Galatians 1.14 “I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.”
-has something like this ever happened to you?
-several weeks ago, I was preaching and leading worship at Holy Spirit of Peace Anglican/Lutheran church in Mississauga,
-and I noticed a woman in the congregation that I thought I recognized,
-but I could not recall either her name, nor the context in which I knew her
-after the service she greeted me and introduced herself
-and only then did I recognize her as Gloria
-who had been the administrative assistant in the Pastoral Care Department of the Mississauga Hospital for many years
-it turns out that our capacity for facial recognition is highly dependent upon context
-we recognize more readily people, like family and friends whom we encounter often across a variety of contexts
-we struggle, however, to recognize those people whom we usually encounter in only one context when we meet them outside of that usual context
-in such cases we usually ask the often repeated question,
-“From where do I know you?”
-we search for context in our desire to perceive recognition
-because recognition,
-particularly facial recognition relies heavily upon context
-in our Second Reading for today, we hear St. Paul making his case before the new Christians of Galatia, a region in today’s central Turkey,
-against some people who are claiming that God employs a similar reliance upon context in recognizing the faith response of people to the salvation offered in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ
-God, these people say,
-depends upon context
-not for face recognition
-but for faith recognition of those people who have come to believe in the gift of salvation from sin given to them in the death and resurrection of Jesus
-and the context upon which God relies exclusively for this faith recognition is the history, heritage, and relationship that God has with the people of Israel
-now, these people are not saying that God hates Gentiles
-or that God does not care about anyone who is not Jewish
-but when it comes to the relationship of covenant and faith,
-Israel is the first and only people with whom God has made a covenant
-the Jew’s are God’s chosen people,
-set aside, for better, and for worse at times,
-to embody the presence of God’s care, concern, and justice in the world
-God sustains all of life
-but Israel enjoys God’s particular favour
-God is deeply invested in the life of Israel so that it might embody God’s identity within its life as a community
-no matter how disobedient, disloyal, and unfaithful to God’s ways Israel has proved itself to be in the past,
-God’s covenant has never been superseded or revoked
-God’s recognition of people as people of faith
-can only happen, these people argue,
-within the context of God’s covenant with Israel
-God’s capacity for faith recognition is set permanently within the context of God’s covenant with Israel
-that is why, these people claim,
-in order for people to come to faith in the saving grace of God revealed in the death and resurrection of Jesus,
-in particular, the large number of Gentiles, who are now becoming Christians
-they must also become Jewish
-if not by blood
-then, at least, by practice and observance
-their faith in Christ can only be completed and attain its highest fulfillment
-if they are also circumcised into the covenant of Israel
-as a physical symbol of their commitment to keeping the laws and traditions
-through which God is revealed to the world
-the faith of those baptized into Christ can only be completed and fulfilled
-by their circumcision into the life and covenant of Israel
-because God recognizes no other commitment of faith
-these ancient arguments may appear to be obscure and irrelevant to us post-modern people in our social context of interfaith tolerance and harmony,
-but how often do we find ourselves operating under the assumption
-that our own traditions as well as our cultural and theological structures represent the culmination and completion of faith?
-or in the words of the bumper sticker that my daughter once placed upon our van
-Jesus loves you
-but I’m his favourite
-those other churches and denominations may make some good points from time to time
-but their witness is compromised by their limited perspective and prejudice
-at best they embody only part of the true faith
-if you want the real deal,
-the whole story,
-the complete package
-you can only find it in the Church of England with its continuity of history and its embrace of so many different perspectives within the unity of one communion
-or is it the Lutheran church with its well developed theology, its Bach chorales, and its covered dish suppers?
