Holy Priest-Martyr Babylas, Bishop of Antioch (250); Holy Prophet Moses Who Saw God
Galatians 2:6-10; Mark 5:22-24; 5:35-6:1
Abstinence from meat and foods that contain meat
Read Galatians 2:6-10
Paul teaches us contentment with God’s plan. He recognizes his special charism to preach not to his own people, the Jews, but the gentiles. His mission is thus broader in comparison to Peter. Paul in no place laments this. We might think it strange. Paul, after all, is a learned Jew. He knows the Scriptures extremely well. He himself tells us that he was righteous according to the Jewish law. Such an expert specimen of Jewish life would surely be poised to speak to his own people. Yet, God uses him as a vessel to move the proclamation of the Gospel beyond the borders of the nation of Israel. It is Paul, and Paul alone who is able to best negotiate the problem of particularity. Why would God come as a first-century Jew, yet make claims on the entirety of human existence? It takes the masterful Paul to bridge the gap between the historical Christ and the universal salvation that he proposes to all who “believe in their heart and confess with their lips that Jesus Christ is Lord.” Perhaps he would be more comfortable preaching to his own people, in his own backyard. Yet God threw him from coast to coast on the Mediterranean, spreading the Gospel along well-worn trade routes. Paul’s mission ensured that Christianity would not be restricted to a small subsection of Judaism, but a viable option for the life of the entire world. As we look at our own lives, we may see places of frustration. Times where our message is not getting across to the people we love. Nevertheless, our success does not consist in our success, but in our fidelity to the plan of God, who makes us an instrument of his blessing for the world. All we have to do is abandon ourselves to him.