Loving God, in spite of our doubts and fears, you assure us that we belong to you through Christ.  By the power of your Spirit, strengthen us in our faith and empower us by your love, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

            Something like this may have happened to you recently:  You’re going along with your daily life, trying as best you can to think through what needs to happen over the next few days.  Then, an announcement happens.  Regulations will be changing within the next two days.  And suddenly, you have a lot of questions.  What is really allowed or not allowed?  What will need to be cancelled?  How will I (or my family, or my business) ever survive?  What now, and what does this mean?

         While it may be a different type of announcement, this is pretty much what happened to some of the people who lived in Galatia and who had come to believe in Jesus.  They had been rejoicing in the gift of the Holy Spirit.  They had been told by people like Paul that God had saved them through Jesus and had made them members of God’s family when they were baptized into Christ.  And then some people came from Jerusalem, made an announcement, and left them all with a lot of questions.

         The people who came said that they were not true believers.  The people from Jerusalem said that they had to keep the law of Moses – including being circumcised.  The people from Jerusalem said that they could only belong to God if they kept the law just like their Jewish brothers and sisters.  And so, they started to worry and were asking lots of questions.

         Was this true?  Was all of this left out when they were first told about Jesus?  Did they really have to learn all of the purity laws and stay away from food that was considered unclean?  And the men, especially, wondered if this was some sort of bait and switch, where they were baptized first and only found out later that circumcision needed to follow!

         Just imagine being told that you do not belong unless you do this, this, this, and this.  Imagine being told that your faith is misguided and you don’t really have salvation. Imagine being given a whole new set of rules that you never knew were part of believing in Jesus Christ.  Imagine being told that because you have not obeyed several verses in Leviticus (which is part of the law of Moses), you are unacceptable to God.

         If you can imagine these things, perhaps you can also imagine what it might have been like to receive Paul’s letter.  Paul tries to communicate to these Gentile believers beyond the shadow of a doubt that they belong in God’s family, and that God has acted to save them through Jesus.  In order to do this, Paul goes all the way back to Abraham and to the promise that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through him and Sarah and their descendants.  Paul focuses on the faith of Abraham and God’s promises to him in the past, and on God’s gift of the Holy Spirit in the present.

         Paul also communicates that the law of Moses was never intended to be an end in itself or a means of salvation.  Instead, “the Law was meant to guard us, to guide us, and to point us to the one who would make us whole, Jesus Christ” (workingpreacher.org).  There are still things in the Law that guide us in our relationship with God and with others – specifically, the commandments that were lifted up by Jesus in his life and teaching.

         Still, it is not keeping all of these commandments that saves us, but the faithfulness of Jesus, and God’s promise to us in baptism, and our faith in Jesus Christ.  When God looks at us, God does not see some who are Jews and some who are Gentiles.  God does not see some who are higher ranking, or more important Christians than others.  God does not see some who are more beloved or less beloved because of their gender, or social standing, or skin colour, or marital status, or even denominational affiliation.  Instead, God looks at us and sees Jesus.

         Rev. Dr. Harry Wendt refers to this as the “great exchange,” where our sins are given to Jesus on the cross and Jesus’ halo (or righteous life) is given to us instead (Crossways International).  This happens in baptism, where we are “clothed…with Christ” (Gal. 3:27).  The alb that I am wearing is a reminder of being clothed with Christ – just as the white robes are that are worn for confirmation, or affirmation of baptism.

         God says to us today through Paul’s letter to the Galatians, that we are God’s precious children – part of God’s family through our baptism into Christ.  God reminds us that we are beloved and we belong and we are blessed.  We, too, have been given the Holy Spirit, and are invited to rest in God’s love – especially at those times when our faith is being challenged and we are wearied by constant changes.  For, God knits us together in love by the Spirit who makes us one.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Easter 7 (NL 3)                                 Galatians 3:1-9, 23-29

May 16, 2021

St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church

Pastor Lynne Hutchison

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