Tag: The Law

Liberated from the Warden

Psalm 42:14-15 Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul? and why are you so disquieted within me? Put your trust in God; for I will yet give thanks to God, who is the help of my countenance, and my Αββα ὁ πατήρ!

Introduction

Whenever I let our puppy, Floyd, out of his room or crate, it’s like unleashing a floofy, fluffy, squiggly, wriggly, land-based leviathan (but a 30 pound one). Granted, Floyd isn’t yet one; a lot of that energy is just evidence of his being a “coot-baby-puppy.” But, to some degree, that energy comes from a sense of being liberated from whatever confinement he was experiencing—even if the confinement meant food! 99% of the time, when I open that door to release him, I’m met with a creature who is sooper-dooper happy to be reunited with the rest of his family…even his (at times) warden-like “Big Sissy” (no one delivers a major correction like Big Sissy can…)

I wish we responded to liberation from captivity like Floyd does. Too often, though, when given liberation, we prefer our confinement. We greet that flung open door with fear and anxiety rather than with puppy-like wiggle-squiggle vigor. If given a wide-open arena, we’d sit in the corner, with at least two walls hemming us in. If given unlimited choice, we’d freeze and retreat to the same old thing we always get. If given the autobahn, we’d go 65 because that’s sensible and reasonable. If told to just go love and live, we’d ask, “Who and How?” We are so afraid of being wrong and making a mistake, that we’d truncate our own liberty and the liberty of others to keep safe, secure, and right.

However, as Christians, we are exhorted (by liturgy and scripture) to live our justified/ing and sanctified/ing lives in the liberation that we receive from our faith in Christ, in our union with God, and by the power of the Holy Spirit. We’re exhorted by the gospels and the epistles, not to return again to a spirit of fear because we are indwelled with the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of the Living God, who has given us a new heart and a new spirit to live as Christ in the world to the glory of God and the wellbeing of our neighbor. As Paul explains in Galatians,

Galatians 3:23-29

Now before faith came, we were being kept in custody by means of imprisonment under the Law until the intending faith was revealed (v23). While Protestant history, specifically, and Christian history, generally, have disparaged the role of the Law, Paul is not drawing a binary of bad and good[1]—the law does restrain evil and create order and for this it is good (civic use).[2] Rather, Paul is highlighting the human relationship to the law as well as the role of “immediacy.” There are “eras” or “times”[3] of God’s immediacy to the people: the Law and the Christ.[4] According to Paul, people are caught under the confines of the era of the power of the Law. [5] The Law hemmed the people in to guide them toward God and God’s will in the world; but itself was not God.[6] While good, even considering how Paul is speaking of the Law and its power here in Galatians, it isn’t a direct encounter with God because both the Law and the mediator of the Law stand between the follower of God and God. The law points the way to and exhorts toward God; Christ is God bringing God to you.[7] Thus, there are two “times” or “eras” of power the one of the Law and its mediator and of the Christ who is Emmanuel, God with us.

That’s why Paul then says, Therefore the Law has become our pedagogue until Christ, for the purpose that we may be shown to be righteous by means of faith (v24). While some scholars argue that this pedagogue was a kind “guide”, a “slave who accompanied” a privileged son of a wealthy family to school (and back),[8] Paul’s language here is more severe and provokes an image of harshness, even if we can find ways that this pedagogue was important in the life of a schoolboy.[9] Paul refers to the Law’s presence as “imprisonment” (v23), and the word pedagogue gives us the idea of a “warden,”[10],[11] someone who has the power to keep the inmates in-line and under control, whether they like it or not.[12] Luther refers to this as the power of the Law over the people as a “true hell”[13] because from this severe power and oversight (threat of punishment and condemnation) no one can run and hide, there is no safety or assurance.[14] But the power of the Law, though constrictive and restrictive, is limited, for Paul.[15] In v24 we see the purpose of the Law; even under the era and power of the Law, there was a divine point for us: to be shown to be righteous by faith. Christ not only eclipsed the power and captivity of the Law, Christ removed the Law from the role of “warden” as the pedagogue. In other words, Christ shoved the Law out of the divine seat of power and installed himself in that divine seat, which is more appropriate considering the Law =/= God but Christ = God.[16] Thus why Paul can say in v25, But while faith has come we are no longer under the pedagogue. Because of Christ, all humanity[17]—considering Paul believes all are under the power of the Law[18]—can receive liberation from the wardenship of the pedagogue, sprung free from imprisonment under the Law because Christ is God (and not merely one who points to God).[19] In very Protestant terms, we are justified by faith and not by works to satisfy the law.[20]

Then, in v26, Paul extends the imagery that faith not only liberates humanity from the confines of the Law, but it creates a family, For you are—all of you!—sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Paul addressed both men and women in this moment, and gave to all of them  who have faith the legal right to be heirs as first born sons being siblings with Christ; there is no hierarchy here among the family defined by faith because the old way, the way inspired and influenced by imprisonment and the warden, is no longer the way of those who believe.[21] In fact, Paul goes one step further in his logic here, For how many [of you] were baptized into Christ, you [have] clothed yourselves [in] Christ (v27). Not only is Christ the sibling of those who believe, those who believe are clothed in him through the act of baptism. Those who have been baptized with Christ have died with him, and if they have died then they are raised into new life[22] with Christ.[23] Thus the believer in identifying with Christ in his death by baptism is stripped of their old identity as defined by the kingdom of humanity and given a new identity that’s defined by the reign of God,[24] (they “put on” Christ). [25] The Law had nothing to do with this event, it was all by faith and by God’s interventive, unmediated act. [26] For Paul, the Spirit now is in charge of these who are sons of God by the promise[27] fulfilled in Christ and by Christ[28] and not merely sons of Abraham by the Law (of circumcision);[29],[30] the warden (the Law) is now the one held hostage by the power and law faith and the Spirit.[31]

Now, we come to the v28, where Paul dares to say, There is neither Children of Israel nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female. For you, you—all of you!—are one in Christ Jesus. The erasure happening here is not an erasure of distinction and difference but the erasure of the structures of power keeping one group over the other by means of domination and subjection.[32],[33] For those who are not only in Christ by faith but also dressed in Christ, there are no approved hierarchies of persons;[34] domination and subjection are dead.[35] To put it bluntly, there is no room for bigotry, hatred, and malice toward those who are different than you; there is no justification for prejudice, discrimination, and oppression because of any variance from the status quo; there is neither theological nor biblical validation of systems, constructs, and ideologies that perpetuate any such biased orientations promoted by the kingdom of humanity.[36] All persons, because of the advent of Christ and faith, are equal and not interchangeable, they are representable and irreplaceable.[37] Thus why Paul closes chapter three with, But if you, you are of Christ, therefore you, you are of the seed of Abraham, heirs according to the promise (v29) and not the law.

