Today’s passage is Galatians 5:1-12. Paul says that if the Galatians let themselves be circumcised then they need to obey the whole law and Christ will serve no purpose to them because they will have fallen from grace and alienated themselves from the Lord. He says he’s confident they will return to the truth. He wishes the people who have turned them from freedom in Christ will cut off their own penises, not just the foreskin. He says that faith expressed in love is the only thing that counts.
Why does Paul wish emasculation on the circumcision group? Why does Paul see firmness of faith as running a race?
Paul directs a barrage of images towards the Galatians.
They need to “stand firm” (1), free from the “yoke of slavery” (1).
If they circumcise themselves, they will be strangers to Christ, “alienated” (4), “fallen away from grace” (4) when they should “eagerly await” righteousness through faith (5).
“Neither circumcision not uncircumcision has any value” (6). They were “running a race” (7) “obeying the truth” (7) but someone “cut in” (7). “’A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough’” (9).
Paul wishes the agitators would “emasculate themselves!” (12). So, we are standing free, not yoked, not alienated, full of grace, faithfully waiting for righteousness while running a race and obeying the truth, not worrying about circumcision while the agitators who try to block our way cut off their genitals.
And if we can’t make sense of all that, Paul implies, we should do the really important thing, which is to express our faith through love.
Last weekend, my couples mokjang went on a weekend together.
I didn’t particularly want to go because I was tired and it looked like a busy time with little rest. I wanted rest.
I thought I needed rest to be able to do my work.
My focus was on my work.
The mokjang weekend, however, would be focused on fun activities and spiritual matters.
First we drove three hours to our destination.
Then we cooked supper.
Later we played entertaining, ice-breaker games and 윷놀이.
We went to bed 3am.
It was hard to sleep because mokja had to counsel, argue and prescribe an action to a mogwon with a marriage problem.
We got up, had breakfast, cleaned up, left at noon and went to a restaurant.
Then we walked on a beach. I had a nap in the car.
We drove for three hours, had supper, went to a 노래방 because the man having marriage problems really wanted us to go with him.
After an hour of singing, we left and arrived at home around midnight.
I was running a reasonably good race of faith but the mokjang weekend showed me initially turning from what really counts, showing my faith through love.
I had to struggle against seeing my time as my time, especially my time to prepare for my school work, not my love of my Christian brothers and sisters.
My focus was out of whack.
I have no serious marriage problems at the moment but two couples in our mokjang does.
The weekend was for them.
They needed to be in the company of fellow believers to comfort, support and encourage them.
Their marriage is at risk. Their salvation is at risk.
Compared to their salvation, my job is meaningless.
That’s what I needed to understand.
Going to a 노래방 at the end of a long weekend showed our Christian brother that we could and would go with him to one of his favorite places and sing with him.
We showed his wife that 노래방 are not inherently evil places.
We didn’t judge him, we loved him.
Another couple who had been struggling with their long time relationship announced that they would get married next month and begin attending church regularly. It was a wonderful moment of grace.
So, a mokjang weekend that I thought was for someone else turned out to be for me too.
Like the Galatians, my race of faith had been interrupted by my own lack of love and my worldly focus on a job that will vanish in a few years.
By going and fully participating in the weekend, I got back in the race and learned what really counts: faith expressing love.
Application: to embrace the seemingly frivolous get-togethers of my worship community because the issue is salvation.
Lord, let me not be so selfish and considerate of myself that I fail to love others with my faith firmly in you.
