Wednesday, December 15, 2021

Galatians 4:21-31

Galatians 4:21-31 

  There's a lot to unpack here, and we have to remember that Paul is writing to a people steeped in Jewish tradition.  They've been living into this since they were children, and the story of Abraham and Isaac, of God brining life to a barren womb, would have been very close to their hearts.  To this community, the story of Jesus was new, and they're trying to make sense of it all.  
  What Paul is trying to point to is that Jesus didn't appear out of nowhere -- Jesus was part of a story God has been telling since the days of Abraham, and what is happening in Christianity is not something new, but rather the ongoing progress of something very old.  Jesus wasn't trying to start something new, but rather help people rooted in an old tradition see ways the old tradition needed to change.  Similar to how Martin Luther wasn't trying to start a new denomination but reform the Catholic church!
  It's a great comfort to me to know that my faith is rooted in something centuries old.  We're not inventing something on our own, but rather continuing to discover something ancient, rooted in history and springing into the present.  We look backwards as well as forwards, trusting in the Holy Spirit to lead us, to guide us, to invigorate us and inspire us.  And we do this in freedom, for we, too, stand in the tradition of Isaac, born as children of the promise.  

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