Galatians & Giving (part 3)

Paul writes “When you come together, each one has a song, has a lesson, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation.  Let all these things be done for the strengthening of the church” (1 Corinthians 14:26b).  He goes on to offer some helpful guidelines for how the symposium should be conducted, but at no point should there be an insertion of any idea of a single person always presiding over the service or being the primary, regular teacher in the mold of the current conceptions of a pastor. 

All were to be equal participants, and in fact it was most likely the case, in accordance with standard association customs in those days, that the presidency of the meal (the one who presided over the meal) was a shared responsibility that rotated amongst the members of the group.  One can imagine that this would be even more prevalent in the churches, especially as they were to prefer one another and serve one another in a spirit of humility with a consciousness of the cross of the Christ, so that one person could never be in a position to dominate another, dominate the group, or attempt to accrue the honor that was due to Jesus alone (and which was to be conferred upon those that society would have considered to be the least honorable).    

Returning then to the issues at hand in the church of Galatia that are indicated by Paul’s highlighting of the Jew/Gentile divisions, this theme can be traced through the letter.  Doing so should shed helpful light on the words of the sixth verse of the sixth chapter of Galatians, which should allow for hearing the words more appropriately.  In the first chapter Paul writes of “a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you” (1:8b).  This is quite the helpful alert to a problem within the church.  Shortly thereafter Paul begins his talk of Judaism (1:13,14).  He does not condemn, but rather sets his former way of life in contrast with his call to preach Christ “among the Gentiles” (1:16). 

In the second chapter Paul again writes of his preaching “among the Gentiles” (2:2), going on to speak of circumcision and his Greek companion (2:3).  He calls attention to this by writing “Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised,” in a desire to bring him into conformity with the covenant markers of Judaism, “although he was a Greek” (2:3).  The only reason for Paul to make mention of this is if it has some bearing on that with which he intends to deal in this letter.  That makes sense, does it not?   

In the sixth verse of the chapter, Paul offers an aside, saying “God shows no favoritism between people” (2:6b).  Though this is directly related to the “influential leaders” (2:6c) of the church in Jerusalem, it seems as though Paul includes this statement as part of the larger point that he is making, while going on to point out that he was “entrusted with the Gospel to the uncircumcised just as Peter was to the circumcised (for He who empowered Peter for his apostleship to the circumcised also empowered me for my apostleship to the Gentiles)” (2:7-8).  

Hated (part 3)

If what it was that Jesus had to say was too unique, He could never have found an audience.  Based on the strange-for-the-messiah actions that accompanied His words, offering something unfamiliar to the people of Israel could have resulted in His being dismissed as a heathen, outside of the realm of the covenant people, and probably overly influenced by the pagan religions by which Israel was surrounded and to which they are said to have so often succumbed in their past. 

So while remembering the grounding of Jesus’ teaching within historical Judaism and Israel, an observer also does very well to remember that those that heard and those that would later provide historical records of His life and teaching so as to pass it on in both oral and written form, heard what He had to say within the same historically-rooted context as those that would hear and not provide narratives that would be passed down through history.  They did so while also speaking and writing of Jesus in the light of the Resurrection and what they came to believe that the Resurrection implied for Him, for Israel, for the world, and for the ultimate eschatological purposes of Israel’s God. 

Before moving on to the uncovering of the answer that will makes it possible to get a more firm and far less anachronistic grip on what such words from Jesus implied, it must be said that this pronouncement concerning hatred that is the focus of this study was not isolated.  The Gospels insist that Jesus spoke of being hated on more than one occasion.  While Mark has Jesus speaking of being hated in association with His pronouncements concerning the end of the age, with this occurring in the wake of His kingly entry into Jerusalem and His “cleansing” of the Temple, Matthew has Jesus first speaking of being hated much earlier in His ministry. 

Matthew records a sermon on the mount, whereas Luke records a sermon on the plain.  Some look at this as a conflict, but a more realistic assessment is that is quite likely that Jesus’ message was repetitive in nature, and that these repetitive messages were offered to an oral-history-oriented community in much the same way as a modern politician will give the same speech to different audiences, or a pastor has a particular, popular, go-to sermon. 

So in regards to the hating and being hated, Matthew has Jesus speaking of such things in association with His sending of the twelve “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (10:6).  It is in this context that Jesus says “you will be hated by everyone because of My name” (10:22a), while also adding, as He appears to have done at the speech recorded by Mark, “But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (10:22b).  Progressing on to the Gospel of Luke, on the lookout for hate, lands a reader in the sixth chapter, where Jesus is to be found speaking of such things during the aforementioned sermon on the plain.  Here, He is speaking to a wider audience than just His disciples, but the general theme remains unchanged.  Jesus says, “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you and insult you and reject you as evil on account of the Son of Man!” (6:22) 

Interestingly, Jesus here speaks of being excluded, which should certainly have reminded His hearers (and those that would subsequently be presented with these words) of the exclusive practices referenced earlier in this study, though in a way that informs His hearers (and readers through the centuries) that separating exclusions within the “kingdom of God” (6:20) should themselves be excluded.  Later, Jesus will add the difficult demand to “Love your enemies,” and to “do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (6:27b-28).