I opted to preach today on the New Testament reading, something I don’t often do! We read from the book of Acts on Pentecost Sunday, sometimes called the Christian Church’s birthday, about the very beginnings of this new religious movement, centered around the teachings of one Jesus of Nazareth, whom his followers claimed to be the Messiah, now the resurrected Christ. This letter from Paul to the church in Galatia was written, scholars presume “some time between the late forties and early fifties”[1] of the first century of the Common Era. It gives us insight into some of the challenges facing this still new and developing Christian movement. Galatia was “a region in north central Turkey; Ankara, the capital of modern Turkey (which was) once a major Galatian city (Ancyra)”[2] In this letter to the members of the Galatian Church, Paul was addressing a concern that was a serious issue for those group of early believers, a group consisting of both Jews and Gentiles. ‘Gentile’ is a term used by Jewish people to describe those who aren’t Jews. So this new church is comprised of Jews and Gentiles, bound by their new faith in Christ and his teachings. And they were trying to figure out how to come together and form a faith community. But these two groups of people came from entirely different styles of life, completely different backgrounds and ethnicities. Jews and Gentiles ate different foods; they had different customs. So, two totally different cultures trying to figure out what it meant to be Christian -- together. And we think we have disagreements and differences of opinion in our churches today! I think it might pale in comparison to the challenges that these early Christians must have faced!
In a nutshell, the first century church kept getting bogged down in what rules they should live by, what was the right way to live. They were learning what it meant to be Christians, together, as they were trying to live it. It was all so new, no books of Christian theology, or creeds or confessions of faith had been written just quite yet! And this is why Paul wrote all those letters to the various churches, for the Galatians, the Corinthians, the Romans, the Thessalonians, the Colassians -- to help settle disagreements in practice, ideology and theology; helping the people to understand who Jesus the Christ was, what his teachings were and what being one of his adherents, his followers meant to their way of life. I guess you could call it Christianity 101 through on the job training! The Jews wanted the Gentiles to abide by their laws, and the Gentiles weren’t too sure about the need for that. One commentary I read stated the problem was: “How much like a Jew does a Gentile need to be in order to be a Christian?”[3] Now, to be fair, the Gentiles certainly had their own issues, which Paul deals with in some of his other letters.
So, combining Jews and Gentiles into one body of believers wasn’t easy, and it was a huge issue for the early church, and this is what Paul is addressing in this part of the letter we read this morning. When you think about it, it’s truly amazing Christianity even came to be religion—a religious movement of mixed ethnic groups, based on the teachings of a convicted insurrectionist, who was put to death by the state! This had to be from God, it had to be Holy Spirit inspired, or it would never have thrived!
The Jews knew who they were and where they came from; their extensive early history is essentially our Old Testament. Over the centuries they developed their way of life, based on the laws given them by Moses. They were God’s chosen people, the heirs of Abraham, and God had made promises to Abraham. One of which was the promise of a Messiah, and for those who believed, that Saviour was Jesus. Now, Judaism is more than a culture, Jews are born into their religion. So the question for many was: “Gentiles are not natural (born) heirs. So how do God’s promises apply”[4] to both the Jews, the covenant people of God, and to the Gentiles who were now also trying to live their life as followers of Jesus? In other words, who’s in, who’s out and how do we decide whose way is the right way to do things? I can just hear the arguments, the Jews on one side saying ‘Well, Jesus was a Jew and we’ve always done it like this, so if those new people, those Gentiles want to come on board, it’s ok, but they need to do it our way.’
Paul is telling them all, you’re missing the point of Jesus’ message: a “new age of faithfulness has dawned in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.”[5] He tells the Jews that before Jesus, they lived according to the laws of Moses, the Torah (essentially the first five books of our Old Testament) and those laws ruled, guided and prescribed how to behave. Paul acknowledges that these rules were, like a disciplinarian or “a tutor…a gift from God (that guided and ruled them until they had matured enough) to receive their full inheritance when Christ came. The law was given to prepare (them) for Christ’s coming.”[6] So in fact, this now was a new faith in Christ which was for all people, into which they were all baptized, Jews and Gentiles. Once baptized in Christ, everyone had full membership in the family of God; it was a new way of life, a different way. The old laws were no longer necessary; you could say they had graduated. So, both the Jews and the Gentiles now had a drastic change in their status.[7] They were a new covenant people, joined together in a new equality!
