Read: 1 Corinthians 15

At another time, in another place, Paul was writing to defend the Gospel of Jesus Christ once again. In Galatia, the attack on the Gospel was the addition of works of the flesh. They began to think of salvation as something you earned by what you did.In Corinth, the attack was different. There, Greek philosophy led Corinthians to despise the resurrection of the flesh. They wanted to be free of their bodies. But Paul said the resurrection of the body was indispensible to Jesus’ good news.The attacks came from very different places. One attack came from Jews zealous for their Law. The other came from Greeks proud of their own wisdom. Nevertheless, the attacks came to the same point. They took the victory away from Jesus. And if Jesus has not won for us, we are still defeated. We shall not hope in our own working of the Law. We shall not hope in our own lofty thinking.We hope in Jesus, because He took the worst defeat. We hope in Him, because His resurrection promises absolute restoration.These other gospels– which are not gospels– aimed too low. Contrary to the Galatian oppo-nents, we do not want a righteousness of our own accomplishments. By grace we have re-ceived the perfect righteousness of Jesus! Con-trary to the Corinthian opponents, we do not want to be disembodied spirits. We look to the resurrection of our bodies, where the entire crea-tion is restored, wondrous, and full of the glory of Christ Jesus, our Creator and Redeemer!

by Rev. A. Daniel Guagenti

Alleluia! Christ is risen! You have released the cords of death, and we hope for the glorious restoration around Your eternal throne! Praise to You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever! Amen.

For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.(Galatians 6:15-18 ESV)

In the beginning, the Spirit hovered over the waters. There was darkness over the deep. But after six simple days, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit had created everything that is. They had painted fields of flowers, scattered the stars deep into space, and unloosed the vibrations that would become poetry and symphony.Over all this, the Triune God set the human family, made in the Triune image, meant never to be alone by the bonds of husband to wife to child. They saw how human culture would culti-vate great gardens, search out meaning from quarks to novas, and sing Magnificat. So on the seventh day, the Creator rested, knowing what they had made was very good.A serpent tempted nascent flesh. Sin led to death. Mankind fell and a foul ruler replaced God’s intended.And so the Son became one of us, became mortal, suffered and died. It was a sixth day when He ended His labors. It was a seventh day when He rested in the tomb, the ultimate Sab-bath. During this rest, He knew, “It is finished.” All that was ill in the old creation had been con-demned in Him. All that was redeemable had been purchased, not with silver or gold, but with the precious blood of the Creator of all.All our attempts to save ourselves are as pa-thetic as the Galatians’ circumcision. We can only cut around the edges. Jesus cuts to the core, just as He was pierced to the core. But all that is over. He has won. The spoils of His vic-tory are a new creation. And as wondrous as the vistas of the first creation were, even greater are those that stand ahead of us today.

by Rev. A. Daniel Guagenti

For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol… You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forever-more. Amen. (Ps 16:10-11)

See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Galatians 6:11-14 ESV)

Have you ever told someone who wrote to you in ALL CAPS to stop shouting? That is one of the generally understood ways to speak em-phatically or raise your voice in print.Paul generally dictated his letters to scribes, but he writes with his own hand and with large letters here in the conclusion. In part, he is put-ting his personal stamp of authenticity on the letter. He is also emphasizing his point by writ-ing it himself and possibly writing more boldly.He is telling the Galatians that if they want to boast in their flesh and shout that they live by the Law, then there is no better way of doing it than by being circumcised. This will hinder their faith and be of no help to them. It will only help the teachers of the Law who are circumcised and still impotent.On this day, we remember God’s shouting to the world that payment for sin is made. God shouts to the world with earthquakes and dark-ness that His wrath is poured out here upon the cross, upon His Son. Our Savior shouted, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” as He paid for our sin. Then, about the ninth hour, He cried out, “It is finished!” The payment is made.O you Galatians, O you Lutherans, this is what we should shout. We should boast in this cross on which our Savior died. Our freedom from sin, death and the devil is found here. Our eternal life is found here. Boast in the flesh of our God hung upon the tree.

by Rev. Matthew Brackman

Shout Your grace and mercy into our hearts, O God. Do not let the voice of the flesh entice us away from You. Let us boast in the cross of Your Son and our Savior nailed to the tree so we may have life. Amen.

Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.(Galatians 6:6-10 ESV)

This night, Jesus got down on hand and knee to wash the feet of His disciples, even the one who would betray Him. The Lord through whom all things were created did not grow weary of doing good, not to Peter who would betray Him, to John who would flee Him naked, to Judas who would sell Him for thirty pieces of silver.He did not grow weary of doing good, but, make no mistake about it, He did grow weary. He grew weary on bended knee that night, and He grew weary praying through drops of blood later in the garden. He grew weary, awake all night as He was shuttled from Caiphas the high priest to Pilate the governor and placed on trial before the people. He grew weary under the weight of that wooden cross He carried down the road to Golgotha.He grew weary unto death upon a cross the next day. But in that one, unique, world-changing, life-saving, sin-redeeming act the day after He has betrayed, Jesus did not grow weary of doing good for us. By the good of His life given and His blood shed for us upon the cross, we were granted the highest good: the salvation of our souls from eternal death and hell through the forgiveness of sin.Jesus grew weary, but He did not grow weary of doing good for you, even to the point of death. May we not grow weary these holy three days, observing His death and resurrection.

by Rev. Richard J. Serina, Jr.

Lord, let us not grow weary as we walk with You to Your death, because we know the resurrection that awaits us. Amen.

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load.(Galatians 6:2-5 ESV)

A while ago, people used to use the expres-sion “keeping up with the Joneses” to describe the need to always have the newest toy, the latest car or the biggest house. We are always tempted to value ourselves by comparing our jobs, our education, and even our “stuff” with people around us to get a sense of how we are doing. We want to know where we are on the curve, so that if we are not at the top, we know we are at least not on the bottom.Paul suggests that when it comes to our Christian life, nothing could be worse than trying to compare ourselves to others. Christ has set us free from the guilt of sin by His selfless death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. Our goal is to be conformed to His standard of selflessness, not to strive merely to be “better” than most other people. Without Christ we are nothing, but with Him we are God’s sons and daughters. We ought to test our lives against Jesus, who has given us everything. We ought to repent when we fail to serve as He did, and give thanks for all that He continues to do for us and in us. If we are to look at our neighbor for any rea-son, it should be to see if we can serve him or her as Christ has served us. We are called to help others bear their burdens, not to use others as a measuring stick for our own self-righteousness. Our righteousness is not our own in any case; it is Christ’s righteousness given to us.

by Rev. Charles St-Onge

Gracious and merciful God, help me to look to Christ for my righteousness, and to others to see how I may serve them in love. Amen.

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. (Galatians 6:1 ESV)

Are we our brother’s keeper? The idea of getting involved with someone’s personal life can make a lot of us nervous and uncomfortable. We live in a “mind your own business” society. Further, the thought that someone might get into our business tends to trouble and even an-ger us. So why should we get involved in theirs?Think about this: if you saw a loved one do-ing something that could, probably would, result in some great physical harm, you would say something to them. You would intervene, trying to keep them from harm. Right?Jesus told us to love one another. Paul re-minds us that our brothers and sisters in Christ are our loved ones. When we see one of them doing something that endangers their spiritual well-being and could even lead to spiritual death, we need to speak up. We need to try and draw them out of their soul-destructive behavior and see them restored to spiritual health.Paul reminds us that we must do so with gentleness. This means we don’t run over them, declaring, “Look what you’ve done!” Rather, we come concerned, with compassion, saying, “Look what’s happening to you. See what the consequences are and could be.” We never want to shame or humiliate them. We don’t want to anger or antagonize them. We speak with love and kindness, because we wish to see them re-stored in their relationship with the Lord.Christ died for the forgiveness of us all. He gave us each other in community so that when we stumble or drift away, we can remind each other of that truth. There is joy and blessing for both the hearer and the speaker when a relation-ship with God is renewed and restored.

by Rev. Richard Gizynski

Dear God, help us to recognized when others need us. Give us courage to speak to them. Help us to speak words that draw them back to You. Amen.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.(Galatians 5:22-26 ESV)

Have you ever noticed that fruit is often the subject of still life paintings? A painting is re-ferred to as “still life” when it represents inani-mate objects. It’s easier to paint something that’s not moving, as opposed to something that is constantly in motion. A bowl of fruit is often one of the first things that an aspiring painter is asked to depict in an art class.However, when you listen to St. Paul, fruit is anything but “still life.” Paul gives us the picture of fruit to describe our new life in the Spirit. He gives us a portrait of life that is exciting, vibrant and active. This picture reveals God at work in our lives. The picture that emerges is clearly the work of the Master.The hideous swath of sin in our lives shows itself in brushstrokes of green envy, red fits of rage, and dark shades of hatred and jeal-ousy. We often speak too quickly, hurt the ones we love, and nurse feelings of anger and bitter-ness. It’s a disturbing picture, and it only leads to death.Through faith, “the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead” (Rom 8:11). You and I have a living Savior, who carried our sins to the cross, died for us, and rose again to give us new life. In Holy Baptism, that new life is ours right now. As God in the flesh, Jesus ex-presses perfectly “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”Even greats like Caravaggio and Picasso have produced still life paintings of a bowl of fruit. Rejoice this Lent that through faith you display the active fruits of the Spirit and reveal the work of our Master.

by Rev. David Tannahill

Gracious Lord, fill me with the fruits of Your Spirit now and always. Amen.

