Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him; and he took him and had him circumcised because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.”
NL Daily Devotion for Thursday, May 12, 2022
by Dr. Kimberly Leetch, Clergy Stuff
I don’t even know what to say about this. For the last several days we’ve been talking about a heated debate held by early Christians about whether Gentile Christians needed to be circumcised. The decision was no, Gentiles did not need to be circumcised to be considered full members of the church.
And then Paul found Timothy, a man whose mother was a Jewish Christian and whose father was Greek. Timothy had not yet been circumcised, and so Paul had Timothy circumcised “because of the Jews” they were planning to visit on their missionary journeys.
Again, I don’t even know what to say. It’s as if the decision made in theory went right out the window when it came to real-world practice. This seems like such an inconsistency. All I can think is that the early Christians were simply human beings trying to figure it out. Old habits die hard, and while Paul and his companions were happy to preach about not needing to circumcise, but they seemed to need to themselves be circumcised—just in case? I almost can imagine Paul recognizing that new Jewish hearers of the word would give them more credibility if circumcised, even if their words said otherwise, and they had to preach as if to “fake it ‘til they make it.”
What are some things you believe in theory but have a harder time putting into practice? How might you better align your words and your actions?
