14th Sunday in Ordinary Time
May I never boast except in the cross. (Galatians 6:14)
The church in Galatia was struggling. The people there had gladly welcomed Paul’s simple message: Jesus Christ died for their sins, rose for their salvation, and was now inviting them to embrace that salvation through faith and baptism. But after Paul left Galatia, other people arrived with a more complicated message: if you don’t embrace all of Jewish law, especially circumcision, your salvation is incomplete. You have to become a Jewish convert as well as a Christian.
When Paul got wind of this, he fired off a harsh letter of rebuke. “Are you so stupid?” he asked. “It is those who have faith who are children of Abraham,” not just those who are circumcised (Galatians 3:3, 7).
For Paul, the issue went to the heart of the gospel message. If the Galatians embraced circumcision, they would be perpetuating the old division between Jew and Gentile that Jesus had come to destroy. Not only that, but they would be feeding the lie that Jesus belongs only to a certain class or type of people. “There is neither Jew nor Greek,” Paul told them, “there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).
This is one of the most powerful truths of our faith: in Christ, every division is wiped out. Being a Christian is not a matter of deciding who is “in” and who is “out.” Neither are there different “levels” or “classes” of believers. There’s only everybody. We are all equally sinners who are equally loved by God and forgiven by the cross. The question is whether we will accept this salvation and let God’s love heal our divided hearts and change our divisive actions.
Paul never wanted to “boast” about anything that made him feel special or better than other people (Galatians 6:14). The gift of God’s merciful, liberating, transforming love outshone everything else. This love is available to you today at Mass. Come and taste it. Let it break down every division in your heart.
“Jesus, reduce me to love!”
Isaiah 66:10-14
Psalm 66:1-7, 16, 20
Luke 10:1-12, 17-20
