December 17, 2024: Tuesday Bible Study on Paul’s letter to the Galatians 2:11-14
Good morning my dear friends in Christ. It was a very frustrating morning today. My current computer has decided to become intermittent in the reception of the internet, so Jesse and I worked on it for an hour trying to get it to open and to receive our Cox internet. After that frustrating time, Jesse brought out his computer, new in June, and I could hardly believe how fast it was. So, I have pulled out a new computer which we had at home, and we are in the process of loading it with all of my data, information, emails, security programs, passwords, etc. It will probably have to update for a long time to get up to date. Please pray today for the families of the child and teacher who were shot and killed at their Christian School in Madison, WI. Also pray for the families of the 12 vacationers who lost their lives to carbon monoxide poisoning. Pray for our drummer Jeff who is home very ill today from his work. I thank God for the power of the prayers you all offer on behalf of circumstances of illness, tragedy, and war around the world.
Today we continue in chapter two of Paul's Letter to the Galatians church verses 1-14. If there is any word that describes this reading, and it will take Paul a bit longer to theologically unpack what surrounds it, is the word hypocrite, or as the text I am using, in more modern English, is "Play-Acting. In our modern culture in the Church to use such a work is a real "slam" against a person who is doing it. Here, I think that Paul is pretty angry, perhaps most especially because he has already been to Jerusalem, after waiting 14 years, to convey the understanding between himself and Peter and James that they are really working in two different areas of ministry, Paul with those who are gentile and uncircumcised, Peter and James with Jews, all of whom are circumcised. In their separation it became more than that primary identity way of identifying two differing communities. It would appear that the Peter and James have, when in their home ministry areas, fostered the idea that there is a greater social division too. However, when Peter is 300 miles north of Jerusalem in a community of those who have never been circumcised, and during the time that he is with this community of people, he acts (as a hypocrite) in the way that would indicate that all over in Peter's ministry he has taught and represented himself to be a person who believes in the unity of the people in the church, regardless of where they are from or what physical action has been taken for them to identify as the people of Paul. That takes us to another issue that Paul ultimately faces, about the validity of Baptisms, no matter who did them. But this topic is for another time, and in reality, is really much the same as the one Paul is facing with Peter in this reading. We should all be familiar with segregation in the south of our nation prohibiting Blacks from sharing eating establishments, lodgings, swimming pools, and any number of things that we no longer see as issues thanks to the driving ministry of the Baptist church in the South of which Martin Luther King Jr. was a pastor. Today we are shocked when somehow a person is seen as less than American because of the color of their skin, or their national heritage, or their sexual identity. As the Church has grown more mature in its Christology of inclusion we have watched as some of our brothers and sisters have chosen to form new churches because they just can live with the inclusivity of Christ, needing instead to divide and separate from those who have chosen to live into the truth of Christ's life, ministry, death and Resurrection which is for ALL PEOPLE!
At American we are really good about sharing Christian Fellowship through meals and gatherings around the important times of life, and just because Lutherans really know how to do food! Though our worship is a corporate experience, it really is also, in many ways, individual. Here is one of the problems for Peter. When more conservative Christianized Jews arrive at the meal, Peter attempts to withdraw from sharing food and fellowship with those people of Antioch, trying to avoid a conflict with those who believed that it was wrong for Peter to be eating and sharing fellowship with those "uncircumcised" people. Paul accuses Peter of being a hypocrite for his actions around this issue. It might help us to know that Antioch was really at the heart and center of the Christian movement in Asia Minor. I have to think that Peter felt that he was doing a good thing by breaking bread at table as a sign of the unity that already existed, but to pull back away from this sharing good fellowship really instead indicated that his heart was only in this for show. Let's face it, many Christians live hypocritical lives, confessing their faith on Sunday morning, and rejoicing in Christ's gift of faith, but during the rest of the week, they live their lives as if they don't even know their Savior, because it would be a difficult time for them in their everyday lives as they relate to those who have no relationship with our Savior. We need to have those relationships too by the way, praying for the Spirit's intervention to help us with words, thoughts, and confidence to be the very same person we are when we are in the Community of Believers together. I know this sounds like it ought to be easy, but so often we are afraid to try, or we close off Christ's love as the model we will live in every day. I think Peter must have been very embarrassed when Paul raised this issue before the present witnesses. When Paul gets into his Pharisee mode, he is a really forceful representative for Christ. We will have to wait to see if this is Paul burning bridges with Peter and the Jerusalem Christians. We need to know that the mission in Jerusalem will struggle, and only survives because of Paul's drive to move the whole of the Church to understand that the only necessary force for unity is Jesus Christ.
Next Week there will be no Bible Studies through New Year’s, and January will be Bible Study light because I will be away for my brother's celebration of life in Michigan.
With the Love of Christ, Pastor Kim
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