Conclusion

For Paul, we are FREE, LIBERATED from the confines and imprisonment of the Law, released from the supervision of the Law as warden. Not just yesterday, but today, and tomorrow![38] According to Paul, without the advent of Christ, we have a tendency to dethrone God with God’s Law; we find comfort in the Law because it shows us what to do and what not to do. Or so we think. But this comfort becomes our Lord, and we will choose it over discomfort every time. We need/ed liberation from this toxic and maladapted relationship with the Law. We need/ed the Law to be torn from our hands so that it could be put back in its right and proper place in our lives: as a tool we use to love God and (more to the point) to love our neighbor to the Glory of God! According to Paul here in Galatians the Law has been debarked or, rather, put in its own sound-proof confinement. The Law is not bad, but we make it such when we force it into the role of God; the Law has a place and is good but as long as it isn’t being forced to be God. Praise God that Christ has taken that seat forever!

So, today, maybe, we rejoice. Like Floyd being released from his room, may we wiggle and squiggle our way back into the world, released from the condemnation and threat[39] of our dysfunctional relationship with the Law. May we lunge into the world from our captivity, eager to live fully into our new life in Christ by faith as those who both represent and imitate Christ,[40] clothed in Christ.[41] May we be sooper-dooper happy to greet the world, our neighbors, all the flora and fauna knowing that our identities are sealed in Christ by faith and that we are guided by the loving, life-giving, liberating Spirit of God so we can participate in God’s mission of the divine revolution of love, life, and liberation in the world.

[1] LW 26:335. “For the Law is a Word that shows life and drives us toward it. Therefore it was not given only for the sake of death. But this is its chief use and end: to reveal death, in order that the nature and enormity of sin might thus become apparent. It does not reveal death in a way that takes delight in it or that seeks to nothing but kill us. No, it reveals death in order that men may be terrified and humbled and thus fear God.”

[2] LW 26:336-337. “Meanwhile however, the Lw has this benefit: Even though men’s hearts may remain as wicked as possible, it restrains thieves, murderers, and public criminals to some extent, at least outwardly and politically.”

[3] LW 26:336. “This means that before the time of the Gospel and of grace came, it was the function of the Law to keep us confined under it as though we were in a prison.”

[4] J. Louis Martyn, “Galatians: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary,” The Anchor Bible, gen. eds. William Foxwell Albright and David Noel Freedman (New York: Doubleday, 1997), 361-362. “Paul continues to speak of the era of the Law, saying three things about it: (a) It was the period in which ‘we’ existed under the Law’s power; (b) it had a definite terminus, the arrival of faith…; (c) even in the era of the Law’s dominion, God was on the verge of executing his ultimate purpose, thinking ahead (mellô) to the faith by which he would terminate it.”

[5] Martyn, “Galatians,” 362. “All human beings were caught under the Law’s power.”

[6] Bedford, “Galatians,” 87. “For Paul the law cannot be expected to do what only God can do: the law is penultimate by nature, and not ultimate, and yet it is a good and holy thing, given by God, even if it is not in itself God.”

[7] Bedford, “Galatians,” 88. “If the law is not in itself God, but rather points the way to God, it cannot have a role other than an intermediate one.”

[8] Bedford, “Galatians,” 88. “To try to make his point he uses the analogy of the law as a guide (paidagōgos), able to steer humans in the right direction (v. 24). In that cultural context the ‘pedagogue’ was not a teacher but rather a man, usually a slave, who accompanied a young male of privileged social status to school and back, watching over his conduct as a custodian or supervisor …”

[9] LW 26:346. Law as “schoolmaster” whom no student really loves (also, medieval schoolmasters were tough), “Nevertheless, a schoolmaster is extremely necessary for a boy, to instruct and chastise him; for otherwise, without this instruction, good training, and discipline, the boy would become to ruin.”

[10] Martyn, “Galatians,” 362. “Like Sin, the Law was the universal prison warden.”

[11] Martyn, “Galatians,” 363. “The Law of v. 23, that is to say, is not a pedagogical guide, but rather an imprisoning warden. To be sure, one might consider the possibility that the explication in v 24 exceeds its foundation in v 23, were one not confronted with a second factor. (b) …in six of the ten times Paul refers to humans being ‘under the power of,’ he identifies that enslaving power as the Law.”

[12] Martyn, “Galatians,” 363. “When he says in v 25, therefore, that since the coming of faith we are no longer ‘under the power of’ the paidagôgos, he shows clearly that in that verse, as in 24, he is using the term paidagôgos in the sense of a distinctly unfriendly and confining custodian, different in no significant way from an imprisoning jailer.”

[13] LW 26:337. “That is, the Law is also a spiritual prison and a true hell; for when it discloses sin and threatens death and the eternal wrath of God, man can neither run away nor find any comfort.”

[14] LW 26:338. “The custody or prison signifies the true and spiritual terrors by which the conscience is so confined that it cannot find a place in the hole wide world where it can be safe.”

