27TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

. . . the one who called you by the grace of Christ. 

It’s been ingrained in us from a young age that in order to get something, we have to earn it. If we behave, Mom might give us a cookie. If we work hard in school, we will get a good grade.

Yet Paul’s words today show us that the gospel is very different. We don’t earn God’s favor; it is by “the grace of Christ” that he has called us to be with him (Galatians 1:6). The Galatians initially understood this truth. But then some of them started to believe that they needed to add circumcision or other requirements of the Law of Moses in order to be fully accepted by God.

Paul was upset by the Galatians’ thinking because it implied that Jesus’ death and resurrection wasn’t enough to save them. It wasn’t just a matter of minor importance that could be overlooked as a different way of practicing the faith—it undermined the very heart of the gospel. Everyone, Jew and Gentile, is redeemed by the cross; everyone, including the Galatians, is now able to live in the freedom and joy of God’s presence.

We know that we have been saved by grace through Christ, but the sense that we need to earn God’s love and acceptance can still linger in the back of our minds. Like the Galatians, we might think that something more is necessary. How could God accept us just as we are?

The truth is, as followers of Jesus, we are called to “something more”—to love and serve God and our neighbor. But there’s a difference between being called by God’s grace and responding to that grace by what we do. We love our neighbor because God loves us. We care for the poor because God moves our heart to compassion. We worship the Lord because of his goodness and faithfulness to us.

Brothers and sisters, we have been invited through grace to a deep and abiding relationship with our Lord. The more we realize that we didn’t do anything to deserve this amazing gift, the more we will want to respond to it by serving God and his people. That’s the gospel that Paul preached, and that’s the one we have been blessed to receive and share.

“Lord, thank you for calling me by grace to be with you.”

Galatians 1:6-12
Psalm 111:1-2, 7-10
Luke 10:25-37