Worst Punishment Ever

First Lesson: 1 Kings 19: 1-4, (5-7), 8-15a
Responsive Reading: Psalm 42 & 43
Second Lesson: Galatians 3: 23-29
​Gospel Lesson: Luke 8: 26-39

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Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
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Reflecting on my childhood, there was one punishment that I got that was the worst ever.  I was in 9th Grade; we had an away Basketball game scheduled for Friday night.  The whole team had been looking forward to it and the long bus trip with friends for the entire week.

 Our coach pulls me aside the day before the game: “He tells me that I’m not going.”   He said the teachers had singled me out as being too disruptive in class to attend.   I had certainly been punished in school many times before; no punishment could ever bring tears to my eyes as this one did.  Many children experience the same thing when they are picked last or not at all on the playground, there is no worse feeling in the world.

Now was the Basketball coach wrong for doling out this punishment? Looking back on it, “no.”   

Did it matter whether I played or the Junior Varsity basketball team won? No, it didn't. 


Still, when you’re a 15-year-old boy, there isn’t a more painful punishment that can be assigned than to be told that you don’t deserve to be on the team.  

Today’s lesson from the 3rd Chapter of Galatians tells a similar story[1].   The Church in Galatia was divided between circumcised Jews and Gentiles.  Seeking to address this divide was the Apostle Paul.  

Paul growing up was the exact opposite of the 9th Grade me.  Paul followed God’s law and the law of others like no one else.  Paul grew up thinking his diligence would be his path to salvation.  Paul had reason to behave thinking that he’d become God’s favorite person in the whole, wide world[2]. Moses said it; Paul listened to it, and everyone else who didn’t wouldn’t be allowed to ride the bus moving forward. 

Paul has his life-changing experience blinded on the Road to Damascus.  Now Paul comes to the Galatian church and sees all sorts of “New” Christians being excluded for all the ways that they didn’t measure up.[3]  Paul seeks to make the point to the Galatian Church that it is about their present “faith’ rather than their past ‘works” that will ultimately pave the way to their salvation.

Paul seeks to give the Galatians a radically different vision of the church from which they had grown up.

Once upon a time, a woman was visiting a Nordstrom’s department store in Beverly Hills, California[4].  The woman mostly just liked taking in the atmosphere of a high-end store, especially during the Holiday season.

On one of her visits, she would witness a scene that mirrored Paul’s vision for the Galatian church.  A woman steps out of the elevator at Nordstrom’s. The woman at first glance didn’t look like she belonged.  Her clothes were dirty and torn.  Her hair was uncombed. In her hand was a very full and dirty looking gym bag.  Now she was surrounded by dresses costing thousands of dollars[5].

The woman observing figured a security guard would quickly arrive to tell, the different looking woman that she didn’t belong.  But instead, a well-put-together sales associate approaches the woman asking: “May I help, you, Madam.”  The street woman declares: “Yeah! I wanna buy a dress!”

The sales associate acts like is the bag lady is no different from any other customer by asking: “Any particular type of dress[6].”

“A party dress.” The surprised woman declared.

The sales associate smiles: “Well, you’ve come to the perfect place. Follow me. I think we have some of the finest party dresses in the world[7]. “ The sales associate spends the next fifteen minutes helping the street woman try on expensive party dresses. 

The street woman finally announces, “I’ve changed my mind. I’m not going to buy a dress Today[8].” The onlooker figured the sales associate would snap for wasting her precious time.   The sales associate merely smiled declaring: “That’s all right. But here’s my card.  Should you come back to Nordstrom’s? I would consider it a privilege to wait on you again[9].”   

The onlooker was amazed as she saw this saleswoman display such unbelievable grace considering the circumstances. 

Paul eventually realized something from his previous life before converting to Christianity.  You can find a reason to exclude someone for just about anything.  People can be too young, too old, too short, too tall, too poor, too ugly, too smart, too weird or have any number of things in their past.  

For as long as I can remember, my Dad has written bail bonds for Goldberg Bonding. The County Jail was about two miles from where I grew up.  My Dad would often take me with him on bond calls.  My dad at the County Jail encountered a very different type of crowd; then we would at Trinity Lutheran Church or Lindstrom’s City Hall. 

We would meet the kind of crowd whose eventual testimonies might make people uncomfortable. But the one thing that I’ll forever admire my Dad for is he would never treat someone who he bailed out any different than someone he saw at church.  He would never make snide comments as soon as we got back to the car.  He understood that writing bail bonds was an extraordinary calling, yet this didn’t eliminate a real human need for forgiveness. 

