, perhaps dating from the 3rd century, was written by an unknown educated Christian to a Roman official. Diognetus,  inquiring  about Christianity, 

“No one has ever seen God or known him, but God has revealed himself to us through faith, by which alone it is possible to see him. God, the Lord and maker of all things, who created the world and set it in order, not only loved man but was also patient with him. So he has always been, and is, and will be: kind, good, free from anger, truthful; indeed, he and he alone is good.”

God loves and is patient with humanity, even as human beings were being swept away by their passions and sins.              

The writer does not appeal  to the Jewish prophets or to the Jewish scriptures. Instead he describes a world of his day threatened with death and destruction because of its wickedness. 

Yet, God reveals his patience:“God bore with us , and in compassion took our sins upon himself; he gave his own Son as the price of our redemption, the holy one to redeem the wicked, the sinless one to redeem sinners, the just one to redeem the unjust, the incorruptible one to redeem the corruptible, the immortal one to redeem mortals. For what else could have covered our sins but his sinlessness? Where else could we, wicked and sinful as we were, have found the means of holiness except in the Son of God alone?” 

The Roman world described by the Christian writer to Diognetus seems to be  a world in trouble. Was it a world facing wars, perhaps, with barbarian armies breaking through its borders? Were large numbers of immigrants struggling to find a place to live in the Roman empire? Were Roman political structures breaking down? Was it a critical time?

If that were the world described, isn’t it like our world today? That world was looking for new wisdom and guidance the future. Did Diognetus come to believe in  Jesus Christ?

We pray that the people of our world welcome Jesus Christ.