30th May, 2010

BRUCE C. WEARNE

Read Galatians 6: 11-16

Paul concludes his letter. He has written all that he wanted to say. He has issued a stern rebuke. He has also laid done a practical agenda for pastoral concern among the community of believers. It is as if he concludes by giving a final summary which gains in emphasis because he has put it in bold and italics and then underlined it. Here, as he has emphasised elsewhere, the cross of Christ is a stumbling-block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks, "but to those who believe, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God" (I Corinthians 1: 23-24).

This is the point from which Paul wants his personal identity to be located. The Lord Almighty had provided him with the way by which his life could find fulfilment - the only way. And that is way in which God's promises come to fulfilment in the cross of Jesus Christ. God in His Son has taken upon Himself the curse and indignity of human sin - "and with His stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53: 5).

This same cross sheds a piercing light upon the folly of those who would bind themselves by circumcision. Instead of that, the new creation inaugurated by Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is the path of peace and mercy. All are therefore called to participate in this ongoing work by which God fulfils His purposes for the creation and keeps His promises.

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