Led by Love and Faith, not by Law (Friday, Week 27, Year 2)

For the past few days, the argument of Paul has been revolving around faith and works of law. Amongst other things, the epistles especially those of Paul were written to address certain issues in some Christian communities. From the foregoing, we have seen that the overarching problem that Paul wanted to solve in the Galatian Christian Community was the problem of division or discrimination brought about by insistence on circumcision as a requirement for membership in the early Church. In the Council of Jerusalem (the First Council of the Church), it was unanimously agreed that circumcision should no longer be a requirement for admission into the Christian faith. But a group of people called the Judaizers (i.e. Jewish Christians who wanted the Gentiles to be subjected to the Jewish practice of circumcision before they can become Christians) were still insisting that the requirement should be followed. And their insistence clearly communicated something about their theology: for them then, faith in God can only be achieved through circumcision, through a work of the law. 

In the first reading (cf. Gal. 3:7-14), St Paul now refers the Judaizers to their history; and invites them to consider their father in faith, Abraham. He tells them that “it is men of faith (not men of law) who are the sons of Abraham”. Why? Because Abraham came to know God through faith, not through any work of law such as circumcision or whatever! Now, the problem of the Judaizers was that they fanatically relied on law; and could not see beyond the law. They kept the law just for the sake of keeping it, not for the sake of God and their neighbour. They followed the letters of the law, and ignored the spirit of law which is love. St Paul goes further to say that “He who through faith becomes righteous shall live”. Those who merely strive to keep the law are doing that to avoid the punishment of the law. They are like slaves to the law. But those who keep the law for the sake of their love for God and neighbour (which comes from faith) shall live.

In the gospel (cf. Luke 11:15-26), we see what it means to talk under the bondage of law. Jesus was doing something great for God and humanity: he cast out demons from those who were possessed; and what the people could say is that He casts out demons by Beelzebul (the prince of demons). We know that Jesus had fallen out with them on a number of occasions as regards the tension between law and love. Sometimes, they were literally angry when Jesus cast out demons or healed people on Sabbath days which for them should be work-free according to the prescription of the law. Majority of the Jewish people plainly saw Jesus as a lawbreaker.

If we can evaluate people’s actions from the point of view of love, we will never use abusive words on them. You might have seen someone doing something which you don’t understand or something that does not fit in as to what is ritually or religiously permissible or not. Don’t be too quick to dismiss or call names just as Jesus was treated in the gospel. Sometimes, jealousy can even lead to making of careless statements about good things done by others. We have to allow ourselves to be led by faith and love, not just by what the letters of the law are saying. Many people have been mistakenly killed because people blindly followed the letters of the law. Many people are languishing in prisons because of strict adherence to the letters of the law. Irrevocable and regrettable mistakes have been made because of over-insistence on what the law says. If we are led by faith and love, we will not be too quick to act and condemn.