On the Ninth Day of Christmas...
As we step into the second day of a new year, we find ourselves situated in the ninth day of Christmas. On this day our True Love gifts us, Nine Ladies Dancing. We are invited into the power of the Divine Feminine, found in Paul’s writing to the church in Galatia. In what we know as Galatians chapter five, verses twenty two through twenty three, we read:
“By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control. There is no law against such things.”
Paul is inviting the church to see the movement of a way of life learned into a way of life lived. To merely study or stand at a distance from the life of Jesus can leave a person stuck in the cycle of sin management. Our text begins with, “By contrast…” which is alerting us to contemplate what came before this. When we simply back up to verse thirteen, and read through verse fifteen, we can find Paul’s brilliant and beautiful invitation…
“For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become enslaved to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.”
However familiar or unfamiliar you are with the Bible, know that these few verses are an extraordinary statement by Paul. Think about this; at a point in Jesus’ teaching, he sums up the law (613 commandments) by saying, “Love God, and Love your neighbor as yourself.” And that move came after the 613 commandments were previously summed up in what we call the Ten Commandments. Now Paul is taking it even further, and summing the entire law up with, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Wow!
Can you see how this text is radiating with relevance for our world today? There are many in our country who claim to be Christian. People attend religious services, possibly attend Bible studies, and decorate their lives with religious paraphernalia, but it is by our Fruit that we are known. Paul so brilliantly and succinctly says that one’s love for the Divine is displayed in how they treat other people. All people. Paul points to a tangible and visible trust in Jesus… by how we speak about, interact with, and act toward others.
Read verse thirteen again. It is such a powerful call to us today. Do not use freedom for self-indulgence, but through love we are to serve others. This text wells up so much emotion within me. The last several years have seen people warring for “my rights!” But what is behind such that shrill demand? My comfort? My luxury? My beliefs over other people’s beliefs? My happiness regardless of who that oppresses or dismisses?
Thousands of years before there was such political infighting, Paul was reminding us that our call is to the law of love… which is to be good news for others. Our freedom in and through Christ transforms the heart, which summons us to love others with Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Fidelity, Gentleness, and Self-Control. That’s not found by passing political laws, but in living by the Law of Love.
I have too often witnessed people eviscerate others with devastating words, both said to them or simply about them to others, and then say they love them. Our words and our actions are to demonstrate what calls the Law of Love.
This ninth day of Christmas carries immense depth and a calling to followers of Jesus, which is the church. May our contemplation of this call catapult us to live the Law of Love.
