In our first reading today (Galatians 3:22-29), we hear the conclusion of this week’s series of exhortations of St. Paul to the Church in Galatia. The Galatians were being racked with divisions and confusion because their leaders were teaching different things, and growing disagreements were developing amongst them. St. Paul reminds them that their faith in God has little to do with adherence, and especially the blind obedience, to the old laws of Moses.
St. Paul explains that the Law of God, as it was revealed through Moses, had been useful in its time and had been a means of maintaining the people’s faith, especially at the time when they were influenced by so many corrupting influences of the world. If we read the accounts of the Exodus and the journey of the Israelites from the land of Egypt to the Promised Land, we will know just how stubborn the Israelites had been, and how often they disobeyed the Lord and even broke their Covenant with him.
Amidst this backdrop and context, the Lord issued a harsh and restrictive Law to keep the people in check, to keep them disciplined during those crucial early years after their liberation. Without the law, we see their lack of faith was so great, that despite having witnessed God’s miracles and powers, they still disobeyed and lost their faith.
As time passed on, the original intent of the Law had been forgotten and overlooked. The people grew to observe the Law, its commandments, and its rules as a formality to avoid God’s anger and wrath, as they heard how their ancestors had been punished severely for their sins. They did not realize that any punishment they received was because of their own sins, not because God sought for their destruction.
The truth is that God truly loves each of us, His beloved people. He created us as the crowning jewel of His creation, and God will do everything to bring us back to and be reconciled with Him. It is we who are often negligent, rebellious, and ignorant, who refuse to accept God’s generous love and His compassionate mercy. This is why we have often erred and wandered off, away from the path of God’s grace and salvation.
As the people of God forgot the love with which God had cared for them, and the Law by which He intended to teach them to love Him and to reorganize and redirect their lives to be more loving and faithful to Him, they ended up focusing on all the wrong things, on the unnecessary details of how the rules and regulations of the Law were to be enforced and followed, more than realizing how the Law is just a means by which we can better help and discipline ourselves to find our way to the Lord.
That is why today, as we listen to these readings from the Scriptures, we are constantly reminded that we need to appreciate just how much we are beloved, and how God loves everyone equally, without any more labels like Jews or Gentiles, but all as God’s people, all the same. As Christians, we need to live and bear witness to this love, loving one another equally and generously as much as we can, welcoming others as fellow brothers and sisters.
Are we willing to listen to God and obey His will? God has called us all to be faithful to Him and to follow Him with all our hearts, with all of our might, and with all of our mind. Let us all heed His call, and do our very best, in every opportunity, to walk faithfully in the presence of God. Let us be ever more faithful to Him, with each passing moment. Let us all be the genuine examples and bearers of God’s love in our communities today, to be the light of God’s truth in this darkened world.
May God Bless You and Grant You His Peace!