Only in the Cross

Galatians 6: 11-16, page 826
See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!
Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that that they may boast about your flesh.
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.
Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God.
Finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit brothers and sisters. Amen.
Sermon
The theme of the day is Freedom, as on this 4th of July we celebrate our nation’s independence from Great Britain, and as we read once more from Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia we hear again words of freedom – freedom from the law.
Last Thursday in the Men’s Breakfast Bible Study as we read this final section of Galatians, Dan Horan was reminded of John Hancock, a signer of the Declaration of Independence who wanted his signature to be so big that King George would have no choice to but to see it, as here, in the same fashion, the Apostle Paul seizes the pen from his scribe to summarize and close out his letter using his own great big letters.
He siezes the pen for emphasis, as what we have here in chapter 6 is the most important part – Paul rehashes the theme of his letter that we have been reading from for five weeks now – that the cross, not the law, brings salvation. So salvation is not something that you can earn by your own piety, but is a gift. Therefore there can be no room for boasting, no discussion over who is holy and who is not, as in Christ Jesus we are made one – there are no divisions of male and female, holy and un-holy, have and have not, for we are all equally in need of a savior, a savior who we have in Christ Jesus.
But the freedom that comes from such a salvation that is not earned but given freely is not grounds for sinful living, because self-indulgence leaves open the opportunity for not freedom, but slavery, to alcohol, drugs, wealth, power, ambition, or fleeting pleasure.
Here at the end of the letter Paul summarizes all that has come before which we have dealt with in previous weeks, but this is also his chance to really hammer home his point, really sell his audience on his interpretation of the gospel, convince them of the benefits of conversion – and here come the words, “Finally, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.”
Here at the end of the letter – the Apostle Paul, great promoter of the Gospel – emphasizes not the great benefits of Christianity, but the suffering of the cross and the marks of Jesus that he bears on his very body.
Suffering is not normally a selling point of Western Religion; suffering is not really a selling point for anything. We want to become a part of organizations that will improve our lives, not make them harder, we buy things that make life easier, not more complicated, but many of the great world religions have embodied such hardship as the path to enlightenment.
Lilburn is now home to the largest Hindu Temple in the Southeast, and one of the reform movements that splintered off from Hinduism in much the same way that Christianity splintered off from Judaism, only about a thousand years before, is a religion that embodies suffering perhaps better than any other. Jainism is among the great monastic religions, and in many ways this religion has similarities with Paul’s brand of Christianity – especially concerning freedom from the desires of the flesh. We read last week in chapter 5, that “it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” The Jains attempt to attain such freedom by liberating themselves from all passions, all needs, and all attachments.
I recently read about the life of a Jain nun named Mataji. Mataji gave up everything; she renounced her wealth and her home to live the life of a wandering beggar with no possessions and no money. She even renounced her family, as any attachment, even attachments to other people, are considered hindrances to freedom.
I think we know what this kind of freedom is about – in the past few weeks Lily has been learning to walk, but the freedom she gains from walking comes with a cost – she can’t be both free to walk and attached to her mother and I, so in a way she must detach a part of herself from us in order to be free to walk.
The story of Mataji takes detachment from loved ones much more seriously however. Her story was recently written down in a collection of short stories written by William Dalrymple in his search for the sacred in modern India. Her story stands out as Mataji was not able to attain complete detachment however, and in the face of her religious practice she found herself overcome by grief at the death of a friend: “When I realized she had left, I wept bitterly. We are not supposed to do this,” Mataji says, “and our guruji frowned at me. But I couldn’t help myself.”
In the event of mourning the loss of her friend she was also met by guilt, as her grief revealed her failure as a nun. She was not able to detach herself completely, and found herself hindered by attachment to another human being. In the death of her friend, Mataji found that she was not free by the standards of her religion, and here we find the difference between being a Jain and being a Christian.
Paul advocates freedom from the sinful nature – freedom from selfishness that forgets that others exist, freedom from pleasures that please ourselves in the moment while taking advantage of other people, freedom from self-righteousness that elevates self over neighbor, freedom from self-aggrandizement that inflates the ego at the expense of awareness of other people, and freedom from self-promotion that only concerns itself with one when one is in reality one among many.
Freedom from the sinful nature – the same freedom that the Jains pursue – Paul says that we must be freed from self-interest that we might be freed too, freed to love one another.
The point of freedom according to Paul is not to free yourself from others, but to free yourself from selfishness that you might become attached to others.
We are freed to love, not just ourselves, but each other.
And so, should we choose such freedom, we are invited to a life of pain and hardship.
When we are freed from self interest, freed to love another, we set ourselves up for the heartbreak that Paul describes here as the marks of Jesus.
For Christ knows the kind of pain that the freedom to love can bring, as loving another person comes with risk, the potential for rejection, most symbolized by the cross – the sign of God’s profound love for you, a love poured out and the marks of cruel rejection.
We are freed from self-interest, freed from the sinful nature that thinks only of ourselves, and you are freed to love one another just as Christ first loved you.
Do not be foolish thinking that this way of life is without heartache, pain, and suffering, but do not be fooled into thinking that there is another way of life worth living.
Here at the end of Paul’s letter to the Galatians Paul doesn’t water down the truth, doesn’t shy away from the pain that the Christian life brings with it – but this great promoter of the gospel doesn’t relent from his claim that the way of the cross is the only way.
“Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything: what counts is a new creation,” all that counts is a new creation – where you, the people of God, pour out the love of God to each other willingly.
This way of life is not easy, certainly not pain free – but no other way is worth pursuing. No other way embodies the Gospel, and no other way is worth your life.
On this 4th of July we celebrate our freedom – and we celebrate the lives of all those who gave of themselves to make that freedom a reality. With this gift comes the invitation to go and do the same – to give of yourself for other, to live and to love – for there is no greater calling.
Amen.