[15] LW 26:337. “Thus the law is a prison both politically and theologically. In the first place, it restrains and confines the wicked politically, so that they are not carried headlong by their passions into all sorts of crim. Secondly, it shows us our sin spiritually, terrifying and humbling us, so that when we have been frightened this way, we acknowledge our misery and our damnation. And this latter is the true and proper use of the Law, even though it is not permanent…”

[16] Martyn, “Galatians,” 362. “On the whole, however, his apocalyptic language refers not to an unveiling of some thing, but rather to an invasion carried out by someonewho has moved into the world from outside it….”

[17] Martyn, “Galatians,” 363. “Just as Abraham’s faith in God was kindled by God’s promise….so the Christians faith is now awakened by the gospel of Christ …Between these two occurrences of the faith-inciting gospel there was only the world characterize by the Law’s curse. Paul envisions, then, a world that has been changed from without by God’s incursion into it, and he perceives that incursion to be the event that has brought faith into existence.”

[18] Martyn, “Galatians,” 363. “…the Law was compelled to serve God’s intention simply by holding all human beings in a bondage that precluded every route of deliverance except that of Christ.”

[19] Bedford, “Galatians,” 89. “Paul fears (and it is tempting to imagine that this fear is a reflection of his own past zeal) that the law can take on an ultimate character that properly belongs only to God. To his must be added his belief in the divine character of Christ. If Jesus Christ is indeed both human and divine, as Paul believes, not just a guide who points the way to God, then his life and work take on a centrality for Paul that take priority over all other possible ways.”

[20] LW 26:347. “The Law is a custodian, not until some other lawgiver comes who demands good works, but until Christ comes, the Justifier and Savior, so that we may be justified through faith in Him not through works.”

[21] Bedford, “Galatians,” 91. “Paul assures the Galatians in verse 26 that through the faith of Jesus Christ they are all children of God, or quite literally that they (both men and women) are all ‘sons’ of God, inasmuch as all have the full rights that only male heirs received in that context. From this male-centered filial metaphor Paul then switches to a more inclusive image: inasmuch as we are baptized in Christ, we put on Christ as a garment and are propelled in the right direction y virtue of Christ’s work of justification in us. In putting on Christ, we are in Christ and Christ in us, in a mutual indwelling that echoes the perichoretic dynamic of the Triune God.”

[22] Martyn, “Galatians,” 377. “One senses in the formula itself, then, an implied reference to new creation…”

[23] LW 26:352. “But to put on Christ according to eh Gospel is a matter, not of imitation but of a new birth and a new creation, namely, that I put on Christ Himself, that is, Hi s innocence, righteousness, wisdom, power, salvation life, and Spirit.”

[24] LW 26:351. “The Law cannot beget men into a new nature or a new birth; it brings to view the old birth, by which we were born into the kingdom of the devil. Thus it prepares us for the new birth, which takes place through faith in Christ Jesus, not through the Law, as Paul clearly testifies…”

[25] Martyn, “Galatians,” 374. “Paul … reminds the Galatians that in their baptism the Law played no role at all, either positive or negative … Standing in the water of death…and stripped of their old identity, they become God’s own sons, putting on Christ, God’s Son…as though he were their clothing, thus acquiring a new identity that lies beyond ethnic, social and sexual distinctions.”

[26] Martyn, “Galatians,” 374. “When they were baptized, being incorporated into Abraham’s seed (v. 16) they became true descendants of Abraham quite apart from the Law, thus inheriting the Abrahamic promises, the Spirit.”

[27] LW 26:341. “The time of grace is when the heart is encouraged again by the promise of the free mercy of God…”

[28] Martyn, “Galatians,” 375. “They became sons of God by being incorporated into God’s Son…..He reminds the Galatians, therefore, that in their baptism they were taken into the realm of the Christ whose faith had elicited their own faith.”

[29] Martyn, “Galatians,” 374 “Perceiving that development to be based on an ethnic interpretation of Abraham, Paul takes all of the Galatians back to their origin as children not of Abraham, but of God.”

[30] Martyn, “Galatians,” 374-375. “Thus shifting the ground abruptly and fundamentally by speaking of descent from God through Christ, Paul lays the foundation for putting descent from Abraham into second place…indeed for eventually eclipsing it in favor of descent from God (4:5-7).”

[31] Bedford, “Galatians,” 92. “…to be a child of God means to receive the Holy Spirit, and to have the Holy Spirit is to be set with Christ in the transition from death to life. One final pneumatological dimension of putting on Christ as the justified children of God that emerges from this text is its relation to Wisdom….Augustine suggests that to put on Christ is in this passage means to put on Wisdom: to be clothed with Wisdom, to participate in Wisdom, and to perform Wisdom. This is an intriguing possibility, especially from a Liberationist and feminist perspective: putting on Christ is not dependent on social status or gender, and as a garment it bring with it new performative possibilities opened up by the Spirit of Life…”

[32] Bedford, “Galatians,” 97-98. “Each of the contrasting pairs offers a glimpse into a web of complex power relations. Different people with diverse ethnicities, social status, and genders are invited to relate in new ways in Christ. They are not forced into sameness: to be equal does not mean to be identical. In other words, equality in Christ as envisioned by Paul does not negate cultural, sexual, social, or religious differences.”

[33] Bedford, “Galatians,” 98. “….we need to realize that the three pairs point respectively to very different dimensions affecting relationships within the church and in society. …Each of the pairs need to be examined in turn, without the presupposition that they overlap precisely with the categories of ‘race, class, and gender’ familiar form recent anthropology and sociology.”

[34] LW 26:356. “In Christ, on the other hand, where there is no Law, there is no distinction among person s at all. There is neither Jew nor Greek, but all are one; for there is one body, one Spirit, one hope of the calling of al all, one and the same Gospel, one faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all, one Christ, the Lord of all….”

[35] Bedford, “Galatians,” 101. “Whatever the origins of sin and white racism, Galatians 3:28 subverts any distortion of ethnocentrism or sense of innate superiority based on social class, income, or any other characteristic that might be prestigious in a given culture and time: in Christ such hierarchies are to have no traction.”

