Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“In the same way, my friends, you have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God.”
NL Daily Devotion for Wednesday, May 17, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
I am not fond of this analogy. But, in light of yesterday’s text about how Paul had to put things in term his readers would understand, I am willing to set aside the patriarchal imagery to get to the center of the message. It comes down to this: we’re either married to the law or to Christ. We can be rule-followers who work our backsides off trying to be worthy of redemption, or we can accept that God, in Christ, hands it to us freely without strings and re-frame our efforts from striving for righteousness to responding in gratitude for the sake of the world (i.e. “bearing fruit for God.”) If we’re bogged down by rigid adherence to rules set down by the church in eons past, we are sure to try to regulate everyone around us to be like us rather than experiencing the liberty Christ gives us and joyfully extending that to others.
Paul says the law is dead, so we’re free to “marry” Christ without violating any social mores (becoming adulterers). Frankly I’m fine if people want to divorce that old way of being in the world and move on. After all, we’re free of that old ridiculous law anyway, aren’t we.
Do I sometimes find myself trying to change others’ behavior so that I can be comfortable?
