The Reading from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians. (6:11-18) and The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. John. (3:13-17)
Today’s gospel reading is given to us by the Church in order to prepare us for the Feast of the elevation of the Holy Cross, which we will celebrate tomorrow morning with a liturgy. In order to fully prepare us for this feast the Church brings out passages which bring the cross into focus and remind us, help us to understand the beauty and the power of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and what has been accomplished for us upon that cross.
In teaching the people Our Lord refers to the story of Moses with the Jews in the wilderness. As you know from the book of Exodus, there were poisonous snakes that would come out and bite the people and kill them along the long journey to the promised land. This was a terrible situation that turned dire. We might come with human solutions but Moses prays to the living God. The Lord reveals the solution for this terrible situation. Moses is told to make a bronze serpent upon a staff. Moses is instructed to tell the people that if they are bitten by one of these poisonous vipers they should immediately look at the bronze serpent upon the staff. Amazing. It defies all human logic or explanation. It defies science (the god of the modern age). Yet, the Lord uses this to offer protection and safety to His people. And who are His people? Those who will obey His instruction given through His servant Moses. Those who are bitten and refuse to have faith and obedience, die. They cease to exist on the earthly plane. They cease to be God’s people because of their refusal to obey God.
This uncompromising way continues into the New Testament and the new covenant. God hasn’t changed from the Old to the New Testament. He is the same, but what He requires of us is more apparent and He Himself has become clearer to us through the incarnation of His Son Jesus. With our understanding of God deepened and brought to light, we see that we can’t live in the old ways. Things must change. St. Paul was a pharisee of the pharisees. He was a teacher of the Israel, of the Hebrew race, of the people of God. Yet, upon encountering the risen Lord Jesus, His understanding had to be reshaped and reformed and He began to understand everything about His life and His religion in a new way. He began to see everything that came before Christ as a prequel, a shadow, a foretelling. Now in the person of Christ, everything was different. The rules had changed. This is why St. Paul writing in today’s epistle, spends time speaking of circumcision and the law. These were his reality as an obedient and faithful Jew. Yet as he writes to the churches he reminds them that circumcision will not benefit them at all and adherence to the Mosaic law will not benefit them at all now that Christ has been revealed to us as the anointed one, the faithful servant of God, the Holy one.
So if circumcision or adherence to the law will not benefit the Jews then what will? According to the Apostle’s teaching, only a living faith in Jesus Christ and in the power of His cross can help them. St. Paul writes as much when he says “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.”
So just as the Lord commanded the Jews in the wilderness to look upon the image of the bronze serpent with faith when they were bitten, so also does the Apostle Paul command the Jews to look upon the cross of the Lord Jesus if they desire to be saved from the poison of sin and death. He makes it clear that there is no other way, not even through circumcision or through the law of Moses. Only through faithfulness to Christ is one saved, by God’s grace.
It is the teaching of Scripture and of the Church that this salvation is open to all people no matter where they may come from, no matter what race or tribe or ethnicity. This salvation is open to all: Greek and Jews, slave or free, male or female. It is through faith in Christ and in the might of His cross. Through baptism in Christ we are engrafted into the family and household of God. Through faith and devotion to Christ within the Church, which is His body, we continue to live and grow and flourish as sons and daughters of God. So then, membership in the household of God is no longer based on genetics or lineage. Membership is not based on location or which passport you have. Membership is not based on the country to which you belong. Membership is based solely on whether you accept Christ fully, first through baptism and then in a life of faithfulness. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
It is for this reason that St. Paul can then say clearly to the Galatians, “And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.” Gal 6:16 Paul is making a clear demarcation and differentiation between Israel as a place and people, and the new Israel, the Israel of God, which is made up of those who walk by this rule given by St. Paul. And who alone is following this rule? The faithful of the Church.
St. John Chrysostom preaching about this verse says “Those who pursue this new creation will enjoy peace and goodness, and truly deserve to be called by the name of the true Israel. But those who oppose it, even if they have been born of Israel and carried Israel’s name with them, have fallen away from Israel and from that name and family. For those who can truly be Israelites are those who keep this rule, abstain from the old ways and pursue what belongs to grace.” Homily on Galatians 6.16. [IOEP 4:101.]
To further confirm this reading we have the writing of St. Ambrose of Milan who writes, “peace and mercy rest on two parts—believing Jews and faithful Gentiles; “Israel of God,” not “Israel of man.” Again we have confirmation from another great Church father as St. Jerome writes,
“All things are measured by a standard, and when a ruler is set next to them they are revealed to be either wrong or right. In this way the teaching of God is a sort of standard for words that differentiates between what is righteous or unrighteous….He says “Israel of God” to distinguish it from the Israel that ceased to belong to God. For they call themselves Jews but are not, and they lie since they come from the synagogue of Satan. You should not be surprised that the fleshly Israel mimics the spiritual Israel, but the former lacks both peace and mercy (Paul, writing to the Corinthians, refers to them when he says, “Consider the Israel that is according to the flesh”).” Commentarii in Epistolam Pauli ad Galatas, Book 3, on Galatians 6:16
My brothers and sisters, the peace and mercy of God and His power and might to overcome all of our enemies (even Death) is given only through the Cross and resurrection of the only begotten Son of God, the God-man Jesus Christ. This is the heart of the gospel, and those who accept Christ through baptism, become citizens of the Israel of God, the heavenly Jerusalem, the Holy Church AMEN.
Source: Sermons