Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas
+ INJ +
Grace to you and peace from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to set us free
from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom
be the glory forever and ever. Amen.[1]
This morning begins a sermon series
that will continue throughout the summer. I’m calling it “Grace be with you”
because that phrase and similar ones are commonly used in some of the books of
the New Testament, specifically in the epistles – or letters – of the New
Testament. Because so much of the New Testament is made up of these letters, I
thought it would be good to spend some focused time looking at them together.
Our lectionary helps us with this.
In our assigned readings this summer, we have over a month of Galatians, then
several weeks of Colossians, then several weeks of the book of Hebrews. These
are the three books, then, upon which we will focus this summer.
In looking at these letters, it is
important to remember that we are, essentially, reading someone else’s mail.
Just like if we are to read a letter actually written to someone else, there
are things in the New Testament letters that don’t necessarily make sense to us
right away because they aren’t addressed to us individually or to our church
community.
An illustration of what I mean is
found in one of my commentaries on Galatians. The author tells the story of
some “poor friars who planned to raise money for a new bell tower by selling
flowers from the friary garden. Their business became so popular that it
adversely affected the trade of the local florist, who tried by various means
to get the friars to sell honey or bread instead. Finally, he hired the local
thug, Hugh McNails, who beat up the friars and persuaded them to close their
flower shop. The moral of the story is: Only Hugh can prevent florist friars.”[2]
If this wordplay seems familiar to
you, it’s because it’s reminiscent of a popular public service announcement
which many of us in the United States have heard over and over: “Only you can
prevent forest fires,” says Smokey the Bear. However, it is important to note
that, outside the United States, this slogan is virtually unknown. A European
hearing the same story about Hugh and the florist friars would probably not
groan or laugh the way some of us did.[3]
So it is when we open the mail of
the Christians of the First Century. There will be parts that make perfect
sense to us – ideas that need little explanation. But other parts will need
more work for us because we live at a much different time and in a much
different culture than the ancients did.
For starters, their letters begin
differently than ours do. Verses 1-5 are Paul’s salutation. Where we might
start off with “Dear brothers and sisters,” and then jump right in to the rest
of the letter, Paul begins by identifying himself. And not only identifying
himself as the author of the letter, but as one who can speak authoritatively
about Jesus Christ because he has been sent by God. This is Paul’s mini-resumé.
Now, normally, in his letters, Paul
would include next some words of thanksgiving for the readers. But not in
Galatians! He launches, instead: “I am astonished that you are so quickly
deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a
different gospel—not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are
confusing you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.”[4]
What’s going on here?
This is a baby church – one started
by Paul very early in the years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. One of the
biggest issues facing these earliest Christ-followers was the issue of
inclusion. Remember that the first followers of Jesus were largely Jews –
people of faith who had a whole system of religious beliefs and practices
already well established. Problem is, that Holy Spirit fell out upon a bunch of
non-Jews (aka Gentiles), and so one of the biggest questions of the day was: do
non-Jewish Christians have to follow the same religious practices as Jewish
Christians in order to be Christian?
Apparently after Paul had left
Galatia, some other Christian teachers came and said that the gospel Paul
preached wasn’t quite enough – that there would be more required of them, as it
turned out, in order for them to be true followers of Jesus. These other
teachers were trying to impose some of these Jewish practices onto their
non-Jewish brothers and sisters, and they were calling it the true gospel. These
other teachers, then, were causing great confusion among the Christians in
Galatia.
Paul, meanwhile, is so strongly
opposed to what these other teachers are saying that he actually says they
should be “accursed!”[5]
This is strong language from Paul, and to our ears, it sounds like he’s being a
bit of a jerk. But his strong language is meant to convey his point strongly –
that the gospel of Jesus is a gospel of freedom. A gospel of grace. A gospel of
peace. And much of this letter, we’ll find out, reinforces these ideas of
freedom, grace, and peace.
We may be reading mail that is
addressed to someone else, but the message is here for us, also – the message
of freedom, grace, and peace. How often do we wonder if we’re doing all the
right things so that God will love us? How often do we hear blame assigned –
that these bad things happen because of someone not following God strictly
enough? How often do we question if God’s love really is big enough, or strong
enough, or deep enough to reach to wherever we are and to lift us up?
The message is here for us, also,
and we need it as much as those “foolish Galatians”[6]
did almost two thousand years ago. We need God’s words of freedom and grace and
peace, and not only for ourselves, but also to proclaim this message the world
– a world that may not know about God or care about God but that desperately
needs to hear words of freedom and grace and peace. Let us, then, be the
messengers of this gospel – this good news.
May the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.[7]
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