Not surprisingly then, if he is indeed calling attention to the nature of the messianic feast (as the culmination of the movement of God that began with the Abrahamic covenant), Paul goes on to make reference to Abraham, writing “so then, understand that those who believe are the sons of Abraham… So then those who believe are blessed along with Abraham the believer” (Galatians 3:7,9). Just in case we may find ourselves inclined to disconnect this reference to Abraham here in Galatians from messianic-banquet-related considerations, there is a rather clear allusion to the Jesus tradition that will eventually come to be recorded in Luke’s Gospel, in which Jesus, as He makes reference to the kingdom of God and the rejection of the narrow door of loyalty to Him and His ways by which that kingdom is to be entered, says “There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves thrown out. Then people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and take their places at the banquet table in the kingdom of God” (13:28-29). As these words resound in our hearing, Paul adds that “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us… in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles,” as people come from east, west, north, and south to take their places at the table of the messianic banquet, “so that we could receive the promise of the Spirit by faith” (3:13a,14).
With that said, Paul enters into a discourse concerning the covenants (Abrahamic and Mosaic), ending up with his famous declaration that “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female---for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (3:28). The demonstration of whether or not the members of this body of believers truly believed this would be witnessed by the arrangements of their meal table. Having insisted that all that “belong to Christ” (3:29), that is, that all that confess Jesus as Lord and so order their lives according to the precepts of His kingdom, are “heir according to the promise” (3:29b), Paul then equates being an heir with being a slave (4:1). As this letter is communicated to the assembly, which would have consisted of Jew and Greek, male and female, slave and free, and in which there would always be the ongoing temptation to succumb to the social forces by which they were surrounded and to retreat into their closed communities, making use of reference to slaves and slavery would have had a particularly useful effect. In fact, as part and parcel of this, Paul makes explicit reference to Jewish Christians attempting to uphold and return to the boundary markers of the covenant---the “works of the law” of circumcision, Sabbath-keeping, purity laws---that had previously served to identify the people of the Creator God, who would be participants in His kingdom.
As we reach the fifth chapter of Galatians, we are in the enviable position of being reminded of the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters of Romans, along with the thirteenth and fourteenth chapter of Paul’s first letter to Corinth, and we remember what we were able to glean from our look at those chapters in their social and theological context as we read, “For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge your flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law can be summed up in a single commandment, namely, ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’” (5:13-14) The insistence to “serve” takes even greater meaning upon itself when placed in a social, table-based context. Christian love is given wonderful expression when the people of God, though they may stem from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds, come together and, with no thought given to their social status outside of the community of believers, serve each other without distinction as they seek to demonstrate the messianic banquet and the kingdom of God. It starts at the table (the table of the Lord)---that powerful symbol of society---and radiates outward. Clearly, if there are issues and problems at the church’s meal table, then there will be problems with the church’s witness to the world, and the church will become ineffective and powerless, thus handicapping the spreading of the kingdom of heaven. Historically then, it is no wonder that the Lord’s Supper has been such a source of contention.
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