You know...the older I get, the more I like Paul. There was a time that I couldn't hear him very well, because of (what felt like) his constant slams on women (yeah...barely "constant," but to my ears it was.). Anyhoo (sic), thanks to the help of age and some study, I've come to understand that - given his setting - he was a wildly inclusive man (even of women!). So, I come to Paul today, or at least to this part of Paul's letter to the Galatians (Gal. 1:1-12...It may be worth having it in front of you to get the full impact...I even personally handed out bibles before the sermon yesterday...fairly bold, for me), envious that I can't get away with what he says (not because I am a woman...but because I am not as daring as him).
He starts out in his normal lovely way: "Paul an apostle...To the churches in Galatia...Grace to you and peace..." (I steal my sermon opener from him..."Grace and peace to you..." but that's about as far as I go...because just when the Galatians are thinking: "How nice to get a letter from Pr. Paul"...all the sudden WHAMO!) "I am astonished!"
"I am astonished (I'm looking at verse 6) that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ (he's talking about God/Holy Spirit, not himself) and are turning to a different gospel - not that there is another gospel." What he's saying is "I am astonished at how quickly you are selling out!" "I am astonished at how quickly you go from embracing the freedom Christ has given, to putting up barriers to the very freedom you claim to be celebrating!" "I am astonished!" I said that over and over during my sermon, yesterday. Then after worship a bunch of us stayed to "take on" the moth-infestation in the church kitchen. One man, named Mike, just kept opening cabinet doors and drawers and saying, "I am astonished!" It was really pretty funny, but I guess you had to be there.
Anyhoo (sic), here's the thing. For Paul's folks (and for us), the freedom of Christ meant that everyone was welcomed into the love of Jesus...EVERYONE...No conditions, except for the ones who put conditions on it...no exclusions except for those who exclude. Make sense? So, when these other folks come along proclaiming a "different gospel" and say, "Well sure, the love of Jesus is for everyone, as long as they practice good covenant behavior (i.e. get circumcised)," that's a problem...An astonishing problem. BUT, before we write them off too quickly as hyper-legalists, we need to remember that circumcision is a covenant necessity mandated by none other than God. For example, in Gen. 17.14, we find God saying: "Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant." Major identity issue for these people. But Paul is saying something radically different...He is saying because of Jesus, the ENTIRE world has been changed. Because of Jesus, all bets are off...ALL previous allegiances are null and void. Because of Jesus, there is NOTHING that can keep you out of covenant with God//apart from God's love. For us, this may not sound so crazy... But, as Wendy Farley says: "This would mean a sacrifice of the customs that had held the Jewish people together over many centuries...It would mean betraying their heritage." It would be like telling a Lutheran that sola scriptura is no longer relevant (which is a wonderful conversation to have...because what Luther intended as a more accessible means of encountering God, and a way that was available to even more folks b/c of the timely invention of the printing press...got turned into biblical literalism...something Luther did NOT intend). Or, even more threatening, it would be like telling folks that baptism is not necessary as a means of access to God's love in Jesus, or as a litmus test for someone's faithfulness. Farley goes on to say: "The deeper issue for contemporary Christians remains Paul's notion that faith relativizes even the most precious parts of a religion's authorities and practices...[He] (Paul) puts us in the terrible position of either being heretics to tradition...or being heretics to the gospel by clinging to religious norms [of exclusive behavior]."
The challenge for us is, I believe...or at least, the FIRST challenge for us is to name the things that we set up as "stumbling blocks" (what a good "Jesus phrase") to others' encountering and experience and living in the freedom of the Love which will go all the way to the cross rather than be limited. First, we have to be brave enough to name the stumbling blocks we set up...Then we can talk about getting rid of them. We will likely be astonished when we open our own metaphorical cabinet doors and drawers and see how infested our lives have become with the presence of love-limiting moths (as it were).
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