[36] Bedford, “Galatians,” 102. “The doctrine of the incarnation of the eternal Second Person of the Trinity in the specific (fully) human being Jesus of Nazareth suggests that God is profoundly committed to particularity, to the point of becoming (a particular) one of us, in order that we might 9nin all our particularities) become as God is. To suggest that some humans with specific characteristics (such as a particular skin color or gender or sexuality) should lord it over all the others deeply opposes the liberating message of the gospel, as does the attempt to use violence to enforce domination and hierarchy.”

[37] Martyn, “Galatians,” 377. “Religious, social, and sexual pairs of opposites are not replaced by equality but rather by a newly created unity….Members of the church are not one thing; they are one person, having been taken into the corpus of the One New Man.”

[38] LW 26:340. “But you should apply it not only to the time but also the feelings; for what happened historically and temporally when Christ came—namely, that He abrogated the Law and brought liberty and eternal life to light—this happens personally and spiritually every day in any Christian, in whom there are found the time of Law and time of Grace in constant alteration.”

[39] LW 26:336. “Such is the power of the Law and such is righteousness on the basis of the Law that it forces us to be outwardly good so long as it threatens transgressors with penalties and punishment.”

[40] LW 26:353. “Therefore Paul teaches that Baptism is not a sign but the garment of Christ, in fact, that Christ Himself is our garment. Hence Baptism is a very powerful and effective thing. For when we have put on Christ, the garment of our righteousness and salvation then we also put on Christ, the garment of imitation.”

[41] LW 26:343. “By faith in the Word of grace, therefore, the Christian should conquer fear, turn his eyes away from the time of Law, and gaze at Christ Himself and at the faith to come.”

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“Buried in the Past; Captive to What Was”: Local Turmoil

Psalm 19: 13-14 Above all, keep your servant from presumptuous sins; let them not get dominion over me; then shall I be whole and sound, and innocent of a great offense. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O God, my strength and my redeemer.

Introduction

On Lent one, our focus was on the world and its tumult. On Lent two, we turned our attention toward our own nation and its chaos. But all of that, while important, still feels a bit out of reach. Like I mentioned last week, it is easy to blind ourselves to our local problems by focusing more broadly beyond where we live. It is easy to ignore national chaos because of global tumult. And it is easy to forego attention to local turmoil, by focusing on national chaos. Again, it’s worth mentioning that giving some attention to global and national crises and unrest is a good thing. But we cannot lose sight of the fact that large problems start small; the problems we see in the world and in our nation start in our immediate surroundings. Our local communities are fractals of the globe; the problems of the globe are also present in our local communities.

Our communities are as bogged down by deep divides infecting our nation and world. Bumper stickers tell you whose side everyone is on, as well as personal yard signs and church marquees. There are a few spots here on Broadway where I’m certain two houses across the street from each other are intentionally bating the other. “Us v. Them” is a plague locally—as it is nationally and globally. It’s hard to know who to trust, and we vet each other strictly; if there’s one lapse in overlap, there’s no solidarity. Schools are being shut down and religious institutions are closing for lack of being chosen; houses are hard to buy, and so is food for many in our local populations. Neighbors barely know neighbors, or, rather, barely want to get to know neighbors (remember “block parties”?). We are individual units yoked together by a shared street name. Unity seems to be breaking down more and more and faster and faster as invisible segregation lines are drawn between rich and poor, housed and unhoused, fed and unfed, abled and differently abled, young and old.

At times it all feels so pointless. How can I even begin to chip away at barriers when I don’t have the energy to take down my own? It’s easier to be blind to my neighbor and their lives. I want to close my blinds and forget the issues of my local environment. I’m growing weary of repeating the same message…I can only preach to the choir so often before the choir grows tired, bored, and leaves. How many more attempted relationships at solidarity will fall to the ground because of unachievable expectations of a perfect fit? How long before I run out of gas and quit? It’s demoralizing trying to fill in trenches falsely separating humans from humans only to have them dug again. There’s a pit in my stomach that yells and screams: Go back! Run back to what was! Go back to that shore that was once comfort! Go back to not knowing, go back to when it was easier, go back to when things were better…I don’t care where, just go back to where it’s safe to just live…

Human beings have a hard time fighting against this lure and seduction of the romanticized past; the more we fight the more stuck we become. We are buried in the past, captive to what was.

Exodus 20:1-17

Then God spoke all these words:

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.

In our First Testament passage we witness Israel receiving (directly) God’s Ten Commandments, or, rather, God’s “Ten Words” or “Ten Statements.”[1] The “Ten Words” arrives midway in the story of Israel’s release from Egypt and their journey toward something new. Chapter 15 marks the end of the old life of slavery and captivity and the beginning of Israel’s new life as liberated disciples of God. In chapter 16, the people grumble. It’s been (about) a week since witnessing the great event of water tearing itself apart (once again!) to create a new life of liberation and love on the other side of the Sea of Reeds; a week since “And when Israel saw the wondrous power which the Lord had wielded against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord; they had faith I n the Lord and His servant Moses,” (14:31). It doesn’t take much to send the people back toward their old disposition, “The Israelites said to [Moses and Aaron], ‘If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots, when we ate our fill of bread! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to starve this whole congregation to death,’” (16:3). How quickly the past lures and beckons, how quickly old captivity and its pain is forgotten.

In response to the hunger, God gives them quail (in the morning) and manna (at night) (16:13ff). And then in chapter 17 there is more traveling and more grumbling, this time about water (17:1ff). Here Moses strikes a rock and water flows (17:6-7). In chapter 18, Moses elects a council of men to help him administratively lead the people. Then in chapter 19, which seems to be about 3 months (3 new moons, v. 1), the people of God find themselves at the base of Mount Sinai, where Israel’s most defining moment with God occurs.[2] It’s here at Sinai where Moses goes up to commune with God and then bring a message back down to the people. In chapter 20, Moses brings these “Ten Words” of God to God’s people Israel. It’s these “Ten Words” that will forever define and delineate Israel’s new relationship with God.[3] Most principally, “you shall have no other Gods before me,” not yourselves and not the past. Israel shall always keep God front and center and by doing this, they keep the neighbor in their sights, too.

