Tuesday, 29 June, 2004

Text: Galatians 2:11-14



But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood self-condemned; for until certain people came from James he used to eat with the Gentiles. But after they came, he drew back and kept himself separate for fear of the circumcision faction. And the other Jews joined him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you , though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?"



If the church is opened up for all - without stipulations to be followed in order to be on the inside - the church (people) need to keep one another focused on the vision. And yes, that may mean bringing word and action in line with one another. And yes, it takes others to help us follow in the way of that vision. Those who live within the gracious Reign of God that we have come to know in Jesus, don't need to fall in line to those who would call for anything more than the saving word of God to make our day. The circumcision party ( doesn't sound like a party at all to me!) wanted to live by the old ways of doing something "in order that..." They wanted any new followers of Jesus to go through the traditional "marks" of the people of Judaism. And yet, the only mark we take on as followers of Jesus is the cross marked on our foreheads at baptism. That is, we are marked by God's welcoming touch and nothing more. That is enough to establish us in a place within the Reign of God forever. No need to play games with religious actions and mandates so that we can judge one another's adherence to the faith. Paul is leading us to an announcement of freedom that comes with trusting the promise made to us in Jesus and having our lives rest in that alone. Forget the outside influences that attempt to set up all the religious hoops that neither serve God nor the community in themselves.



Connection: Speak up! When you hear the IF's of conditional religion - especially if it is said in the name of Jesus, simply say, that's not the vision of God's Reign that I see in Jesus. No hoops! No laundry list of what must be. Just the blessed assurance that in Christ we are the beloved(period).



O Blessed & Forgiving God, keep us faithful in our journey within your Reign. Do not let us fall into the comfortable world of legal hypocrisy in which we attempt to keep score of our lives even as you do not even own a scorepad. Remind us of your open and everlasting welcome into your arms. Amen