Galatians 2:15-21

Loving God, breath your Spirit upon us that we may receive Your Word afresh and anew. Take my lips and speak through them; take our minds and think through them; take our hearts and set them on fire. We ask it in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Two thoughts for today - both related to the nature of grace, to the nature of God's love and what it demands of us.

I would like to do that with two stories. The first story is an old chestnut that some of you may have heard before.

Two well dressed Jewish fathers came to their rabbi. "Rabbi, I do not understand my son," said the first father. "I spent $25,000 on his bar mitzvah. I sent him to the finest Hebrew school. Just last week he tells me he is a Christian."

"Funny you should ask," said the second father. "I am here for the same reason. Rabbi what can you tell us?"

"Funny you should ask," said the Rabbi. "I, a Rabbi, and my own son came to me and said he became a Christian."

"What did you do?" asked the two men.

"I talked to God," said the Rabbi.

"And, what did God say?"

God, he said to me, "Funny you should ask!"

When Paul wrote to the Galatians he wrote to a community facing the reverse problem to that of this old joke he wrote to a community where people who had discovered the good news of Jesus Christ were being taught by some that to be a true follower of Christ they had to become Jewish first, that they had to be circumcised and initiated at the synagogue and then observe the Law of the Old Testament - those things pertaining to Feast Days and Diet and Ritual Cleanliness and so on and so forth.

In short they were being taught that the grace and love of Jesus Christ was not enough; that to be a follower of Christ, to be fully acceptable to God, they had to do something special, that they had to earn their way, that they had to follow rules and regulations to prove themselves worthy of God.

This is not the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel that says, as it does in today's scripture reading, that a person is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.

None of us, my friends needs to earn our way. None of us has to follow the traditions and rules of others to be loved and accepted by God.

That is the first lesson of our scripture reading today, and the second I want to make is like it.

Again - a story to begin with. A woman, a mother, tells the story, about her young son and herself. She says:

My little boy came into the kitchen one evening while I was fixing supper and he handed me a piece of paper he'd been writing on. After wiping my hands on my apron, I read it, and this is what it said:

For throwing the rubbish, $5.
For making my own bed this week, $1.
For going to the store $1.
For playing with baby brother while you went shopping, $10
For cleaning my room, $10.
For getting a good report card, $50.
For helping in the washing-up, $10.

Have any of you ever been there with your kids? Having them come to you and charge you for doing chores and looking after themselves???

The woman continues her tale by saying:

I looked at my son, standing there expectantly, and a thousand memories flashed through my mind. So, I picked up the paper he had given me, and turning it over, this is what I wrote:

For the nine months I carried you, growing inside me.
No Charge

For the nights I sat up with you, doctored you, prayed for you.
No Charge.

For the time and the tears, and the cost through the years.
No Charge

For the nights filled with dread, and the worries ahead.
No Charge.

For advice and the knowledge, and the cost of your college.
No Charge.

For the toys, food and clothes, and for wiping your nose.
No Charge.

When you add it all up, the full cost of my love my Son.
No Charge.

That is what is God's love is all about. There is no charge. Just a lot of hope - God hoping for us - God praying for us - God feeding us, God watching over us.

The mother who related the story I just told concludes the story by saying

When my son finished reading, he had great big tears in his eyes. He looked up at me and he said, "Mama, I sure do love you." Then he took the pen and in great big letters he wrote on his bill: PAID IN FULL.

My friends, God owes us nothing for what we do for him, nor do we owe him - for he has written NO CHARGE upon our bill, he has written it in the sign of the cross.

Never, my friends demand of others that they earn your love. And never let them demand of you that you earn their love.

Rather - love as you are loved by God, unconditionally - as a gift - without ties or conditions, with only the hope that those whom you love might in turn love others in the same way.

Let go and let God be operative in you - day by day. Amen