Through the “Ten Words,” Israel is beckoned forward unto God.” This is the Law of God; this isn’t just any law but one elevated and sanctified. These “Ten Words” are the very thing that will shape, grow, and orient Israel in the world toward their divine Creator and King[4] and toward the well-being of their neighbor in ethical praxis.[5] They will shape, and grow, and orient Israel toward God and the neighbor for all generations, in all eras, no matter where they find themselves. These “Ten Words” anchor Israel not in the world as static and stuck, but in God who is dynamic and on the move. Israel is not to go backward to Egypt to find their comfort and safety, this would be to worship other gods thus fracturing all “Ten Words.” Rather, they are called to go forward to follow God who is the God who liberated them from captivity so they can be free to follow God and God free to lead them through the days and nights of faith and love to new and abundant life.

Conclusion

God is not stuck in the past; God is not captive to what was. God summons and coaxes forward God’s beloved—all creation, from the teensiest, weensiest critter to the biggest, ziggest beast; from the ones that live deep in the oceanic abyss to the ones residing on the peakiest of mountains. God woos the beloved forward, into something NEW, into something new and of God because backward is the stuff of humanity that has long ago expired, gone sour, become septic. Liberation for Israel is not a liberation to go backward, which is a return to captivity. Rather, Israel is liberated to step forward into the unknown, dared to fall into the void of faith and God, knowing that their path will be illuminated—step by step—by the presence of God by the divine fire and cloud and formed by the “Ten Words.” With these “Ten Words,” Israel knows—yesterday, today, and tomorrow—how to walk on into God and with the neighbor.

For us, in our situation, looking around at our local situations, looking at the isolation, alienation, loneliness, lack of solidarity, the barriers, and the existential fatigue and exhaustion, we who follow Christ follow a new and different way of God. A way dedicated to and informed by these shared ancient “Ten Words” given to Israel. Through these sacred “Ten Words,” we are exhorted to be bold, to dare to love through barriers, to reach out, to keep trying, to stand up after we fall, and have the audacity not to be intimidated by the local narratives wishing to silence by means of fear and anger. However, we cannot do so if we are dead set on going backward, desperately clinging to our comforts and ease. We must let faith lead us down into the darkness, into the impossible so that God may bear through us God’s divine possibility. We, like Israel, must walk with God by cloud and pillar of fire, step by step.

Beloved, God calls, may our ears perk up. God comforts, may our souls be soothed. God speaks, may our ears delight in comforting words. God comes, may we run to Abba God. God is doing a new thing in this man from Nazareth, Jesus, the beloved, in whom, by whom, and through whom we are being coaxed forward, released from the past and liberated from what was…

[1] Jeffrey H. Tigay “Exodus” The Jewish Study Bible Jewish Publication Society Tanakh Translation. Eds. Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler. Oxford: OUP, 2004. 148. Ex. 20.1-14. “(‘Decalogue,’ form the Latin for ‘ten words,’ or ‘ten statements,’ is a more. Literal rendition of Heb than ‘Then Commandments.’) They are addressed directly to the people. No punishments are stated; obedience is motivated not by fear of punishment but by God’s absolute authority and the people’s desire to live in accordance with His will.”

[2] Tigay, “Exodus,” JPS, 145.

[3] Tigay, “Exodus,” JPS, 145-147.

[4] Tigay, “Exodus” JPS, 148. “Implicit in this biblical view is that God is Israel’s king, hence its legislator.”

[5] Tigay, “Exodus” JPS, 148. “The items in the Decalogue are arranged in two groups. Duties to God come first. Each commandment in this group contains the phrase, ‘the Lord your God.’ The second group contains duties toward fellow humans, which are depicted as being of equal concern to God.”

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This Love and Life, Our Business

Sermon on Galatians 3:23-29

Psalm 43:5-6 Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul? and why are you so disquieted within me? Put your trust in God; for I will yet give thanks to God, who is the help of my countenance, and my Abba God. (44)

Introduction

In general, the essence and idea of law are neutral. Law should be just law. Laws of nature are true for everyone without exceptions and biases. Gravity works for me like it works for you; gravity isn’t spending a lot of time picking and choosing whom to hold to the earth and whom to let go. Same should be with the laws of society; law (in essence and idea) is neutral saying two things: you can do this and you cannot do that. You can drive this speed or you cannot, the risk is yours; a speed limit sign never issues a ticket and never says good job. Thus, there are implicit consequences of obeying or disobeying the law. In other words, drive this speed limit and you’ll go about your business with little interference from nature and its consequences; drive faster/slower than this speed limit and risk is yours to suffer. Do this and it goes well with you; don’t do this and it won’t go well for you.

Now: enter human arbiters of the law, and everything gets a bit more interesting. Our society needs law (in general) and laws (in specific) to function well because human beings are arbitrary creatures who might float away if left to their own devices. We need law and laws because we need to be reminded we don’t live here alone, there are others who share our space and deserve respect, honor, and dignity. So, in recognizing our need for law we’ve created systems upholding and enforcing the law and the laws of our society. As a result, the implicit consequences of the law are made explicit (reward and punishment). Sadly, the punishment is made explicit, while reward is kept implicit. Anyone here ever pulled over to be told: hey, good job driving 35 mph; you’re really living well today and plus you are saving sooooo much money on gas by driving sensibly, here’s a cookie!!

