June 26, 2016
Galatians 5: 1, 13-25
Rev. Joy R. Haertig
“May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight
O God, our Strength and our Redeemer.”
Author and scholar John Dominic Crossan begins his book on the Apostle Paul saying: “Paul has
been called by many names, most of them nasty.”
Yet in the New Testament, 13 of the 27 books are attributed to him and his story dominates the
book of Acts. I rarely preach from Paul’s writings because he is complicated and honestly,
besides not always agreeing with his interpretation, I like story-oriented writings more than his
letters – but I found this piece intriguing and so I will share some thoughts on it today.
Paul’s mission, though Jewish himself, is really focused on taking Jesus’ teachings into nonJewish cities and towns. There is a great deal of conflict as Jewish followers of Jesus, and
Gentiles or pagan converts struggle to figure out what their relationship will be and how to
practice their faith.
Today’s reading is a good example of that very thing. In Galatia, Paul is dealing with pretty
much all converts from paganism, so they have never practiced the Law of Moses. While Paul’s
emphasis is on following Jesus and not the Law of Moses, there are other preachers who
believed differently. The specific issue in this particular section of the letter is whether the new
male converts would need to be circumcised, an important practice in the Jewish community
and central to their identity.
Just thinking about it makes me cringe – but on the other hand, in the big picture it is the
eternal question as to whether it is helpful for us humans to have religious laws around specific
behavior and actions as a way of identifying our allegiance, as well as soothing worries and
anxieties in regards to making “right choices”, or whether those laws are a stumbling block to
God’s grace and love for others.
As I understand it: Paul supports the Jewish followers of Jesus in continuing to uphold the Law
of Moses because it is part of their tradition and carries meaning. And he believes that the
Gentile/pagan converts to the way of Jesus, were to follow the spirit of the law (which is love),
rather than the letter of it. That being said then, if circumcision was a literal act that
symbolized allegiance to the way of Judaism, then new, non-Jewish converts were freed from
the literal law, but would “circumcise” their hearts and minds. Making an inner commitment to
the way of Jesus that would give shape to their daily lives.
Mind you, at one point Paul was most certainly the kind of person that vehemently believed in
following the external laws and rituals of Moses as a sign of allegiance to the one true God.
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After a spiritual visit from the Spirit of the Risen Jesus, he came to believe that it was less about
duty to specific laws and rituals within a chosen group and more about the fruits of the Spirit
that were to be shared, with all and in all aspects of life (personal, religious, and civic). The
fruits of the Spirit are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness,
and self-control.”
In Paul’s mind this new understanding was all about freedom – not the freedom to do anything
you want or to care only about yourself; nor was it the freedom to violently condemn those
who were not the same as you. It was the freedom to choose to be faithful to the law of love –
the ethic of love - and to live it.
20th century religious thinker Reinhold Niebuhr put it this way: “Basically love means…being
responsible, responsible to our family, toward our civilization, and now by the pressures of
history, toward the universe of humankind.”
This understanding of freedom really lit Paul on fire, and so he was driven to open wide the
doors of faith to let others enter in ways that made sense to them rather than burdening them
with religious rituals or laws that held no meaning in their context. For Paul, inspired by Jesus –
the focus became the love of neighbor (whether Jewish or Gentile, male or female) and the
fruits of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, kindness, generosity and faithfulness.” (Gal 5: 22)
This was extremely threatening for some – and a liberating breath of fresh air for others.
Of course these differences in understanding the role of religion is still true today as we fight
our religious, political, and cultural wars, so often losing sight of the foundational law of love
and its’ ethic of justice. At times even twisting it into an evil manifestation of hate, all in the
name of God as we witnessed two weeks ago in Orlando, Florida.
An article I read by a professor of Philosophy at a private college in New York wrote this about
Omar Mateen, the man who murdered 49 and wounded 50 more: “Omar Mateen was a
product of our own American society. A society that fosters a cultural norm of masculinity that
celebrates a man’s right to kill; that overrides a sense of connectedness to others and even
celebrates the lone wolf who “rights the wrongs” of the world with violence and guns.” (And, I
would add --- we call that FREEDOM) (Ludger Viefues-Baley: Professor of Philosophy at
LeMoyne College)
This article hit me in the gut. I don’t want his words to be true. I want to believe that we live in
a country that is more inspired and guided by the ethics and fruits of love that inspired and
shaped Paul’s understanding of freedom and responsibility. Yet this article served as a
reminder of how often we fail to teach, model, and foster the foundational ethic of love of
neighbor whether we are Jewish, Christian, Muslim, atheist, agnostic, New Age, Wicca; male or
female, GLBT or straight…
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In so many ways we do foster the way of violence and are then surprised when someone
actually acts on it. Omar Mateen got it all wrong – but not just because he had a mental break,
there are many, many pieces to the causes behind this horror, and ---like it or not ---perhaps we
need to not always point the finger away from ourselves. We know his actions do not
represent the true meaning or intent of Islam or the ideals of America, and yet maybe like Paul
– we have found ourselves at a crucial turning point when we need to look closely at what we
are modeling, fostering and upholding as the true meaning of freedom and love.
Like us, Paul struggled daily with how to live the law and ethic of love he found through Jesus.
It is not easy as we are hit by the reality of “the flesh” – we feel vulnerable and afraid as we
struggle in our differences. We often – as Paul said, “want to bite and devour one another”
rather than live by the Spirit. It is hard work to not simply focus on our own needs and the
needs of the small circle in which we live…It is hard work to direct our anger towards
restorative justice rather than revenge. Yet we have chosen to come here and be a part of this
community of faith; to try and ground our hearts and lives in the higher purpose that Christ
calls us to. We are here because we have not given up hope or the will to try and live by the
Spirit of love rather than fear. We recognize that we are free to choose how we shall live as
people who trust and follow a Still-speaking God of Love. May that God help us foster the fruits
of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and selfcontrol.” (Galatians 5: 22) Amen.
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