Isaiah 66: 10–14 / Psalm 66: 1–9 / Galatians 6: 1–16 / Luke 10: 1–11, 16–20
This
is the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown,
Pennsylvania on Sunday, July 6, 2025 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor.
“WHAT IF’S?”
(Homily
text: Galatians 6: 1–16)
This morning, we finish our sojourn
with St. Paul’s letter to the early churches in the region of Galatia. Paul’s
appeal, throughout this letter, is for those early believers not to abandon the
faith that was delivered to them by Paul and others, not to fall prey to the
demands of unknown persons who were telling these church members that they must
adhere to all the requirements of the Law of Moses in order to be true
followers of Jesus, and to be united in their commitment to the Lord Jesus
Christ and to each other.
So, with this as an introduction, let’s
ask ourselves a series of questions, entitled “What If’s?”.
What if the Church lost its way, and
began to act like the surrounding, unbelieving world. Wouldn’t that be like the
Lord’s warning, that if salt had lost its flavor, it was no longer any good,
but should be thrown out and trampled underfoot? (See Matthew 5:13.)
Come
to think of it, such a development has happened before…in the time of the
Reformation, Martin Luther and other reformers were determined to prompt the
Church to abandon its quest for worldly power and influence.
That
same thing could happen to the Church today, whenever it seeks to adopt the
ways of the outside world.
What if the Church got wrapped up in
politics?
That
has happened before, as well: The reformers we mentioned a moment ago also saw
that the Church was wrapped up in political intrigues, in wars, and so forth.
So,
too, can the Church today become an extension of a political agenda, or of a
political movement or party. My second Bishop once wisely said, “The Church
must never become political, it must never become an extension of any political
party, whether that party is right, left, or in between”.
What if the Church began to behave as
though it is a closed society, whose membership is open only to the chosen few
(also sometimes known as the “Frozen Chosen”).
Alas,
that has happened as well in times past. And in some places, it still happens
today. And, of course, part of what Paul has to say in our reading this morning
is a rebuttal of the idea that the Church is a closed society, whose membership
is open only to those who are able to follow all the rules.
What if the Church became so accepting of
any sort of behavior that it abandoned its moral underpinnings, those things
that the faith once delivered has passed on to its members, and to us?
That,
too, has happened before: The sixteenth-century reformers were appalled at the
private behaviors of many of those who were leaders in the Church in their
time.
So,
too, can we lapse into an acceptance of an outward appearance of holiness, but
a holiness that isn’t reflected in our inward dispositions, attitudes and beliefs.
My first Bishop once wisely said, “If you are going to come to serve here, your
insides must match your outsides”. What the Bishop is referring to is something
called “integrity”.
What if the Church forgot that its
primary reason for being is to worship God? And, second to that, to be the
agent by which God is introduced to people, and people are introduced to God,
while the Church nurtures that relationship.
History
tells us that that has been the case in the past, as well.
Our
own time can reflect such a different set of values, as the Church pursues any
number of causes, many of them worthwhile, turning the Church into a group of
“religious busybodies” (my third Bishop’s description).
What if – on the other hand – the
Church reflected the concerns that St. Paul articulates in his letter to the
Galatians?
What if the Church worked to foster
unity within its membership? After all, Paul says that we are to “bear one
another’s burdens” in today’s reading.
In
the early Church, one of the most significant challenges it faced was to
determine on what basis Gentiles (non-Jews) could come into relationship with
God through Christ. In the Book of Acts, chapter fifteen, we read about the
proceedings and the decisions that were made during the Council of Jerusalem
(held in the year 49 AD). There, Gentiles were to be welcomed as full members
of the Church. But the welcome wasn’t open-ended, there were limitations on
what constituted acceptable behavior.
The
Church in our own day still faces the challenge to hold in tension the
requirements of Holy Scripture with a realization that people are imperfect
creatures, prone to make mistakes, prone to misjudgments, and so forth. To
chart such a middle course is – it seems to me – to reject the rigid
fundamentalism that the Galatians were experiencing with the demands of those
unknown persons who were telling them that they had to follow all the
requirements of the Law of Moses. But notice that Paul realizes the reality
that some will fall away from faithful living. To such, he says, we are to restore
such a person in gentleness, keeping watch that we, ourselves, don’t fall into
the same situation.
What if the Church were to be known,
not as a place of judgment and exclusion, but just the opposite: A welcoming
place, a place where we declare that we have experienced God’s love, and –
driven by that great gift – we offer that same love to all who come our way.
And, St. Paul would remind us, that new call also meant that certain behaviors
that once marked a secular, godless way of living, were no longer acceptable.
The
early Church grew mightily in numbers and in spiritual strength as it offered
to the Greco-Roman world of the first century a radical welcome to all persons:
slave or free, rich or poor, noble or slave[1], all
of whom were sinners in need of God’s love and God’s forgiveness.
In
the process, people whose lives often had little or no meaning suddenly found –
in the Church – meaning, welcome, love and purpose to life.
No wonder that early Church grew!
Their experience and their encounter
with God, offered to people in those early times, can serve as a basis for the
Church’s growth today: The secular world outside the Church resembles the
Greco-Roman world of the first century: Many people feel like there is no
meaning to their lives, no purpose, no brightness in their futures at all. The
Church has a wonderful message to proclaim to all who feel that way today,
offering them the message that they are God’s beloved children, God’s
intentional creation, and a person with whom God seeks to be in relationship.
What if the Church, today, were to act
like that first century Church? What might happen if it did?
AMEN.
[1] See Galatians 3:28.
