The Rev. Kathi Johnson
C Lectionary 11 – 16 June 2013
Text: Galatians 2: 15-21
Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas
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Grace to you and peace from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ…to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.[1]
With the decision to focus on three
of the epistles – or letters – this summer, I’ve been thinking about letters
lately. I have a confession to make: I have boxes of mail - cards, post cards,
and, especially, letters. Some of them are mine – meaning some of them were
sent to me from someone, or from me to someone. The majority of this mail,
however, actually belonged to other family members: my parents and
grandparents, in particular.
Back in the “olden days,” mail was
how family news was shared. I have the letters from my mother to my father (who
was in SE Asia with the Air Force) giving him the good news of her pregnancy. I
have the letter that my father wrote to her in response – plus many of the
letters that swirled around the family as the news of my impending arrival
circulated.
My grandmother Inglis – my dad’s
mom – was a masterful letter-writer. She, like my father, loved the written
word – loved putting pen to paper to express viewpoints or to tell stories. Granny’s
letters were always chock full of news, opinions, and advice - to the point where reading her letters is
like reading mini-newspapers about whatever was going on in the family at any
given time.
But what I remember most from
Granny’s letters is the artwork with which she would decorate them. When I was
a young child, especially, she would often cover her letters, including the
envelopes, with funny, witty, clever drawings. These letters and envelopes,
then, became an expression of whatever it was she was trying to “put out there”
– her enthusiasm, her creativity, and her love.
The way she decorated her mail showed her strong desire to share all of
these things with us.
In today’s lesson from Galatians 2,
Paul puts his thesis statement “out there” – What’s a thesis statement…? [It
presents the argument or idea that you are putting out there.]
Paul’s thesis to the Galatians is
found in verse 16: “…we know that a person is justified not by the works of the
law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ
Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the
works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.”
Paul then spends much of the rest
of this letter breaking down what all this means, and we’ll be breaking that
down, too, as we continue to look at Galatians together. What does it mean, for
instance, for Paul to say that a person isn’t justified by works at all – but rather
by faith in Jesus Christ?
We don’t really use the word
“justified” much outside the church. We can think of being justified in this
way: as sinful people, we are muddy. To say that God justifies us is to say
that God gives us water and the soap, and then washes us clean. And God does
this like any loving parent does with their own child – God does this over and
over and over again. And when our sinfulness muddies the water, God gives us
fresh water, and more soap, and then he washes us yet again.
What Paul is trying to express here
is the good news that it is God who justifies us – we do not justify
ourselves. We can try to follow every law, every rule, every commandment – and
we will surely fail. Paul’s argument is that our ability or inability to follow
laws, rules, and commandments really isn’t important because it is God
who justifies us.
What a relief! What a
relief to know that we are justified – we are washed clean – by God himself,
who loved us and gave himself up for us!
Knowing this, and trusting in this,
what do we then offer to others? What is it that we “put out
there”? Do we live our lives with the grace that has been shown to us by God?
Are we offering grace to others?
We have, of course, the perfect
model of grace in the life of Jesus Christ. He himself has shown us what grace
looks like by the way he lived his life – such as in the story in today’s
gospel lesson. A woman, who is very helpfully labeled “a sinner” for us by the
gospel writer Luke. She goes into a dinner party anoint Jesus’ feet. The other
guests at the dinner judge her actions, and then they judge Jesus for not
pushing this “sinner” away from himself.
What Jesus does, in fact, is show God’s loving grace to the woman by
first, forgiving her of her sins, and then second, by sending her away with his
peace. Both the forgiveness he offers and the peace he bestows are gifts to
her.
This is the model from Jesus that
we have for ourselves. Jesus: offering grace, shown through forgiveness and
peace given away – given away openly – given away extravagantly.
And so I ask again, what do we
offer to others? What is it that we “put out there,” especially as the
community of Jesus followers that we are here at Our Redeemer. Do we offer
grace, shown in our hospitality to others – maybe even those who are different
than we are? I think we do, and VBS is a prime example – we get kids of all ages,
shapes, sizes, and temperaments. VBS is most certainly a ministry in which we
have shown ourselves to be open and welcoming!
But in another week, VBS will be
over. How will we take that same spirit forward after VBS is over – that same
open, gracious, loving spirit? VBS makes it so easy for us to invite others to
come here and be with us for the week…and maybe beyond. But after VBS – our
lives should continue to reflect that same grace and peace, offered to others. After
it’s over, we should still be inviting – and I mean that as a verb! We should
be inviting!
It seems strange for me to say we
“should” be doing something – after all, I just finished saying that we are not
justified by the good works we do, and that it is God who justifies us.
But since this grace from God is truly a gift, isn’t it a gift that is worth
sharing? Isn’t it a gift that keeps giving?
In your mind’s eye, think of
someone specific in your life whom you know can use some grace. Or some
forgiveness. Or some peace. Imagine yourself gifting one of those to that
person. Imagine yourself offering hospitality to them here, and giving the rest
of us the opportunity to welcome them, too.
May we have the strength and
courage to “put ourselves out there,” to offer grace, to be forgiving, to give
peace, and to be inviting.
May the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters.[2]
Amen.
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