Who Will I Please?

Scripture – Galatians 2:11-14: ¹¹When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. ¹²Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. ¹³The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. ¹⁴When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?

Reflection: – What a confrontation this must have been! Peter left Jerusalem to visit Antioch – a place where many people from a Gentile (non-Jewish) background had become Christians. I can picture Paul proudly taking Peter around and introducing him to the people of the church. They ate together and were having a good time together.

Then some other people came from Jerusalem – Christians who were still caught in their past. They were from a Jewish background and they believed people became Christians in part by embracing the Jewish traditions.

What was it like for Peter when these people arrived? What was it like for Paul? I imagine Peter feeling deeply conflicted, while Paul was hurt. His question to Peter was entirely appropriate.

I’ve felt that kind of inner conflict before. I’ll be doing something I feel totally fine with, and then I’ll see someone who thinks differently, and I find myself tempted to hide. Where do you feel such conflict? What’s at the root of it for you?

Reading for Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Scripture – Galatians 2:15-16: ¹⁵“We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’ ¹⁶know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.

Reading for Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Scripture – Galatians 2:17-21: ¹⁷“If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! ¹⁸If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. ¹⁹For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. ²⁰I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”