Law is important, yet, for humankind, we’ve grown misoriented toward the law. Because of law’s inherent goodness (creating order) and benign nature, the law has taken on a divine quality for us. Rather than seeing the law as a gift and tool for human beings to use to their advantage, for their livelihood, for their thriving together and individually, it’s become a thing that must be obeyed or suffer the harrowing consequences of infraction. In other words: we’ve forgotten the law was created for us, and are trapped by the myth we were created for the law. The law’s become God

So, we’re misoriented toward the law; we’ve put all our eggs in the law basket hoping it will save us from ourselves and from others. But it can’t; it can only say: do this/do not do that. We’ve put so much hope in law that we’re naïve to think that once we get a law down on the books, the work is now finished. We’ve invested so much in the law we’ve forgotten our own responsibility for ourselves and for others; we’ve handed our responsibility over to the law’s clergy and church: lawyers, judges, police, courtrooms and prisons. We’ve sold our bodies to the law; we’re now the law’s property. So, those who enforce the law can do whatever they need to do to ensure the law is upheld even take life. We’ve elevated the law above people; we set our sights on the law as the ultimate thing, rendering our neighbor as sacrifice to the law. We will even crucify God to uphold the law in the name or order.

Galatians 3:23-29

Now, before faith came, we were being kept (as by military guard)—being closed up—under the law with respect to the intending faith to be revealed. So then, the law was as our PEDAGOGUE until Christ has happened, in order that we might be declared righteous from faith. Now while faith came, we are no longer subordinated by the pedagogue. For you all are sharing in the same nature of God by means of faith in Christ Jesus. [1]

(Gal. 3:23-26)

According to Paul, the neutrality of the law is gone. The “do this” and “don’t do that” became condemnation to death rather than commendation to life.[2] Paul refers to the law as a “Pedagogue” (παιδαγωγός). This is no compliment. We see this word as “teacher”; but Paul’s usage is more like this: the person who needed to do whatever it took to make sure morals were cultivated in children.[3] Paul highlights that the law must do whatever it takes to ensure obedience; even if the law was given for life, it’s used for death because we can never keep it enough to avoid suffering consequences of disobedience. [4] Thus, the declaration of righteous as children of God is forever elusive; we’ll never obtain it through the law.[5]

For Paul, our relationship to the law is greatly disturbed; we’ve replaced our devotion to God with devotion to the law, demanding the law be something it isn’t…savior. Thus, our misalignment toward the law is only remedied by Christ Jesus, by whom the law is fulfilled[6] and in whom we have faith.[7] Through our relationship with Christ, our devotion to the law is broken because we’re realigned (rightly) to God through Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

In this realignment to God through Christ by the Spirit (who is God’s spirit of love residing in us), our relationship to the law is restored to what it should be: a tool we use to make this world better and not worse for others and for ourselves (because we’re all one in Christ[8]). By the Spirit of love received through faith in Christ, we are rightly oriented to God, thus rightly oriented to our neighbor with love, and thus to the law.[9] The law serves love, and love serves the neighbor; this is our business. The law is no longer a threat but a tool; no longer about condemnation to death but commendation to life. [10] In with the Paraclete, out with the Pedagogue; in with the Spirit, out with the stones; in with life, out with death.

Conclusion

Russian author, Fyodor Dostoevsky, articulated the tragedy of our misalignment to the law perfectly in his brilliant novel, Crime and Punishment.[11] For our purposes, we are looking in on a fever dream the main character, Raskolnikov, has: A horse, yoked to a buggy, is commanded by her owner (Mikolka) to pull the buggy packed with many people. Mikolka demands the horse to move. The horse can’t, though it tried desperately. Mikolka grew angrier and the crowd more fevered.

Under the whipping, the horse struggled to obey; she couldn’t move the cart. Mikolka increased punishment to get obedience. The crowd (in and outside of the buggy) cheered Mikolka. The horse had very few advocates; one old man hollered at Mikolka, “‘What are you about, are you a Christian, you devil?’…” This question was met with further exhortation from the crowd for more severe beatings.

The horse tried to fight back by kicking, but her resistance was met with escalated punishment, “‘I’ll teach you to kick,’ Mikolka shouted ferociously. He threw down the whip, bent forward and picked up from the bottom of the cart a long, thick shaft, he took hold of one end with both hands and with an effort brandished it over the mare….‘It’s my property,’ shouted Mikolka and brought the shaft down with a swinging blow. There was a sound of heavy thud.”

Needless to say, the beating continued; no matter how severe the blow, the horse was unable to pull the buggy. She was exhausted; barely any fight left, no matter how hard she was hit she could not pull the buggy. Then,

“‘I’ll show you!…’ Mikolka screamed frantically; he threw down the shaft, stooped down in the cart and picked up an iron crowbar. ‘Look out,’ he shouted, and with all his might he dealt a stuffing blow at the poor mare. The blow fell; the mare staggered, sank back tried to pull, but the bar fell again with a swinging blow on her back and she fell on the ground like a log.”

Crime and Punishment

The poor horse had few advocates, just random voices hollering into the air; few tried to interfere. The mare was Mikolka’s property; he could do what he wanted. Yet in this story of a helpless beast, there was one little voice that not only hollered, a little body accompanied that little voice.

[a] boy, beside himself, made his way, screaming, through the crowd to the sorrel nag, put his arms around her bleeding dead head and kissed it, kissed the eyes and kissed the lips…Then he jumped up and flew in a frenzy with his little fists out at Mikolka. At that instant his father, who had been running after him, snatched him up and carried him out of the crowd.
‘Come along, come! Let us go home,’ he said to him.
‘Father! Why did they…kill…the poor horse?’ he sobbed, but his voice broke and the words came in shrieks from his panting chest.
‘They are drunk…they are brutal…it’s not our business!’ said the father.

Crime and Punishment

What the father forgot, the young boy remembered: serving love and protecting life is very much our business and not serving the law and allowing death. The law serves love, and love serves the neighbor; this is our business. Life—human life, animal life, all life—is always way more important than enforcing the law at the expense of life; we must make life our business and then the law, not the reverse.

Beloved, remember that the law was created for you, you weren’t created for the law. Remember whose you are: you are the children of God, if children of God then heirs of love and life, and if heirs then those who like their Abba God bring and proclaim love and life to others.