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21 ESV)

“Good riddance to bad rubbish!” However, is there really anything that can be called “good rubbish”? It’s true that we often say “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” but then the item really isn’t trash. It’s just unwanted. The word rubbish refers to something without value.Have you ever watched the television show, Storage Wars? It’s about a group of people who bid on, and purchase, the contents of aban-doned storage lockers. In most cases the lockers are filled with items for which their owners no longer had any use. Some items have value. Other items are rubbish.In today’s reading, Paul informs us that some of the items in the storage lockers of our lives have no value whatsoever. And yet our sinful nature clings to these items as if we still might find some good use for them. Consider the list: “sexual immorality, impurity and debauch-ery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jeal-ousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.” If things are rough at work, maybe we will want to dig out those old jealousies. If we’re worried about the future, maybe we want to dust off that horoscope for guidance. If it’s been a hard week, maybe we will want to drown our cares at the bar. But none of these actions have any value and, by faith, we know it.In his other epistles, Paul draws up similar lists and says, “Rid yourselves of all such things as these” (Col 3:8). Lent reminds us that we can confess our sins and trust in the mercy of our Savior who takes them away. Jesus has carried them to the cross and buried them in the grave.

by Rev. David Tannahill

Gracious Lord, forgive me when I cling to worthless sin. Thank You for replacing it with the treasure of Your mercy. Amen.

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. (Galatians 5:16-18 ESV)

Each Lent, it seems, we grapple again with the old tradition of giving something up. We know and love the freedom we have in Christ. There are to be no laws against eating various foods; no laws requiring we observe certain days (Col 2:16-17, 1 Tim 4:1-5, Gal 4:10-11).In each of those cases, Paul was rejecting compulsion. In Lent, no one compels us to give up something. But once you have decided to give up something, you should stick to it.Why and what is the difference? If the church demanded that we give up something, it would seem like we needed to do this for our salvation. And that would deny Jesus’ absolute and wonderful sacrifice for all our sins. We do not need to do anything, except believe. And even our faith is a gift from God (Eph 2:8-10). God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit get all the credit and glory for our salvation. As Isaiah said, “The LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation” (Is 12:2).We are saved now to live in the Spirit. We know that the Spirit and our flesh war against each other. One of the reasons we give things up for Lent is to put our flesh in its place. Say-ing no to earthly desires does not gain us heaven. Saying no to earthly desires, however, is good training for one who wants to live in the Spirit.Paul himself said, “I discipline my body and keep it under control” (1 Cor 9:27). In no case should we pretend our flesh does not need disci-pline. More important to know, though, is that the Spirit is greater than our flesh. What we can-not overcome today will all be overcome on the Last Day. Thanks be to God!

by Rev. A. Daniel Guagenti

Dear Jesus, You are my strength and my song. Overcome the voice of my passing flesh until I sing with You in eternity at the day of Resurrection.  Amen.

Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. (Galatians 5:2-4 ESV)

When it comes to assessing our sinful nature, we tend to like degrees of separation. We justify ourselves, saying, “I haven’t done these things and I have done those, so I’m better than some people, maybe even most.” We try to reason with God’s judgment and the demands of His commandments. The problem is that God’s commandments aren’t a multiple choice test graded on a curve. It’s all or nothing. Either you keep them perfectly, or you stand condemned.Trying to evade or diminish God’s wrath for our sins, we like to think that we are improving our merit by doing good and avoiding bad. Based on our works, we think we’re helping God, improving our chance of His mercy. But by trying to impress or please the Almighty, all we really end up doing is cheapening Christ’s work on the cross.Let’s face it, we’re sinners. We all fall short of the glory of God. But that’s not the end of the story. While we were still sinners, the Father sent His Son to die for us. Our salvation is not dependent upon us. God grants us His favor and forgiveness in spite of who are and what we can’t do. That’s love. That’s grace and mercy.We like our degrees of separation, but we cannot have our self-righteousness and Christ’s too. We either trust in our own efforts and end up being eternally crisp critters, or we trust in Jesus and bask in His glory forever.The joy of Lent is contemplating what our Lord does for us in our baptismal grace. Each day we all miss the mark. Nothing separates us there. But each day, out of love, He renews and restores us. Thank God there are no degrees of separation from His love.

by Rev. Richard Gizynski

Dear Jesus, help me to trust only in You. I know I can never earn Your favor but can only give You thanks for all You have done for me. Amen.