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Zechariah 12:8-10, 13:1, Galatians 3:23-29, Luke 9:18-24
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, West Valley City, UT
The Rev'd W. Lee Shaw
We heard today one of my favorite passages from the letter to
the church in Galatia. One New Testament scholar noted that the
Epistle to the Galatians is the charter of freedom for Christians.
Throughout this letter, Paul notes the freedom and the grace we
have in the life of Christ Jesus. In our passage today he lays it
fully on the line: As many of you as were baptized into Christ
have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or
Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male
and female; for all of your are one in Christ Jesus.
What a wonderful image to be clothed with Christ. I have this image of Christ not just filling me with his spirit, but enfolding me with his grace, the shining garment of his grace. Paul makes it very clear that all are equal in Christ. He clearly depicts the reality of the first century as a Jewish person would understand them: you are either Jewish or Greek, i.e. Gentile (not Jewish), you are either male or female and your are either slave or free. In his world and estimated¼ t one third of especially population centers were slaves. This was part of the reality and economy of the ancient world and an accepted practice, even among Christians. Slavery was either a matter of economics; you sold a child or yourself into slavery because you were poor. Or a matter of politics: your tribe was defeated in war and the healthy men, women and children were sold as slaves.
These were the major categories for Paul and his world. I believe we could divide our world into many other pieces of the pie: male and female, white and non-white, rich and poor, first world and third world, gay and straight, legal and illegal immigrants, to mention just a few. But the truth of Paul's words holds: those differences do not matter in Christ. You have been clothed with Christ. You are all one—all one—in Christ.
One of the struggles of the church, and here I mean the Christian Church not any one denomination, is seeing all of her members as one in Christ Jesus. This is one of our corporate sins, in not seeing each of us as one and the same in the Body of Christ, the church.
But, even as we are all seen by God as one in Christ, there is also an expectation of what that means in our lives. Grace is a free gift of God to us through Jesus Christ. We are justified, made right relationship with God despite our sinfulness and fallen nature, through faith in Christ and God's faith in us. As much as our faith is key to our relationship with God, God's faithfulness to his people has been throughout the ages one thing that has brought them back into relationship when their own faith faltered. We have only to look at how God calls Israel through the patriarchs and prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures, again and again God yearns for their return to him, through the faithfulness of God in them. We see the same in the Christian Scriptures as Jesus calls all to his message, even sinners and outsiders. The Samaritan woman at the well cannot stop being a Samaritan, but Jesus has faith in her despite her, at best checkered past.
Perhaps the greatest teaching in this is the parable of the Loving or Generous Father for his prodigal son. The father's faith and love in his wayward boy welcomes the son back into relationship with the father.
Yet, even as grace is freely given, grace can be freely rejected. Luke notes that we are to take up our cross daily and follow Christ. This is a decision of action and obedience. Our response to the grace fully given is to take up our responsibility, at whatever cost, and follow the One who has called us in his name. Invitation and response. Gift and acceptance.
To follow the Christ often requires sacrifice. The gift of grace is given as invitation to follow the Christ, which requires decisions. How do I respond? What do I give up? What do I take on? The good news in this is that it is not a one shot deal. This is a journey with Jesus and as fellow pilgrims we discover who we are in relationship to God and who we are in relationship with each other.
A few examples from our own life and work: We give up a Sunday
morning on a beautiful June day to join with the community in
the prayers and the breaking of the bread, while you could be out
golfing or fishing or reading the paper on your patio with a cup
of coffee. We look at how we can serve others, not because we get
paid for it, but because God calls us to serve others in his name.
We try so hard, so hard, to love our neighbor as ourselves, even
when he or she really irritates us. We know that the next part of
saying, I believe
is to give of our ourselves in stewardship in
time and talent and money for the community. To take up the cross
also means to write the check, to give an offering to the church,
the Body of Christ in the world for ministry.
Grace is fully and completely given as a free gift. To accept it,
however, means taking up the cross of obedience to our Lord: love
of God, love of neighbor, love of ourselves. In that is included
our responsibilities of shared commitment and care for our community
in all forms from time to talent to money. This is our response
to a loving God, who as we prayed earlier, You never fail to help
and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your
loving-kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.