Wednesday 16 March 2022

Psalm 102:1-11

Background

In this passage Paul becomes autobiographical – outlining his life experiences to emphasise yet again that his mandate, his commission came directly from God in Christ. While he was still ‘in Judaism’ he had been a person of fervour and loyalty, a Pharisee strict in adherence to Jewish law. Indeed, he had seen himself as a latter-day Elijah, cleansing Israel of the dangerous Jesus way. Then Paul describes how he was stopped in his tracks by his encounter on the Damascus road. The language Paul uses borrows from the language of a prophetic call.

Paul then makes it clear that after his ‘conversion’ he did not immediately go to Jerusalem. He travelled in other areas to spread the gospel message. Only after three years did he go to Jerusalem and meet up with Cephas (Peter) and other apostles. In other words, Paul asserts his independence from Peter and the Judaea based apostles. The trouble-makers in Galatia wanted to maintain that Paul was a lackey of the Judaean apostles, a ‘junior’ apostle who had distorted the gospel message. But Paul adamantly repudiated this. As evidence of his credentials and of his relationship with the Judaean apostles, he reminds his readers that when those apostles heard that the one who had been persecuting them was now proclaiming the good news of Jesus, they glorified God.

To Ponder:

• Paul told his own story of his transition from persecutor to gospel messenger. Would it be helpful to congregations if church leaders told their own story of their pilgrimage of faith?
• We still have ‘turf wars’ between and within churches often arising from leaders with different convictions. Does Paul’s letter to the Galatians give us any help with dealing with such situations?

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we pray that you will heal divisions within the body of Christ and enable us to show the world that Christians do, indeed, love one another. Amen.