Galatians 2:11-14: Do I Know You?

Presented to Corps 614 Regent Park of The Salvation Army 23 August 2015 and 14 July 2013 by Captain Michael Ramsay.

This is the 2015 version, to read he 2013 version click here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2013/07/galatians-chapter-2-do-i-know-you.html 

Two years ago, when Colonel Mark Tilsley was just installed as the new Chief Secretary he told us this story:

There was a man who was new to town. He just got transferred to a new city. The company was having a softball game and he thought that this would be a good time to get to know people in the company and the town. He went up to bat. He missed the first pitch and someone yelled, 'good try Mr. Moore'; he didn’t think that he knew anyone; he looked around; he struck out and someone yelled, 'we're cheering for you Mr. Moore.' Who is calling him? Again and again he goes up to bat, inning after inning and each at bat he is just as bad as the previous one but each time he hears someone yell, 'well done Mr. Moore', 'Doing good Mr. Moore', 'We're cheering for you Mr. Moore.' He is looking around. He can't see anyone he knows - except his wife and son but each time he is up to bat - even though he can't hit anything someone is cheering him on, 'Good game Mr. Moore.'

      After the game he asks his family, 'Did you hear that person cheering me on?' 'Do you know who it was?'

      'It was me', his son says, 'I wanted to support you and make you feel better.'

      'Why did you call me Mr. Moore instead of dad like usual?'

      ‘I didn't want anyone to know I was related to you. You were terrible.’

‘Thanks, son.’

 This is not entirely dissimilar to Peter in Galatians 2.  We notice that at first he enjoys associating with Gentile Christians but then some Jerusalem Christians show up and it is as if he pretends that he isn't related to the Gentiles. Whereas Peter was eating and otherwise associating with the Gentile Christians before, now these Christians show up from Jerusalem and everything is different. He won't eat with them.

One of the myriad of Jewish cultural-religious laws - which were fulfilled in Christ - states that Jews can't associate with Gentiles, let alone eat with them - or they'll become 'un-clean' - sort of like Apartied South Africa or segregation in the US. In our text today when the Jewish Christians appear, the Apostle Peter then starts acting like a segregationist: he stops sitting with his Gentile Christians friends and seems to start obeying all these segregationists' Jewish laws.

Now Peter isn't a segregationist and so for anyone familiar with Peter and for anyone familiar with the NT in general and the book of Acts in particular, this is quite strange. All through Acts is recorded Gentiles becoming Christians, at first it seems as if those becoming Christians are already Jewish proselytes but later the Spirit is seen descending on people who are still fully and completely Gentiles (Acts 6,8; Acts 10,11). The Spirit comes on those who eat non-kosher food and who have never been circumcised (Acts 10). Gentiles are becoming a part of the people of God without first becoming Jews. God is welcoming Gentiles to be a part of the people of God (Acts 11:17). They are being saved just as Jews are being saved and they are all saved the same way; we are all saved the same way (cf. Romans 2): through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, not through law and our religious practices.

Peter, Paul, and Barnabas know all of this and Peter has not been following all of the Jewish laws up until this point in his ministry; in fact he is being very sociable with the Gentile Christians when all of a sudden these Jewish Christians from James show up (Galatians 2:11-13). Then everything changes…

Can you imagine what it would be like to be one of these Gentile Christians with him? One minute Peter and the other Jewish Christians are your best friends: worshipping and serving along side you and then some people come from Jerusalem and they won't even talk to you? How would you feel? What would you do? How would this affect the spreading of the Gospel? And why would Peter do this? Why would Peter all of a sudden seemingly turn his back on these people and his whole mission?

Do we remember the dream that Peter had (Acts 10)? Peter sees all these unclean, forbidden foods for Jews descend from heaven and God tells him to kill and eat and Peter knows that this dream means that there is no longer a barrier between Jews and Gentiles. Peter now knows that he is allowed to associate with Gentiles; Peter now knows that Gentiles can be saved just as the Jews can; Peter now knows that Gentiles can be saved without first becoming Jews; Peter now knows all this as he is the first one to bring this Gospel to the Gentiles. And in Antioch, Peter is celebrating, feasting, and worshiping with the Gentile Christians and then everything changes.
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 Why? What has happened to Peter and what happened to Barnabas? What happened to these men used greatly by God in his mission to the Gentiles and others? Why are they now seemingly turning their backs on the Gentile Christians? What is going on here?

