Sermon by the rev'd. John Bauerschmidt

Proper 8, Year C
July 1, 2001
Christ Church, Covington

"Through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’" (Gal. 5:13-14).

Our reading from Paul’s Letter to the Galatians poses a challenge to us today; a challenge not only to us but to any Christian community that hears these words read. We are never Christians on our own, by ourselves; we are Christians in community, bound together by a common Baptism and a common identity "in Christ" (Gal. 3:28). Nothing is more challenging for Christians than community; just think for a moment about the Church, divided into denominations and with a history of conflict. And when we come to the Church in microcosm, on the local level, we find community issues that are just as challenging. C. S. Lewis says somewhere that there is nothing more challenging to a Christian than his or her fellow Christians: challenging to our patience, our charity, and our sense of community. This is true in our day, and seems to have been true in Paul’s day: "If…you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another" (Gal. 5:15). A wonderful metaphor, or perhaps we should say chilling in its implications.

The Apostle has a remedy, and the remedy is love. Paul quotes Leviticus, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" much as Jesus himself did, though Paul at this point doesn’t mention Jesus’ teaching. The Levitical teaching that Paul uses here reorients us, and invites us to move from our self-centered understanding of the world to an understanding that includes others, who are to be loved as we love ourselves. Yet there is more here than simply changed perception of the universe and others; more than moving to a "new consciousness" or a "higher state of being". The teaching is an invitation to a sacrificial work, to following the example of Christ, to loving as God has loved us.

This is practical, rather than esoteric, wisdom for Christians. Paul has quite a bit to say about this in the final part of this Letter. The churches in Galatia were divided by various issues, and the divisions challenged the love that they were to bear for each another. "Through love become slaves to one another", Paul tells them; strong words which suggest that Christians who are struggling with each other ought rather to be serving each other. "Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ", Paul adds in the chapter which follows ours; again, challenging the members of the Church to bear with each other rather than to accept teaching which will divide them. This law is Jesus’ law, the law of love, which calls for the sacrifice of oneself for others.

Finally, Paul adds to this another piece, which is sadly left out by our Lectionary, which skips around a bit here. "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love" (Gal. 5:6). Paul refers to the division between Gentile and Jew, which is one of those plaguing the Churches in Galatia. It is faith made effective through love that counts; a reminder to us of the primacy which Paul placed upon love which is willing to sacrifice for others after the example of Christ. As he writes in First Corinthians, "And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love" (1 Cor. 13:13).

The challenge of Paul’s Letter for us is, I suspect, in keeping this active principle of love at the center of our community life. We may not be divided in the same way that the Churches of Galatia were, but we are challenged to be a community in which we bear each others burdens; in which we serve each other and supply each others needs; in which faith works through love. I don’t need to remind you too often that one of the ways in which we do this is through the gifts we give to the Church (gifts of all sorts, of course, but certainly including gifts of treasure). Jesus has brought the Church into being, and it is our response in faith, in the sacrificial giving of ourselves, that fulfills the law of Christ.

Christian community is a challenge, on many levels. As we move forward into the future, our community will be challenged as we seek to bear one another’s burdens, and to create new community for the People of God. The love that we need to keep before us is a sacrificial love, a love which gives for others after the example of Christ. It is in Jesus’ death and resurrection that we find love at its most compelling. That love is meant to challenge us, and call us to ministry and service of each other.

The Rev’d John Bauerschmidt is Rector of Christ Church, Covington.

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