It's St. Friday, I'm in love‪!‬ Deacon Jared

    • Christianity

The Reading from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians. (3:23-4:5)Brethren, before faith came, we were confined under the Law, kept under restraint until faith should be revealed. So that the Law was our custodian until Christ came, that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a custodian; for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no better than a slave, though he is the owner of all the estate; but he is under guardians and trustees until the date set by the father. So with us; when we were children, we were slaves to the elemental spirits of the universe. But when the time had fully come, God sent forth His Son, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

































Today’s epistle reading is taken from the third and fourth chapters of Galatians. I am not going to speak on that passage today, but there is a link which I would like to highlight between these chapters and the story I will be sharing today. In Galatians chapter 4, actually in the portion of the chapter we would have read yesterday on the liturgical calendar, Paul makes a comparison between Ishmael and Isaac, turning them into an allegory of the law and of faith. He specifically looks at the mode in which they were begotten. The first, Ishmael, was begotten by Abraham and an enslaved woman Hagar, because Abraham’s wife could not conceive. But Isaac was begotten by a miracle in his barren wife Sarah’s old age. For Paul this story presents a contrast between the law and faith; between humanity seeking to fulfill God’s plan in a worldly manner, and God fulfilling his own plan in the way He sees fit. Paul then quotes this passage from Isaiah: “Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which has a husband.”
This passage from Isaiah would have been well known in Christian circles because it comes immediately after the suffering servant passages that are seen as prefiguring or prophesying Christ’s humiliation and death on the cross and they also speak to God’s mission to the entire world. I’ll read the full passage from Isaiah here: “Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of she that has a husband, saith the Lord. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.”
Pay attention to the phrases here: “More are the children of the desolate than the children of she that has a husband” and “you will forget the shame

The Reading from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians. (3:23-4:5)Brethren, before faith came, we were confined under the Law, kept under restraint until faith should be revealed. So that the Law was our custodian until Christ came, that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a custodian; for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no better than a slave, though he is the owner of all the estate; but he is under guardians and trustees until the date set by the father. So with us; when we were children, we were slaves to the elemental spirits of the universe. But when the time had fully come, God sent forth His Son, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

































Today’s epistle reading is taken from the third and fourth chapters of Galatians. I am not going to speak on that passage today, but there is a link which I would like to highlight between these chapters and the story I will be sharing today. In Galatians chapter 4, actually in the portion of the chapter we would have read yesterday on the liturgical calendar, Paul makes a comparison between Ishmael and Isaac, turning them into an allegory of the law and of faith. He specifically looks at the mode in which they were begotten. The first, Ishmael, was begotten by Abraham and an enslaved woman Hagar, because Abraham’s wife could not conceive. But Isaac was begotten by a miracle in his barren wife Sarah’s old age. For Paul this story presents a contrast between the law and faith; between humanity seeking to fulfill God’s plan in a worldly manner, and God fulfilling his own plan in the way He sees fit. Paul then quotes this passage from Isaiah: “Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which has a husband.”
This passage from Isaiah would have been well known in Christian circles because it comes immediately after the suffering servant passages that are seen as prefiguring or prophesying Christ’s humiliation and death on the cross and they also speak to God’s mission to the entire world. I’ll read the full passage from Isaiah here: “Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of she that has a husband, saith the Lord. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.”
Pay attention to the phrases here: “More are the children of the desolate than the children of she that has a husband” and “you will forget the shame