Today’s Scripture Reading (January 20, 2018): Galatians 4
In ancient times, the idea of “coming of age”
was a fluid one. Maybe it still is. In the area where I live we have several
steps to adulthood. A sixteen-year-old can obtain a license to drive a car, and
for me, that was one of the first signs
of my growing independence. At eighteen, they can legally enter a bar and drink
alcoholic beverages. But in some areas that privilege is reserved until the
person reaches their twenty-first birthday, meaning that they can enlist in the
army and be sent to war three years before it is legal for them to drink. I
moved out of the house for the first time was eighteen, but it was always nice
to have the security blanket of knowing that I could move home if things got tough. As I was attending college, it
became the pattern for me to move away during the school year and then move home for the summer to make money for the next
school year. The pattern repeated until I got married, another step toward my
eventual adulthood. Even the idea of becoming a parent is really a step toward adulthood and not evidence
of our maturity.
As we begin to live longer, scientists have
started to ask the question where exactly the time delay might be in our lives,
and the answer is a little surprising. The extension of life seems to be in our
teenage year, which now experts suggest lasts close to the age of thirty.
Finally, as thirty-year-olds, we have
actually “come of age” or “grown-up” – at
least, some of us have. For some, maturity takes much longer.
For Jews, the idea of “coming of age” is tied
up with the concept of Bar Mitzvah (or Bat Mitzvah). At the age of 13, the
child enters into adulthood and is morally responsible for his or her
decisions. But in ancient Rome, the child became an adult when the father
decided that he or she was worthy of that honor. It was the Father’s decision,
and the Father’s action that initiated the transition from child to adult, or
slave to heir.
Paul uses this Roman idea as a basis for
Christian life. Until the moment that the father declares that we are adults,
we are just children. And children live under the same conditions, or even
harsher terms, than a slave, even though he is heir to the estate. The
difference, then, is not in the daily life of the child or the slave, because
both of them live under the direction and command of someone else. The difference
between the child and slave is found in
the potential for the future. In the future, the slave will still be a slave,
while the child will inherit the estate, either in whole or in part.
Following Paul’s argument, we are all
children of God. We are all slaves because we are children, but we are the
potential heirs in the future. And that moment of moving from slave to heir is
the Father’s decision. Later, Paul will argue that the Spirit, poured out on
the people of God, is the sign of God’s recognition of his heir. It is at that
moment that the child begins to understand the will and business of the father,
and is ready to act as the heir, rather than a slave.
Until then, all we remain slaves, but slave
with a future potential to be the heirs of the estate to which we are born.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Galatians 5
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