-actually, every denomination has a tendency to think of its context as the completion of faith
-you can be a faithful Christian in almost any church
-but the context in which God’s grace finds its fullest response in faith is most obviously the Anglican one
-God’s faith recognition is most fully attuned to the Anglican context
-in a way, we have to believe that about ourselves
-otherwise we would end up like the Unitarians who became Jehovah’s Witnesses and went door to door for no particular reason
-if we were to take a survey among Christians,
-most would agree with Paul’s opponents who were saying that the Gospel is dependent upon the context in which it is believed
-God cannot offer salvation to people
-unless they put themselves into the context in which God can recognize them as God’s people of faith
-that context could be Jewish, or Anglican, or Lutheran, or Catholic, or Unitarian
-but unless it conforms to the proper context,
-their faith is partial, incomplete, and lacking in the fulfillment of God’s recognition
-the Apostle Paul, however, takes issue with this perspective on faith and salvation
-if Jesus’ death and resurrection can only save those people who are already in a covenant of salvation,
-then God’s grace is robbed of its power to save
-if the resurrection only applies to those who are already in a context of redemptive love,
-then it becomes redundant
-in fact, says St. Paul,
-God’s grace and salvation, revealed in the death and resurrection of Jesus,
-is most fully extended to those who are outside of any context
-the grace of Jesus Christ has the power to reconcile any and all believers to the reality of God’s presence in the world
-whether those believers happen to be in a Jewish context or not
-there is nothing half-way or incomplete in the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection
-it does not need to be supplemented by any pre-existing context in order for it to be fulfilled
-it is already fulfilled in the lives of everyone who lives toward their salvation in its faith
-God recognizes the faith of all who believe in God’s Son because God was fully present in the life, death, and resurrection of that Son
-Christians do not have to become Jews in order to be recognized by God as people of faith
-the baptized do not have to be circumcised in order to fulfill their faith by becoming Jews
-that does not mean that God has abandoned the Jewish people and their context
-the covenant extends as far back as time itself
-and will continue into the future beyond what anyone can imagine
-God loves Israel with a deep and abiding love
-Jesus was a Jew whose ministry was conducted primarily within a Jewish context
-but God and Jesus are bigger than Israel
-God’s capacity for faith recognition is not restricted to one particular context
-the Gospel is in no need of supplementation or completion by subjecting it to another context
-it offers the caring presence of God in its entire fulfillment
-“I held nothing back in my preaching,” declares St. Paul
-I did not offer you a partial package so that someone else might come along later and complete the process
-when it comes to religion, says Paul,
-you know me as an all-in or nothing kind of guy
-I held nothing back of what was revealed to me
-I made no adaptations for your context in hopes that you might submit to another context later
-I gave you everything that God gave to me
-and the Gospel that I proclaimed is full and sufficient
-it needs no supplementation or completion
-it is complete within itself
-it creates its own context because it comes directly from the Being of God
-there is no Jewish way to Jesus
-there is no Lutheran, or Anglican, or any other way to Jesus
-there is only one way to Jesus
-the way of the cross
-the way of giving life in order to fulfill life
-this context of love, sacrifice, and compassion is the context of faith recognized by God among all people
-if these words of St. Paul do not challenge us in our ministry today,
-they should
-how much anxious energy do we spend trying to preserve the context of our institutional and cultural life?
-we struggle to preserve this context in which we have come to recognize each other
-because we believe that it is the only context in which God would recognize our faith
-and yet God’s grace creates faith within every context
-our call
-is to be flexible enough to recognize, respond, and align ourselves with whatever God’s grace is doing in the world
-we may not be able to imagine God’s grace extending beyond the context that we know
-but we know that we are part of God’s mission
-that brings salvation through the cross of Christ to people in every culture and context
-and our goal is to nurture the context of grace as it emerges around and among us
-we may not understand it at times,
-but we remain open to its possibilities and opportunities
-because, in this context of grace, God recognizes us as God’s people of faith
-and we pray, like Paul,
-that people will give glory to God because of what is happening in our lives and in our world
-as we embody God’s love
-making it known in every context of God’s choosing
-so that all life may be redeemed to abundant and eternal life in Christ. Amen.
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