[1] Translation mine unless otherwise noted

[2] Martin Luther Lectures on Galatians (1535) Chapter 1-4 LW 26 Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan Assoc. Ed. Walter A. Hansen. Saint Louis, MO: Concordia, 1963. 335. “For the Law is a Word that shows life and drive us toward it. Therefore it was not given only for the sake of death. But this is its chief use and end: to reveal death, in order that the nature and enormity of sin might thus become apparent. it does not reveal death in a way that takes delight in it or that seeks to do nothing but kills us. No, it reveals death in order that men may be terrified and humbled and thus fear God.”

[3] Luther LW 26 336. “…before the time of the Gospel and of grace came, it was the function of the Law to keep us confined under it as though we were in prison.”

[4] Luther LW 26 335. “Therefore the function of the Law is only to kill, yet in such a way that God may be able to make alive. Thus the Law was not given merely for the sake of death; but because man is proud and supposes that he is wise, righteous, and holy, therefore it is necessary that he be humbled by the Law, in order that this beast, the presumption of righteousness, may be killed, since man cannot live unless it is killed.”

[5] Luther LW 26 336. “Such is the power of the Law and such is righteousness on the basis of the Law that it forces us to be outwardly good so long as it threatens transgressors with penalties and punishment. Then we comply with the Law out of fear of punishment, but we do so unwillingly and with great indignation. What kind of righteousness is that, if you refrain from evil because you are compelled by the threat of punishment.”

[6] Luther LW 26 347. “The Law is a custodian, not until some other lawgiver comes who demands good works, but until Christ comes, the Justifier and Savior, so that we may be justified through faith in Him, not through works.”

[7] Luther LW 26 343. “By faith in the Word of grace, therefore, the Christian should conquer fear, turn his eyes away form the time of Law, and gaze at Christ Himself and at the faith to come.”

[8] Luther LW 26 356. “In Christ…where there is no Law, there is no distinction among persons at all. there is neither Jew nor Greek, but all are one; for there is one body, one Spirit, one hope of the calling of all, one and the same Gospel, one faith, one Baptism, on God and Father of all, one Christ, and the Lord of all…”

[9] Luther LW 26 349. “Coming at a predetermined time, He truly abolished the entire Law. But now that the Law has been abolished, we are no longer held in custody under its tyranny; but we live securely and happily with Christ, who now reigns sweetly in us by His Spirit. But where the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Cor. 3:17).”

[10] Luther LW 26 352. “But to put on Christ according to the Gospel is a matter, not of imitation but of a new birth and a new creation, namely, that I put on Christ Himself, that is, His innocence, righteousness, wisdom, power, salvation, life, and Spirit…”

[11] The story is found on pages 48-53. All quotations are taken from this section.

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Loved and Freed

Sermon on Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7

Psalm 147:1-3 Hallelujah! How good it is to sing praises to our God! How pleasant it is to honor God with praise! The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem; God gathers the exiles of Israel. God heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Introduction

The red and blue lights in my review mirror solicited my hard sigh; the same lights were, at that moment, entertaining the boys, seven and six, and their entertainment was entertaining Liza who was just about one. I pulled off the road and into a parking lot to a chorus of “Mommy got pulled over! Mommy got pulled over!” Both boys swaying rhythmically to their own tune. I was not amused; but I wasn’t fully mad, either. It truly was a catchy little tune.

I waited for the police officer to come to my window, clutching my license and registration; I was ready to get this business over with because I had swim lessons to get to and was already late…which may have been the reason for the red and blue lights in my rearview mirror. As I waited, a moment of condemnation came upon me. I soothed myself by remembering I was justified by faith apart from works, so if I was guilty of breaking the law than I was guilty of breaking the law and that was it. Nothing more; nothing less.

When the police officer approached, he asked me if I knew why he was pulling me over. I said, “No.” He said, you were going 60 in a 40. I was shocked. “Really?! In this car?!” “Yes,” he answered. “Are you using VASCAR? Because I know VASCAR can give false readings.” “Yes, I was, and, no, it wasn’t a false reading.” Then he asked for my license and registration, which I eagerly handed to him. He thanked me and then went back to his car.

A while later, he came back and said, “Man, I hate to do this…You’ve been really cool; I hate to give you this ticket.” I smiled, and said, “It’s okay. Really. If I’m guilty, I’m guilty.” He paused and stepped back a little from my car. And then again, “Man! You are so cool about this. I hate giving you this ticket.” I looked at the clock: swim lessons drew nigh; I needed to get this ticket from him. Knowing I couldn’t just grab it, holler “Thanks!” and peel out of there… I did the only thing I knew to do, “Listen,” I started. “I’m a student of the law; well, actually I’m a student of God’s Law. I study theology. And I know that the law can only tell me when I’m breaking it and that I’m guilty when I do break it. I accept that. I am guilty of speeding and you are free to give me that ticket.” He stepped back again and didn’t say anything; I was nervous. Then he spoke, “You have just shown a brother in the Lord mercy. Do me a favor and plead ‘not guilty,’ and I’ll take care of it on my end.”

“Really?! But I’m guilty!” I replied. He laughed and asked me to trust him.

Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7

Now before faith came we were kept—guarded as by the military—under the law, being hemmed in until the intended faith would be revealed. Just as the law has been our trainer [in life and morals] with respect to Christ, so that from faith we may be declared righteous. While faith has come, we are no longer under the trainer [in life and morals].

