As you know, it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you, and even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. – Galatians 4:13-14

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 20, 2014): Galatians 4



The best extant picture of

Franklin D. Roosevelt in a wheelchair.

While vacationing in Canada in 1921, Franklin D. Roosevelt contracted Polio. The disease left him permanently paralyzed from the waist down. It was a diagnoses that Roosevelt refused to accept. The problem was that Roosevelt had political ambitions, and he was sure that these ambitions could not be realized if he was in a wheelchair. And so Roosevelt hid the illness while he searched for a cure. Photographers were forbidden to take picture of Roosevelt in his weakened condition - a possibility only in a world before the development of the paparazzi. As a result of the prohibition, there are only two known photographs of Roosevelt in a wheelchair. Normally he was photographed either behind a desk or standing with the help of a son or an aide. The President, and especially a President with war on the horizon, could not be allowed to look weak. In fact, they must not look weak.  

The idea that Illness automatically means weakness is not a new idea. In fact, in some cultures it is even worse than that. Illness can be considered to be due to evil in the person’s life. And one of those cultures, despite passages in the Bible that actually state the reverse, is Judaism.

Paul says that the only reason he had come to preach the gospel in Galatia was because he was ill. We have no idea what the illness was, and as some experts have recognized, it is hard enough to diagnose a living sick person, let alone one who has been dead for over nineteen hundred years. But we do have some educated guesses. And one of the best guesses is that Paul was suffering from a form of malaria. The disease would have incapacitated the Apostle because the pain would have been intense. And so Paul found a place to rest and recuperate; a place where he could simply get better.

But while he was there he couldn’t help but share the gospel with the Galatians. It would have been easy for the Galatians to understand that Paul was evil and was being punished by the gods for preaching a false religion. But they didn’t do that. Instead the Galatians welcomed Paul, and treated him as if he was an angel of God. Even though he was not at his best, and even though his illness was inconvenient to the Galatians, they had still honored him.

And for all of this, Paul was grateful. Paul had recovered from his illness, whatever it was, at least in part, because of the hospitality of the Galatians. And this made Paul’s concern for the Galatians even deeper. In fact, this may have been the real reason behind the letter. The Galatians had done great works in Paul’s presence, but that was not enough. They needed to return to a salvation built around faith instead of one built around their works. Paul hoped that they would be willing to return to the faith that they had exhibited when Paul laid in their midst helpless to do – anything.    

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Galatians 5