Friday of the 27th week in Course 2024
We should begin any homily on the Letter to the Galatians with a reminder that this church in Asia Minor was in a kind of turmoil because of some itinerant Jewish Christian preachers. These folks came to town after St. Paul taught them the basics of Christian faith. The church was charismatic. They laid hands to pray for healing, prayed in tongues and spoke for God in a prophetic spirit. That’s a two-edged sword, because it can lead to extreme positions. These new preachers took a look at the practices in Galatia and asked “Jesus was a Jew. Why don’t you all obey the Law of Moses? Your men are not circumcised, and you don’t keep the New Moon festival. All Christians must obey the Jewish law!”
Paul heard of this and wrote his letter, probably one of the earlier letters in our Bible. And he spells out his argument against the preachers called “Judaizers” very well. He asks, “what brought you the Spirit that gives you the ability to heal and pray in tongues, prophesy and all the other gifts? It was your faith in Jesus Christ!” You are just like Abraham, he pleaded, being justified through that faith. Today he expands on that logic: the Law of Moses says if you don’t obey each and every prescription in the Law, you are cursed and will go to hell. Christ saved us from that fate by His own redemptive death on a cross, which had a curse on it. So Jesus, true God and true man, took on the curse of the cross and the grace He won saves you from the curse of the Law. Don’t try to add on to your faith by the Law, because you’ll just bring the curse of the Law back on yourselves.
Knowing that, we can sing with the psalmist: “I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation.” Our faith in Christ, shown in our right worship and right living, gives us the uprightness God intended when He created us. All this is a divine gift, not something we have “earned.”
You must almost feel a little sorry for the Pharisees as they contended with Jesus. This latest ploy is to accuse Christ of using the power of the devil to cast devils out from people. Jesus points out that such a statement is outrageously stupid, because it would mean the evil one is breaking up his own diabolical “family.” It’s true that the word “devil” comes from “diabolus” which means “the divider,” but that refers to evil’s tendency to divide human families. Jesus is the strong man referred to in the story. He conquers Satan through the power of God exhibited in His death and resurrection. We are soldiers in Christ’s army, but He has done the heavy lifting for us. Our mission on this earth is more like a “mopping up” operation, trying to get as many people of our day to enlist in the Jesus brigade so they can live in Him and help with the salvific mission of Christ.
