Lectionary for 7/13/09

Today's readings are Judges 13.1-25 and Galatians 2.1-21.

Surely we are justified by faith, not by works of the law.  What then do we do with the Nazirites, such as Samson?  Has our Lord changed in the way he saves people?  Has he changed in the way he sets them apart for service in his kingdom?  We confess that the Lord himself doesn't change.  What of this group who would follow a Nazirite vow?  This vow included abstaining from certain foods, drinks, and behaviors which were culturally accepted as normal and which God regularly used in a well-ordered society.  Did the Nazirites find special favor with God through their self-deprivation?

We maintain "that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ" (Gal. 2.16a, ESV).  It is faith in Christ which justifies.  It is not our works of righteousness.  Are we free to pursue those works of righteousness?  Certainly.  They are pleasing to God.  Are we free to pursue even those works which visibly set us apart as God's people who have taken on special behaviors for a period of time as a statement of faith in Christ?  This is what the Nazirite vows were like.  Typically they were temporary.  They involved not cutting hair, not eating particular fruit products, not drinking wine or strong drink, and avoiding the presence of a dead animal.  Think of the habit some people have of fasting during Lent.  They deprive themselves of perfectly appropriate and acceptable, even good things for a defined time period as a way of remembering they truly depend on the Lord rather than on those things.  This is a work of faith, as it expresses our faith in Christ rather than our dependence on particular foods and drinks.  There's nothing wrong with that.

Let us remember to do good works.  Let us remember to live a holy life before our Lord.  But most of all let us remember to live that life trusting in the forgiving work of Jesus, looking to his resurrection as the firstfruits of the resurrection in which we will also partake.  We live by faith, all the while doing what our Lord has put before us and which is pleasing to him.