Meditation for 9 June 2010
The Rev. Peter A. Munson
Galatians 5:1-6

1For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
2 Listen! I, Paul, am telling you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. 3Once again I testify to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the entire law. 4You who want to be justified by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. 5For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love.
Change and Desiring Something Better
The Galatian churches had been founded by Paul, and the Gospel he preached was a gospel of Jesus Christ, based in the concept that we are “justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:24) Some other Christian missionaries came along after Paul, and evidently told the new Christians in Galatia that they now must be circumcised, as a sign of their inclusion in God’s covenant. Paul grew up as a faithful Jew, and was “as to the law, a Pharisee… as to righteousness under the law, blameless” (Philippians 3:5-6). As such, he had tried to keep every tenet of the Jewish law before his conversion to Christ, and – as part of his conversion – realized that he could not be justified through keeping the law. Justification… salvation… reconciliation with God – all of it – was pure grace, pure gift – and something that could be received only by faith. If the Galatians now submitted to circumcision, they would be obliged to “obey the entire [Jewish] law” (verse 3 above), and that would be submitting to a yoke of slavery (verse 1). Another way to put this might be, “Why would you trade in the good news for the not-so-good news?” Why would they trade grace for the onerous burden of keeping the entire Jewish law?
We human beings can be of two minds when it comes to change. There is part of us that likes to avoid change, and to a certain extent, that makes sense. For example, there is something to be said for knowing what your core values are, and sticking with those. In the Church, we call this holding on to the “essentials of the faith”. There are other times, though, when we want something different. In my experience, we are more open to change when our lives don’t feel very fulfilling, when there is a clear desire for something better.
Let me illustrate.
By the time I was 21, I had been going to church my entire life. (Yes, even through college; okay, I was a little weird!) But deep down, I was looking for something better. I knew I wanted a change. I wanted a more personal relationship with God, through Christ – the kind of relationship I saw in some of my peers, and in some older adults. And so I prayed for that when I was 21. I prayed for a change.
I think some people are fine being single. But when I was in my 20’s, I knew that I didn’t want to be single for the rest of my life. I knew that I wanted to be married. I knew that I wanted to be a father. For me, fulfillment in life had something to do with being married and having a family, and so I was ready for that change. Being married to Julia and the father of Zach and Hannah, though not all easy street, has brought me deep fulfillment.
When I was in law school, I was “making the grade”, but I was in inner turmoil. I was wondering if becoming a lawyer was the path for me. The deeper the turmoil became, the deeper the desire I had for something better. So even after completing those three years and earning a law degree, I was ready for a change. (You might say I was looking to move from law to grace, once again!)
More recently, I have realized that – when you weigh everything out – I have a much easier time having a close relationship with God than I do having close relationships with other people. But our call is not just to be strong in one or the other. The call of God is a three-pronged call – to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, and soul… to love our neighbors… and to love ourselves. (Matthew 22:37-39) I was ready for a change, because I knew I had some work to do in the area of loving others, and in the area of loving myself. And so, when Julia starting telling me about the work of Gay and Katie Hendricks, and that they were teachers of conscious relationship skills, I basically said, “That’s what I need; that’s what I want”, and I signed up.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is about grace and love. It’s about being reconciled to God, to each other, and to ourselves. And it’s about ongoing transformation – of us as individuals, and of us as the Church (the Bride of Christ). We can’t be transformed unless we are willing to go through some change. Perhaps what intrigued the Galatians about circumcision was that they were open to change. Perhaps they thought, “Maybe we who have always been “the Gentiles” should live more like the Jews. Maybe then our lives would be better.” Paul came along and said, “Not so fast! You’ve already been introduced to the most amazing news ever proclaimed! Be careful that you don’t go backwards, and take on a yoke of slavery.”
But there is – in every one of us, I think – a desire for a better life. Better should not necessarily be confused with “more”. But there is no doubt in my mind that Jesus came to offer us a better way, and a better life. And to receive that life, we must be open to changing.