You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. – Galatians 5:13

Today's Scripture Reading (April 13, 2024):  Galatians 5

I read a story about a women's softball team a few years ago. In the bottom of the ninth, with the score tied 0-0, a batter came to the plate and hit the ball out of the park. With the homerun, the game was over. The home run was even more special because it was the first home run the batter had ever hit.

The batter began her trot around the bases, but as she passed first base, she realized she had missed stepping on the bag. So, she turns to step on first base and trips, twisting her knee. According to the rules, the one who hits the home run must touch all the bases, and a teammate may not help a player around the bases in any way. If the batter, for any reason, is unable to run the bases, the homerun would come off the board and be declared a single or double, depending on how many bases were touched, and the game would continue. In this game, the player was lying in pain at first base, and it seemed unlikely that she could run the bases. 

With determination, the batter tried to crawl toward the second base, but each motion just brought her more and more pain. It was about this time that the first baseman of the defending team came up with a plan. The rule said teammates couldn't help her, but what about her opponents? A quick meeting with the umpire revealed there was nothing prohibiting that happening. So, the first baseman went to the injured player and, with the help of the shortstop, picked her up and started to carry the player around the bases. At each base, they would instruct the baserunner to reach down with her good leg and touch the base, and then the strange trio went on to the next base. When they finally arrived at home plate, the stadium was in tears.

Paul uses a play on words we sometimes miss in this verse. The problem is that the translation of the word we have as "serve" should actually be "a slave." Paul says God has called you to be free, so in your freedom, become slaves to love. Freedom and slavery don't usually go together. And when they do go together, it is generally in the opposite direction. Once, we were slaves, but now we are free. The origins of Israel were in slavery. And the people of Israel prayed that they would be released from slavery and become a free people.

However, the image of slavery was slightly different at the time of Jesus. It was still slavery; there was an inherent loss of freedom that characterized it. But we often think of slavery as it existed in North America for the past few years. Slavery was defined by one people group being denied chances at education and being forced to work for a privileged class. We have the image of black men and women working on the cotton plantation, working under the hot sun day after day. People that had often been born into slavery and had never known any other existence.

In Rome, slavery was massive. Enslaved people were all over the place. And they came from the nations that Rome had defeated in war. Many of these slaves were very highly educated; often, slaves had a higher education level than their owners did. Slaves were made up of doctors and writers, philosophers, and experts in religion and astronomy. They were slaves, and they were still defined by that characteristic loss of freedom, but unlike what happened in the United States or Britain in the past few centuries, a slave owner could have a complex question and go and ask a slave for the answer. This doesn't make slavery right, but it did make it different.

As he writes to the Galatians, Paul is trying to instruct his readers that they should "Let love drive you into slavery," into that place where you use what is great about you to help someone else. In your freedom, choose slavery because you are free.

The team that helped the base runner to circle the bases lost the game. The game was a playoff game, and because two defenders decided to support their opposition, their team was eliminated from the playoffs. Paul would have approved. In your freedom, choose to be slaves to each other because of love. In your freedom, make the hard choice and love even if it costs you something. Be a slave for someone else. And in the process, the community of Jesus Christ will be strengthened.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Galatians 6