For Freedom Christ Has Set Us Free

This meditation is based on a passage for April 3, 2011 in the Daily Lectionary Year 1 from the Book of Common Worship for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (1993).

Text: Galatians 4:21-5:1

Reflection and Question: Paul seems to get a little carried away with his image of Hagar, the slave, and Sarah, the free woman. But he finally articulates the bottom line: “For freedom Christ has set us free.” This freedom is Christ’s gift to all believers, Jew and Gentile, male and female, as well as straight and gay. And perhaps the connection to Hagar and Sarah is apt in the end because Hagar did have the harder life, as did her children. Sarah’s children are inheritors of the promise and Paul warns those of us who are Sarah’s children not to take on the yoke of slavery. To what are you in danger of being enslaved?

Prayer: Blessed Jesus, we struggle to grasp Paul’s point this day. Thank you for the freedom that comes through living for You. Help us to grasp Your gift and to resist any pressure from anywhere to return to slavery to anything of this world. Amen.