Daily Devotion – December 22, 2020 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison
Galatians 4:4-7
4:4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
4:5 in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.
4:6 And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
4:7 So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.
We call the coming of Christ to the world The Incarnation, the putting into flesh of something/someone NOT of flesh. The Incarnation of God in the person of Jesus, being BORN, being a BABY born of a woman, was not a trivial point. And that this particular baby was born to a Hebrew mother and father, born under Jewish law and customs with certain Jewish rights and obligations, is also not a trivial point.
Since the letter to Galatians is Paul’s argument to gentile believers that they do not have to become Jews in order to become Christians, he has to make sure his readers/hearers understand that Jesus is actually God come to earth as a real human person, and also that Jesus is a real true Jewish person, with Hebrew DNA, blessed, prayed over, and sacrificed for in the temple at the ritual times. If Jesus were seen NOT to be a Jew, then Jesus would not have the authority to declare non-Jews his brothers and sisters as well as God’s children. But if Jesus is heir to God’s kingdom, and Jesus makes it so that we non-Jews can share in the inheritance, then we non-Jews are legitimate children of God.
There is a lot at stake in these three sentences. Plus a tiny bit more. Which upsets some people.
Is there anything we have done or can do to be MORE God’s heirs? Nope. God has willed it, so Jesus came. Jesus has done the work and declared the work to be finished. And the Holy Spirit has proceeded from the Father and the Son “into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’,“ allowing us to know deep within ourselves that God is our father and Jesus is our brother and savior. We have been adopted into a family, the community of the Triune God.
So the Galatians (and we) can be certain that we will inherit all that God promises. We can know this and live in the sure and certain hope of the Resurrection. We can know this whether or not people around us treat us like heirs or like slaves. We can know this on our good days and on our bad days. God is our father, Jesus the Christ has declared it, the Holy Spirit has cried into our hearts to get us to long for it.
Believing this word is simpler than a lot of people would like it to be. They would like knowing that they have earned their way into God’s family. In truth, there is much work to be done for justice and peace and mercy in the world. But this one thing, our status, we don’t have to work for. Indeed, we cannot. We are already there. So, to those of my dearest friends who believe only certain people have been good enough to be heirs of God’s kingdom, I say, Nope. God wants us all to be God’s heirs. And God won’t argue about it. Neither should we. We HAVE the status. It makes us so glad that we work for the joy of it.
Gracious God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for letting Jesus be born and declaring us to be heirs of your kingdom. Thank you for sending the Holy Spirit to make us long for you. Thank you for considering us pig-headed human beings worth your energy and patience. Help us to remember and be grateful for your love every day so that we can share this good news with others who remain unconvinced. Amen.