Paul’s desire for the Galatian church is to receive broken and varied people different than everywhere else.   So Paul, within our lesson, speaks some of the most powerful words of belonging within the scriptures:

“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus[10].”

Paul’s whole point in writing these words, speak to his vision of the Christian Church within its earliest days.

Paul’s intentions were not doing away with the long-established Roman social order.  Paul’s goal was instead that the first churches be places of unique community.  Places were all the long-standing social distinctions Jew/Greek, slave/free, male/female are brought together in common mission under the name of Jesus Christ[11].

Now anyone familiar with church history can mention numerous examples of how the Church has failed to live up to Paul’s vision of being a community of mutual counsel and support to its varied and especially weakest members.  Plenty of Christian people can hear the story of the street woman at Nordstrom’s and be caught off-guard. 

When I was told I wasn’t traveling to the Basketball game, I was probably the worst player on the team.  There would have been very little reason for a teammate to insist that I needed to play. 

What Paul is telling the Galatian church is that their calling is to be a different kind of a community than one who measures based on your religious background, gender, employment status, or even athletic ability. 

Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger had a dream to play College Football at the University of Notre Dame[12]. 

There were two problems with this dream.  1. He wasn’t a very good student; he was dyslexic and could never achieve the grades nor test scores that deserved entry into such a top-flight academic institution.  2. He lacked the ability to play football at such a high level. Ruettiger was 5’6, 165 lbs., and did not possess the athleticism to make up for it[13]. 

Ruettiger though despite all the evidence telling him “no” believed he belonged at Notre Dame.   It didn’t matter what every other force in his life was telling him.

After making accommodations for his dyslexia, he gets accepted as a Notre Dame student.  He then shows up to open Football tryouts. It was quickly obvious how outmatched that Rudy was on the Football field.  He worked so hard the coaches feel they could never cut him despite his lack of talent.  Last game of his senior year of college, Notre Dame Coach Dan Devine unexpectedly and unnecessarily gives Rudy one of the limited spots on the game day roster. He plays three plays when the game is long-decided.[14]

On the last play, Rudy Ruettiger sacks the Quarterback for Georgia Tech forever making him a part of the Notre Dame record book.

His teammates are so supportive of Rudy Ruettiger, their weakest player that he is the first player in Notre Dame’s long history to be carried off the field by his teammates[15]. 

The Apostle Paul, who wrote Galatians, would have loved this scene of the weakest player Rudy being so supported by his teammates.  The Apostle Paul would have loved watching a street woman being treated in Nordstrom’s like the most important customer in the store.   The Apostle Paul dreamed of a church where the weakest brother/sister in the faith is encouraged rather than finding all sorts of ways to be torn down.  The following was Paul’s vision for how the Galatian church should view the presence of each other  as neither Jew, Greek, slave, free, male, or female for we are all one in Christ Jesus. Amen
 


[1] Galatians 3:23-29. 
[2] Hoezee, Scott. “Commentary on Galatians 3:23-29.” Center for Excellence in Preaching. Calvin Seminary. 13.June.2016. Web. June.11.2019. 
[3] Hoezee, Scott. “Commentary on Galatians 3:23-29.” Center for Excellence in Preaching.
[4] Bowen, Gilbert. “Transcending the Tribe.” Sermon Writer. 2003. Web. June.11.2019. 
[5] Bowen, Gilbert. “Transcending the Tribe.” Sermon Writer.
[6] Bowen, Gilbert. “Transcending the Tribe.” Sermon Writer.
[7] Bowen, Gilbert. “Transcending the Tribe.” Sermon Writer.
[8] Bowen, Gilbert. “Transcending the Tribe.” Sermon Writer.
[9] Bowen, Gilbert. “Transcending the Tribe.” Sermon Writer.
[10] Galatians 3:28. 
[11] Lancaster Patterson, Jane. “Commentary on Galatians 3:23-29.” Working Preacher. Luther Seminary. 23.June.2019. Web. June.11.2019. 
[12] Wagner, Keith. “All in the Family.” Sermon Central. 2001. Web. June.11.2019. 
[13] “Rudy Ruettiger.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. 31.May.2019. Web. June.11.2019. 
[14] “Rudy Ruettiger.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation.
[15] “Rudy Ruettiger.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation.