"Changed by Grace" - Sermon for the Sixth Sunday of Easter

Changed by Grace
Easter 6 (Narrative Lectionary 3)
May 5, 2013
Galatians 1.13-17; 2.11-21

We have all had these moments, some more often than others, where we see something in a whole different way. You have been acquainted with that young lady in various ways over a period of time, perhaps even being friends when, all of a sudden, you see her as your future bride. Or you have been staring at that Magic Eye picture, trying to see what others see, and then you relax slightly, let go, and the picture comes into focus and you are able to visually wander around in it. These are grace moments, times when our perceptions are altered in life changing ways, some profound and some more ordinary.

The apostle Paul describes a profound grace moment in our scripture for today. Yet, as I worked with our Bible passage from Galatians this week, I felt the pressure of our Lutheran heritage to expound on the keystone of our theology, our so-called “Doctrine of Justification.” This essential principle says that we are brought back into a right relationship with God, not because of anything we can do, but only through what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. However, as important as this is, I couldn’t see my way ahead and felt drawn back to the first part of the reading. It is Paul’s story of God’s gracious action in his life that intrigued me.

Before we get into the details, it is important be remind ourselves how significant this letter is for us. The book of Acts that we have been reading in describes the continual outward movement of the gospel, God’s action to heal the broken relationship between God and humanity through Jesus Christ. Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the early church is making it up as it goes along, sometimes getting it right and other times needing correction. In this letter to the churches in Galatia, a region we now know as Asia Minor or Turkey, Paul seeks to help churches that he founded as they struggle to define their mission and identity. I’ll say more about this in the next two weeks. However, the important thing is that we have a letter from someone who was an active character in the story.

So, Paul’s personal story interests us, especially since this person who is now preaching the gospel is the same one who held the coats of those who stoned Stephen and who was persecuting the church. It would be tempting for us to look to Paul’s experience of God’s grace as something we should imitate in our own lives of faith, or the reverse, read back into Paul’s life our own experiences of conversion. Yet, Paul never demands that we must have our own dramatic Damascus Road experiences nor are we to assume that conversion equates with being released from guilt or efforts to gain God’s approval. These things may happen, but they are not a part of Paul’s story. In fact, Paul’s life was just fine, thank you very much. He was a faithful Jew living a godly life.

What is important about Paul’s story is that God was working in his life long before the revelation on the Damascus Road, and in that experience, God didn’t tell Paul something he didn’t already know. Rather, God opened Paul’s eyes that allowed him to see Jesus in a new way that he hadn’t before. We tend to think that the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, as information, and it is. However, it is far more than that, for when Paul talks about the gospel, he thinks of it as a power that changes peoples’ lives. To be grasped by God means that we now have direction and purpose for our lives.

Like seeing your future mate or a magic eye picture, having our eyes opened by God helps us see our world in a whole different way. For example, what we once think of as standards of success either change or don’t become important anymore. How we make decisions in our personal lives or our lives with each other becomes radically altered. We look at people and value them in a different way; they are children of God. When I think of this I am reminded about Al and Barb, participants in a Bible Study. Al was holding forth some pretty strong, traditional thoughts about homosexuality, until Barb said, “But Al, did you know that I’m a lesbian.” Al suddenly saw Barb and homosexuality in a very different way, and he and Barb had some incredible, life-changing conversation.

These are grace moments, where that same God who has been working in our lives opens us up in new ways. This is the same God who has grasped us in our baptisms and calls us to new life through Jesus Christ. Being a Christian doesn’t mean claiming a dramatic or not-so-dramatic conversion. Being a Christian means being open to what God is doing in our lives. It means that who we are and what we do points to what God has been doing in the world, is doing now, and will be doing. That’s what Paul means when he says, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” We’ll unpack more of what that means in the next two weeks, but for now look for those grace moments where God is inviting you to see in new ways. Amen.