“But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.”
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal 6:14a). Brethren, how often do we try to ingratiate ourselves with persons or associations of influence? Does the high school paradigm of the “cool crowd,” or the “popular kids,” ever really leave us behind? Or does it just take on more subtle, more insidious forms? There is a kind of blunt, juvenile transparency to “unless you buy these sneakers, unless you wear these jeans, you can’t sit at that lunch table.” Such petty, popular appeal is laughable to adults. “These kids, what a trivial thing to care about.” But as adults, we do very similar things. And as I said, they are just more subtle, and on account of their subtlety, even more nefarious. Can you imagine such a workplace conversation? “The boss likes a firm, no-nonsense approach to management. If you want to gain any rapport with him, you won’t want to get too chummy with the grunts.” Or how about one along these lines? “I don’t want to make the sale… if I have to lie to the customer.” “If you want to keep your job, if you want to get noticed, if you want to get promoted, then you’ll make the sale.”
The world is constantly challenging us to compromise, brethren. It is constantly challenging us to boast in, to prioritize, to emphasize something other than the gospel of Jesus Christ. “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal 6:14a). In today’s Epistle Reading, St. Paul addresses one of the earliest Christian heresies: that of the Judaizers. There has been so much written about the early disputes between Jewish Christian converts and Gentile converts that it would be nearly impossible to do the issue justice in a sermon. However, in brief: the Judaizers were Jewish Christians who believed that all Christians, including Gentile converts, had to obey the Mosaic Law. You will recall what St. Paul says earlier in the same epistle—Galatians—about confronting St. Peter regarding his unwillingness to associate with Gentile believers, specifically, when other Jews were around:
“But when Cephas [that is, Simon Peter] came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James [that is, St. James of Jerusalem, the brother of the Lord], he was eating with the Gentiles, but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party [St. Paul is hear referring to the Ἰουδαΐζειν, i.e., “the Judaizers,” or even more literally, “the Jew-makers”]. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, ‘If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?’” (Gal 2:11-14).
Brethren, this is the ancient, Christian equivalent of the 2004 Mean Girls movie trope: “You can’t sit with us!” And I apologize to those who don’t get that reference. The Jews are sitting at the “cool kid” table. St. Peter is fine with sitting at the “outsiders” table, that is, until the cool kids arrive. Then, well then, … he needs to return to his own table. St. Paul will have none of it. And he calls out St. Peter on his hypocrisy. It is a sad piece of social commentary, brethren, as true in our time, as it was in antiquity: everyone behaves how they are expected to behave when those who presume said expectations are watching. Let me say that again: everyone behaves how they are expected to behave when those who presume said expectations are watching.
“But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ… . For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation” (Gal 6:14a, 15). In today’s Epistle, brethren, why were the Jews so adamant about having the Gentile converts circumcised? Were they worried about their salvation? When the popular kids in high school try to get other kids to wear the same jeans, the same shoes as they wear, is it because they are so concerned about the healthy socialization of the outsider? No! It is an entirely selfish motivation. For the Judaizers, it’s not about “saving more people.” For the high school socialite, it’s not about “making sure everyone is cool, everyone is popular!” It’s not about inclusivity. Rather, it is about maintaining their own—our own—social status. “Don’t wear that, don’t do that… you’ll make me look bad.” Parents (wrongly) say these kinds of things to their children. Friends (wrongly) say these kinds of things to one another. “Don’t do that, you’ll embarrass me.” And that’s exactly what the Judaizers were saying and doing to the Gentile converts, as St. Paul recounts:
“As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh” (Gal 6:12-13).
We must remember, brethren, that at this time in early Christian history, Christianity was understood as one of a number of Jewish sects: Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots, Essenes, and yes, Christians. (Jewish) Christians went to the Temple in Jerusalem to worship. (Jewish) Christians went to the synagogues to pray and to hear the Scriptures read. Do you know where St. Paul routinely went to preach the gospel? To the synagogues! Which synagogues? Those in Damascus (Acts 9:20), and Antioch (Acts 13:5), and Iconium (Acts 14:1), and Thessalonica (Acts 17:2), and others. The Apostle was a Jew who had found the Christ, hence, a Christian Jew.
We may reasonably ask then, how might one perfectly ingratiate himself to Christian Jews, without ruffling too many feathers? Well, keep as much of the Mosaic Law as possible, right? And! Keep company with those who do the same. St. Paul speaks so caustically against the Judaizers, not because he disagrees with them keeping the Mosaic Law (after all, they are Jews!), but because they are forcing all those who they must now keep company with—Gentile converts to the gospel of Jesus Christ—to follow the Law as well. And why? “Well, we don’t want people to talk.” Hence, the Apostle’s comments, “As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ (v. 12).” What does he mean? The Jewish Christians want to be Christian, oh yes; they just don’t want to catch slack for hanging out with non-Jews. Sandy Olsen likes Danny Zuko (and Danny Zuko likes Sandy) but, “C’mon guys, she’s a square. Let’s get outta here.” Hypocrisy and social posturing: vices as perennial as spring.
Brethren, are we guilty of these same crimes? As I asked earlier, “How often do we try to ingratiate ourselves with persons or associations of influence?” And why do we do it? Should we care how people perceive us? In what is our boast? “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ… . For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation” (Gal 6:14a, 15). “Fr. David is watching; I should make the sign of the cross.” “Everyone else is bowing especially low; I should bow low too.” “I’m going to the monastery. I better take my prayer rope. [Do you usually pray with a prayer rope?] Well, no, but I’d like to give the impression that I do.” Brethren, the Church, both ancient and modern—the Orthodox Church—is full of signs and rituals and traditions. These are important things. These are wonderfully informative things. I know that I have said it during catechesis: our theology is psychosomatic. What we see and hear, what we do with our bodies—bowing, fasting, making the sign of the cross, kissing icons—has a profound effect on our souls. But there is such a fine line between saying, “This thing is necessary,” and “This thing is helpful.” In the 1st century, for Jewish Christians, circumcision was very helpful. Why? In distinguishing them as Jews. It was a physiological distinction. It said to all, “I am definitely a Jew,” to which they, as believers in the risen Lord, could add, “And I am a follower of Jesus Christ.” But to a Gentile, was circumcision either necessary or helpful. No, not really. What was helpful for Gentile Christians? What ought the Jews in Galatia and Colossae to have emphasized? The Apostle writes,
“In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self, ruled by the flesh, was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead” (Col 2:11-12).
Last Sunday, we heard the dialogue between Jesus and the rich, young ruler. We learned from our Lord that beyond the keeping of the moral law, the ritual law, there is only one thing needful: a faithful allegiance, a wholehearted discipleship to Jesus Christ. Will this discipleship yield glory, peace, contentment? I pray so! But it may also yield hardship, suffering, ostracization, exile, embittered relationships with family members, even death. We cannot appease the world and appease God! We cannot ingratiate ourselves to the powers that be—political, commercial, social—and ingratiate ourselves to God!
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves” (Matt 23:15).
Brethren, let us preserve the beauty of our traditions, the beauty of our Orthodox cultures, the formativeness of our Orthodox spirituality, while always asking of the newcomer, the outsider, the catechumen, the inquirer: “What is needful? What is helpful? … What is needful? … What is helpful?” Let us make disciples of Jesus Christ who want to pray, to fast, to give alms, to repent, to help, to serve because it is glorifying to God, and not because it makes us feel good, look good, feel successful. Let us boast in nothing other than Christ crucified and his glorious resurrection from the dead.
Through the prayers of our holy fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ, our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!