Galatians 3:23-25

Paul describes to the Galatians the situation they were in prior to Christ’s advent: under the law as if trapped by a warden. The word Paul used to describe “the law” is παιδαγωγός (paidagogos/“pedagogue”). The law, according to Paul, was a pedagogue until faith was revealed. The problem arises here: we think that παιδαγωγός means “teacher.” It can mean that for us, but not in Paul’s context. The word defined according to the context in which it was used can be rendered: the slave who oversaw forcing the boys to school, who watched over and monitored and trained the boys in life and morals. Clearly, “teacher” does not cover the breadth of the definition. So, it’s better to see this word rendered as “warden,” which keeps an eye to the military aspect of having been guarded and kept by the law until Christ came. For all intents and purposes, when those kept by the law stepped out of line, the law would step close and threaten, presenting itself as an address to get back in line for their own good—like the slave would do when bringing the boys to and from school.[1]

The law, according to Paul, loomed and threatened, always bringing with it the potential to convict in order to keep those under its charge in line. But the law isn’t evil or bad; it’s just the law. The first word given by God to God’s people to bring them unto life; the law is revealed to God’s people to give them life abundant. The law was intended to turn God’s people toward God, to reveal the human tendency to think we ourselves are God; the law was there to humble God’s people and bring them toward God.[2] The relationship was always about God and God’s people, and the law was only ever to assist that relationship but not be the definitive thing of the relationship. In other words, the law was created by God for humanity, to serve humanity; humanity was not created for the law, to serve the law.

But a problem developed. Rather than being a word beckoning God’s people to God, it became like a god. And in walked fear, terror, shame, and condemnation. As the law was allowed to take over God’s thrown, it was forced into a position that it was not meant to be in. In response, the people became performative to avoid threat and punishment.[3] Thus, the law became a prison and a warden of the people; from this prison there was no escape because there is absolutely no way to satisfy the demands articulated by the law[4] to such a degree that the law stops demanding. And if it never stops demanding, to where to do you run for comfort? Where is forgiveness? And mercy?[5]

Conclusion

Deliverance from this predicament was and is necessary. Humanity cannot extricate itself from such a plight. And here the law served God’s deliverance of the people through the coming of Christ.[6] Paul explains well: the law was a warden until faith came.[7] God sent God’s only son to be born of Mary and to dwell among the dirty, poor, sick, sinners, ostracized, marginalized, and threatened people…anyone and everyone condemned by the law.

From the moment Jesus was born the law was stripped of its warden like status.[8] A woman who had given birth, was forbidden from touching anything holy, forbidden from going into the sanctuary (being in God’s presence). But then, Mary.  After Jesus’ birth, Mary was unclean. The thing that would have segregated her from her community, the thing that determined that she was unclean was the law. Yet, Mary had given birth and was subsequently holding and nursing Jesus for the full duration of her uncleanness. Very God of very God dwelt with his mother while she was unclean—impure, technically unable to be in the presence of God. Yet, there she was with God because God was with her, physically, in her presence and she in God’s. From the moment of Jesus’s birth, Jesus began to silence the voice and demand of the law…the Law was found dumb in that moment.

And so, it is to be found dumb now, just like it was found dumb when the police officer pulled me over. The law in that moment could not condemn or threaten me; it was just the law, just a word to which I could acknowledge my guilt. Same, too, for you who are in Christ through faith by the power of the Holy Spirit. The law cannot determine who you are or whose you are; the law cannot strip you of your beloved status, no matter what you do or do not do. Everything that we do here on Sunday morning, and how we conduct our lives should be fueled by the very real presence of God’s love in our life and not because we are scared God will flee us or cast us out if we don’t do this or that right. When the church becomes a museum of ritual and traditionalisms, trapped in a static performance of doing just to do, exhibitions to make us feel pious and holy, I fear that church is now no longer worshipping God, but the law. When the church becomes a place serving the law, a place of judgment, of fear, of threat, it has stepped away from its love, Jesus the Christ who silenced the law the moment he came into the world, wrapped in swaddling clothes and laying in the lap of his unclean mother, Mary.

You are the beloved; laugh as the beloved, rejoice as the beloved, and live as the beloved: loved and free.

[1] Martin Luther Lectures on Galatians 1535 Chapters 1-4 Luther’s Works Vol 26 Ed. Jaroslav Pelikan. St. Louis, MO: Concordia 1963. 335. “For the Law is a Word that shows life and drives us toward it. Therefore it was not given only for the sake of death. But this is its chief use and end: to reveal death, in order that the nature and enormity of sin might thus become apparent. It does not reveal death in a way that takes delight in it or that seeks to do nothing but kills us. No, it reveals death in order that men may be … humbled….”

[2] Luther Galatians 335. “Thus the Law was not given merely for the sake of death; but because man is proud and supposes that he is wise, righteous, and holy, therefore it is necessary that the be humbled by the Law, in order that this beat, the presumption of righteousness, may be killed, since man cannot live unless it is killed.”

[3] Luther Galatians 336. “Such is the power of the Law and such is righteousness on the basis of the Law that it forces us to be outwardly good so long as it threatens transgressors with penalties and punishment.”

[4] Luther Galatians 337. “For then a man is confined in a prison from which he cannot escape; and he does not see how he can be delivered form these bonds, that is, set free from these terrors.”

[5] Luther Galatians 337. “That is, the Law is also a spiritual prison and a true hell; for when it discloses sin and threatens death and the eternal wrath of God, man can neither run away nor find any comfort.”

[6] J. Louis Martyn Galatians The Anchor Bible Gen Ed. William Foxwell Albright and David Noel Freedman. (New York: Doubleday, 1997) 363. “…the Law was compelled to serve God’s intention simply by holding all human beings in a bondage that precluded every route of deliverance except that of Christ.”

[7] Luther Galatians 347. “The Law is a custodian, not until some other lawgiver comes who demands good works, but until Christ comes, the Justifier and Savior, so that we may be justified through faith in Him, not through works.”

[8] Martyn Galatians 362. “faith was invasively revealed. Paul’s use of the passive verb “was revealed” shows his intention to speak here of God’s eschatological act, and thus his concern to refer to the faith that is God’s deed in Christ (so also the faith” in w 25 and 26). From 2:16, 3:22-25, and 4:4-6, we see that Paul is referring interchangeably to the coming of Christ, to the coming of Christ’s Spirit, and to the coming both of Christ’s faith and of the faith kindled by Christ’s faith. It is that multifaceted advent that has brought to a close the parenthetical era of the Law, thus radically changing the world in which human beings live.”

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