Some people have suggested that Peter is all of a sudden self-conscious about his faith. Some people have suggested that Peter is happy being with the Gentiles when there is no one else around but as soon as 'important' Jewish Christians show up he no longer has time for Gentiles because he wants to be accepted by these Jews or because he wants them to tell James about how good he is or something like that.

I find this hard to believe and I find it harder to believe still that both Peter and Barnabas could be tempted to turn their backs on people for such a shallow reason. Remember that Barnabas is the one who stands up to the early Church by vouching for Paul when the others won't have anything to do with him (Acts 9:26-30). Remember that Barnabas is the one who stands up to Paul in favour of John Mark (Acts 15:36-41; cf. Colossians 4:10, 2 Timothy 4:11). Remember that Barnabas with Paul reports to James and the Church in Jerusalem what the Holy Spirit is already doing in the lives of Christian Gentiles (Acts 13-15). How can Barnabas - who has never been intimidated by anyone before - all of a sudden change when these people show up from Jerusalem? And Peter - as we already said -  is the one first used by God to bring Gentiles to the Faith and he is the one through whom God articulates that mission clearly in a dream (Acts 10). Could these two men of God all of a sudden forget everything that they have risked their very lives and everything else for? Could they?

Are they like children who hang out with their church friends at the coffee shop until their school friends show up and then move to another table. Are they like teenagers in the store with their parents, who, spying some peers, all of a sudden totally ignore their parents because they are afraid of what their friends will think? I don't think so. I don't think this is why they are doing this. I think that Peter, Barnabas and the others are acting this way for much more noble purposes but I do think that the end results are just the same.

There is a story I read this week about Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of the UK: Once when she was campaigning, she stopped by an old-age home and visited the Alzheimer's wing. She asked a patient, 'do you know who I am?' To which the response was, 'No dear, but if you ask the nurse she can help you.'
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Paul is helping out much the same way here. This letter, Galatians, was probably written ca. CE48-50, in the years leading up to the Jewish revolt against Roman rule that brought so much death, destruction and even the ultimate destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem (CE70). There is this destructive wave of nationalism sweeping over the Jewish people. They are separating themselves more and more from the Romans and they are separating themselves more and more from the Gentiles as they are preparing to bring war to the Middle-East. [2]

The early Christians are getting caught up in the lead up to the war. Remember that Peter, Paul, and Barnabas are all Jewish Christians. The people they are with in Antioch and the people in Galatia are Gentile Christians and back home there is a Jewish revolt brewing. Jews are about to start a war against Gentiles. I have read some suggestions that the people mentioned in the text from James here are probably bringing information of this growing Jewish intolerance and impending Jewish revolt to Peter, Paul, and Barnabas.[3] They are warning them about prejudice, violence, and the real possibility of military revolt.

Now, when people rebel against their occupiers, what do they do to the sympathizers of their occupiers? When the ‘Free French’ rebelled against Nazi occupation, what did they do to people they thought were friendly to the Germans - whether they really were or not? When one regime falls and another comes to power - like we have seen in Libya, Iraq, and Egypt in recent history - what happens to supporters, friends, allies, or sympathizers of the old regime? What has the US done to people on the other side of their wars in the 21st Century? Remember Saddam? Remember Osama? Remember Abu Gharib? Remember Guantanamo Bay? Remember all of the even innocent people who were swooped up, dropped off, killed, or even tortured? Remember?

Jerusalem here is on the verge of a revolt against Rome - the America of their day. James in all likelihood has sent these people here to warn Peter, Paul and Barnabas about this and he may even have requested that Jewish Christians stop associating with non-Jewish Christians because if they don't that might put the lives of all the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem at risk. Peter and Barnabas may have been asked to prove that Christian Jews are loyal to Jerusalem by distancing themselves from Christian Gentiles.

