Monday 14 March 2022

Psalm 100

Background

 Five of this week’s readings are from Paul’s letter to the Galatians. It will be helpful before studying these passages to look at Paul’s background out of which he writes this letter. Paul was a Jew and had been very zealous in persecuting the followers of Jesus. He had had a dramatic conversion experience in which Jesus had revealed himself to Paul in an amazing way. Yet Paul, unlike the disciples of Jesus – the apostles – was a second-hand apostle, he had never met the living Jesus and he was always aware of this fact. Galatia, where Paul had established this fledgling Christian community, was located in what is now south-central Turkey where there was a range of faiths, and local gods, as well as worship of the Roman Emperor, Jews and non-Jewish followers of Jesus.

So, in this short passage, before even greeting the Christian community, Paul is determined to establish his credentials. He is at pains to emphasise that he has a direct mandate through Jesus and God who raised Jesus from the dead and this means he has an equally valid mission with that of the apostles.

To Ponder:

• Paul had had a dramatic conversion from being a persecutor of Jesus’ followers to  becoming an ambassador for Christ. How would or has your congregation responded to someone who has undergone a dramatic conversion and become a dynamic advocate for the Christian message?
• Our Church has an elaborate system for training and forming local preachers and presbyters (ministers) and for discerning their calling. Yet Paul said he was an apostle “sent neither by human commission nor from human authorities.” Are we overcautious?

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we give thanks for the ministry of Paul , which helped to spread the gospel out from the Holy Land to the Greek and Roman world. Give us, we pray, a willingness to hear your word spoken to us by people from without as well as from within our own culture. Amen.