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Sermon
for 3 Pentecost Yr C, 20/06/2004 Based
on Gal 3:28 By
Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson Pastor
of Grace Lutheran Church, & Chaplain
of the Good Samaritan Society’s South
Ridge Village, Medicine Hat, Alberta Unity and oneness in Christ,
baptismal equality, dividing walls of the human race have been removed by
Jesus Christ—that is the message Paul preached to the Galatians who were
fighting amongst themselves and dividing themselves against one another. That
same message is equally as relevant and important for us Christians today.
Paul is not speaking of a utopian ideology, nor an ethical demand—rather, he
is speaking of an accomplished fact when
he says: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free,
there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”
For Paul himself, who was a devout Jew, this message must have been revolutionary. In his Jewish morning
prayers, which he likely prayed daily, Paul would have thanked God that:
“Thou hast not made me a Gentile, a slave or a woman.” But now as a
Christian, Paul is saying they very
opposite—because he believes with all his heart that Jesus Christ has removed
all dividing walls.
Jesus Christ
has removed the division of race and ethnic background—“There is no longer
Jew or Greek.”
Murray Joseph Haar, a devout,
practicing Jew, son of Holocaust parents tells of how, in his many years of
searching, he became a Lutheran pastor and now is a professor at a Lutheran
college. In telling about his quest for the truth, his struggles within
Judaism, and his journey into Christianity, he has this to say: …something or someone
compelled me to go into the enemy’s camp. I discovered that Jesus spoke the
truth to God and the truth about God. He was a Jew. I also know that history
has divided Jew from Christian. I can’t change that. But I think that Jesus
embraces both Jew and Christian. Judaism and Christianity have defined
themselves and Jesus in particular ways, and they have learned to defend
their positions with fences and walls. But Auschwitz destroys these defenses
and calls on both traditions to return to the Scriptures to study again,
together, in search of the truth. 1
Jesus Christ
has removed the dividing wall of race and ethnic background. Whether we are
Jew or Gentile, black or white, brown, red or yellow, whether we are
Norwegian Lutherans, German Lutherans, or “whatever” Lutherans—the dividing
walls have been removed thanks to the life, suffering, death and resurrection
of Jesus Christ. In these rather heated days of racial and ethnic tensions
around the world as well as right here in Canada—Paul’s words admonish us to
repent of our own racism, to practice what we believe and preach by
reconciling racial and ethnic divisions; by working for equality, justice,
love and harmony among all the races and ethnic groups. We are all equal
before Christ’s eyes; we are all one in him regardless of the country we were
born in or live in; regardless of our skin-colour; regardless of the language
we speak.
Our oneness and unity in Christ is
even broader in scope than race or ethnic background. Paul also says that in
Christ the dividing wall of slave and free person has been removed.
For centuries, Christianity—sad to
say—has failed miserably to put this great truth into practise. There are,
unfortunately, many examples from history where Christians have built and
strengthened this dividing wall of slavery and freedom rather than removing
it. In Europe, the doctrine of “divine right of kings” led to—in some countries—a
very rigid socio-economic class system, which made the poor poorer and the
rich richer. Moreover, the church became so corrupt that it pandered to the
wealthy and powerful by blessing them—thus betraying the poor. When European
Christians colonized Africa and Latin America, they used the dividing wall of
slavery to their advantage. Black people and other non-whites were regarded
by white Christians as inferior races, therefore they were destined to be
and remain slaves. Thanks to people like Abraham Lincoln in the U.S.A.
and Lord Shaftesbury in England, Christians eventually worked together to
remove the dividing wall of slave and free person. It is believed by some
church historians today that one of the major reasons why Christianity
spread throughout the Roman Empire was that it attracted so many slaves
because of this message that in Christ there is no longer slave or free. The
Christian community included slaves, business people, peasants, nobility,
soldiers and other people from all walks of life. Jesus Christ has removed
social, economic and political dividing walls. Our value, identity and
ultimate destiny does not depend on these divisions. Christ values and
treasures each one of us.
Our oneness and unity in Christ, our
baptismal equality goes even farther than racial, ethnic, slave, free
dividing walls. Paul also says that in Christ: “There is no longer male and female.” Jesus Christ has
removed the dividing wall of gender. My wife,
Julianna, is also a pastor. Over the years, both of us have met Christians who
bluntly—and sometimes hurtfully—told us that they did not believe that women
should be ordained. However, as the old adage goes: “The
proof of the pudding is in the eating of it.” Indeed,
much to our delight—and sometimes even to our amusement!—some of these
people, over the years have been converted.
Indeed, several of the most outspoken people who opposed women’s ordination
have now become the most convincing and zealous spokespersons for women’s
ordination. They have discovered the truth of Paul’s words
that male and female are united, one and
equal in Christ’s eyes. The Christian Church, in this century, and the
latter part of the last century, has finally discovered—after centuries of
denial and suppression—the incalculable contributions that women have made
and continue to make to Christianity. Christ has removed the dividing wall of
male and female so that true freedom, equality and unity might be more fully
experienced and realized. Paul’s
vision of oneness, unity, baptismal equality in Christ is a vision of an
inclusive, wholistic church. May our Triune God help us all to be what Paul
says we already are—a united, equal, and free church; an inclusive and
wholistic church; a church which rejoices in and respects our unity in
diversity and our diversity in unity; a church in which there is room for
everyone! Amen. ____________ 1 Cited from: Murray Joseph Haar, “In the Enemy’s Camp: A Convert’s Sadness,” The Christian Century, April 15, 1992, Vol. 109, No. 13 (Chicago: The Christian Century Foundation, 1992), p. 391. |
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