On the West Coast, where I am from, we are very conscious about what happened to Canadians of Japanese origin during WWII. In Saskatchewan, from where we just moved, we know what happened to Canadian families of German decent when war broke out. When Susan, the girls and I first visited Ontario as a family a few years ago we visited a museum in Niagara and read about what happened to the Italian-Canadian families in Ontario. I read about one family that had to burn all of their clothes of a certain colour to try to protect themselves, their friends and their family from their own Canadian government. I read of one Italian-Canadian family where -even though one son voluntarily was serving in the Canadian Army- the other son was shipped off to internment camps and the family was broken up. I read of one Canadian family of Italian ancestry where the Canadian government came to take the father away on his young daughter's birthday. He asked to be allowed to stay at least until the candles were blown out. The men from the Canadian government said 'no' and they took him away - this loyal Canadian - at his daughter's birthday party.

It is very likely that Peter and Barnabas believe that if they, as Jewish Christians, associate with Gentile Christians in Antioch, then the Jewish nationalists will do similar sorts of things or worse to the Christian Jews back home - after all the early Christians really are Gentile sympathizers. As Paul repeatedly says, there is no Jew or Greek in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:22, 10:12; Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:11). Peter and Barnabas could be moving away from the non-Jewish Christians -as referred to in our text today- in order to save the lives of the Jewish Christians back home. Does that make sense?

Now what I am about to say is really important. It seems a reasonable enough thing for them to do this to protect Christian Jews from persecution by Jewish nationalists but Paul says – rightfully so - that it is NOT reasonable. Paul says - rightfully so - as recorded in our pericope today - Paul says that giving up your freedom in Christ for even this reason of trying to save lives is hypocrisy (v.13)! And Paul will go on later in this very letter to express his anger in some of the most brutal language you'll ever read in scripture. This hypocrisy bothers Paul so much that this is the only one of his letters that does not even begin with the customary polite greeting. Paul is in essence saying to Peter, Barnabas, the Galatians; and by extension, Canadians, Salvationists, and all of us here today that if for whatever reason we turn our backs on our faith and fellow servants in the Faith - whether for seemingly trivial purposes such as rules, pride, prejudice, popularity or for really serious reasons such as to protect yourself, to protect your friends, to protect your family, to protect their lives or to protect your life; it is still denying the essence of your faith. It is exactly the same.

Peter, who is used by God to accomplish so much in the world; Peter, who is the rock upon which Christ was to build his Church; Barnabas, one of the most courageous, one of the most heroic, one of the most determined followers of Jesus Christ, one of the most ardent proclaimers of the resurrection and the Gospel of Salvation; when these men turn away from practicing the freedom of their faith; when these men turn away from helping and associating with their Christian brothers and sisters; when these men turn away from sacrificing everything for the proclamation of the Gospel; then they in essence turn their back on our Lord. They - no matter how noble their purposes - are just like the teenager denying her father for her own personal reasons. And their actions hurt our Heavenly Father just as much. Peter and Barnabas, of course, do repent and return to being used by God for the proclamation of the Gospel of Salvation.

Are we ever tempted to fall into the same trap as they did? Are we ever tempted to act like we are not Christians? Are we ever tempted to not associate with fellow Christians? Do we ever talk to people in church but dodge them on the street? Do we ever deny that we have anything to do with the Church or others who do? Do we ever hide our faith by not saying grace at the restaurant? Do we ever dodge questions about whether or where we go to church? Are we ever embarrassed about some of our behaviours that show to the world we are Christians? If we turn our backs on our Christian brothers and sisters, if we deny our Christianity and if we deny our Lord and Saviour before people then - no matter how good our reasons might seem to us for doing so - reasonably, Jesus will also deny us. If we turn our backs on Christ we will no longer be facing him who is reach out to us, wanting to hold us in his loving embrace.

With this being the case: from this day forward let us all commit to carry our cross; from this day forward let us all commit to love God; from this day forward let us all commit to love our neighbour; and from this day forward let us all commit to put nothing before God and the proclamation of His Gospel of Salvation through Christ Jesus our Lord; so that at the eschaton, at the parousia, at the resurrection; we will join Peter, Paul, Barnabas, and all the saints for eternity with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Let us join them in serving our Lord today.

Let us pray.

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[1] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, Acts 10:1-11:18: It's All In Who You Know, Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 02 June 2013. Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2013/06/acts-101-1118-its-all-in-who-you-know.html

[2] Cf. Flavius Josephus, ‘The Wars of the Jews’ in Complete Works of Flavius Josephus. Translated by William Whiston, A.M. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Kregal Publications, 1971.

[3] Cf. Charles B. Cousar, Galatians (Interpretation: Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox, 1982), 56-57