It was a radical statement for its day -- totally counter to the way their very socially structured cultures taught and lived. Paul was saying that everyone could inherit the gift of God’s love and Christ’s saving grace: Jew or Gentile, a slave or free person, men and women. They were all one in Christ, all valued equally by God for who they were, not where they came from or what they did. The challenge was for each to accept and love the other as a full brother or sister in Christ in this new church community, not change them or judge them according to who they were or what they did, all were equal in the sight of God, all living Jesus’ way.
This concept of inclusiveness is not something that Christians have done a particularly wonderful job of across the millennia. It’s still a radical concept today—even in Canada, a country viewed as more tolerant than many others. We talk the talk, but we don’t always do so great a job of walking it. If we updated Paul’s list for today’s world, what would it look like? Well, we know there are still churches who don’t allow women to take specific roles, ordained or otherwise, just because they are women. Canada’s record with aboriginal peoples is less than stellar, shall we say, and still leaves much to be desired. June is pride month, and there are those who are still not comfortable accepting LBTQ+ folk for who they are, never mind allowing gay couples to marry, or ordaining openly gay clergy. How comfortable would you be if I suggested we fly the rainbow flag beside the church door? How comfortable would you feel with an aboriginal sage grass ceremony as the opening to a Sunday liturgy? How welcoming would we be if a homeless person, in desperate need of a shower on an hot steamy Sunday came to our Sunday service? Or someone with a rather obvious mental health issue joined us, maybe disrupting worship? How welcome do you think a black, or brown or Asian person would feel in our very white congregation? Of course we would welcome them! But what if they wanted to bring some of their traditions and music to the worship service and suggest we do things differently?
Please do not take this as finger pointing, it’s not to be meant as such at all. It’s more of an exercise in personal awareness, you could say, stretching you to consider concepts and ideas you might not have considered before. We are a pretty homogenous group in the way we look and in our attitudes and culture, so we don’t have to often consider ‘the other’, those who are different from us. Our society still does judge people based on social distinctions, on gender differences, sexuality, skin colour, ethnicity, health status and wealth status. We still aren’t always so accepting of differences, in the church or outside the church. We, here, are mostly an older group, change is challenging for older folk. Our traditions are important, they reflect the ways of our fore fathers and mothers. It might be especially challenging if newcomers brought in new ideas which may force us to consider a different way of doing things.
Just consider how difficult it must have been for those first century Jews to re-think being the children of Abraham and think of themselves not necessarily as Jews, but as Christians. And re-think their ideas about Gentiles, non-Jews, who they had always shunned—and now were their equals. Jesus preached radical inclusivity—that is the message of the parable of the Good Samaritan. God did a new thing in Christ Jesus. And in Christ, through the Holy Spirit, a new people, was formed. This was Paul’s message to the Jews and Gentiles in the new communities he was instrumental in forming.
Paul explained that it was like being “locked up” by their law. (3:23) Letting it go freed them from the restrictions of the old laws; they were clothed anew in the light of Christ. How exciting it must have been for them, but how difficult! It’s easier to do what we’ve always done, to hang on to the familiar. We as Christians don’t have those laws to let go of, just traditional ways of doing things and attitudes that are just as strongly entrenched, often passed down to us from our ancestors. New ways of thinking and doing and accepting means letting go of the old ideas, maybe even the need to take a risk on something new, and that can be frightening. And then consider what traditions and beliefs are non-negotiable—because they are foundational to who and that we are!
God continues to do new things; that is the nature of God, to continually renew, to bring new life. That is the story of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection! To renew God’s church is to renew God’s people. God doesn’t give up on us! God’s kingdom in Christ will continue, through the working of the Holy Spirit. The Good news is God wants us to be a part of it!
[1] The New Oxford Annotated Bible, Third Edition. Michael Coogan ed. (Oxford University Press: Oxford/New York. 2001) 309 New Testament
[2] https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/new-testament/who-were-the-galatians-in-the-bible/ accessed June 15.22
[3] Douglas, Mark. “Theological Perspective for Galatians 3: 23-29” in Feasting on the Word (Westminster John Knox Press: Louisville, Ky) 2010. 160
[4] Ibid 160 Douglas, Mark.
[5] Bryant, Robert A. “Exegetical Perspective for Galations 3: 23-29” in Feasting on the Word (Westminster John Knox Press: Louisville, Ky) 2010. 161
[6] Bryant, 163
[7] Henrich, Sarah. Commentary for Sunday June 23, 2013. on Galatians 3: 23-29, From www.workingpreacher.com