Galatians 4:4-7

“In the Fullness of Time”

2020 is the year for some apocalyptic preaching. In describing the phrase, “In the fullness of time,” Richard Hays remarks that this expression “indicates the apocalyptic reference for Paul’s thought” (New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, “Galatians” 283). Louis Martyn also emphasizes the apocalyptic inbreaking of Paul’s message in describing this section of the letter as focused on redemptive invasion (Galatians, Anchor Bible, 384). As we preach the good news this Christmas, we can all use some redemptive invasion at the start of a new church year that longs for the coming of freedom and healing from a year of pandemic, racial awakening (or racial anxiety and tension), and a fraught election cycle. Sign me up for God’s redemptive invasion. I’m here for it and I am pretty sure our congregations need this message of hope too.

My daily commute includes one of those oft-changed church signs. I’ve always been interested in church signs. During the fall, this sign had up some sort of line that I’ll paraphrase as: “do the elephant and donkey have you worn out: try the lamb.” I initially caught it subconsciously, and in my head, I had what I thought was a better version of the trope: Has looking to the elephant or donkey distracted you from looking at the lamb? Christmas is full of tempting distractions from the inbreaking gift of God that is Jesus. For many of our hearers this week, they will have turned to the comfort and hope of Christmas extra early this year in light of the chaos of work from home, eLearning, pandemic fatigue, and so many who are mourning the loss of loved ones and plans that were altered or cancelled. By the time we get to December 27th, some of us may be ready to pack up the Christmas decorations and move on since the tree is all dried out because we decided we should decorate on November 7th.

Into this context of exhaustion, despair, grief, and distraction, Galatians 4:4-7 offers us a powerful reminder of God’s story in this Christmas season. The verses in the second reading this week are part of a larger unit that seeks to define identity for Paul’s readers as lying within the confines of Abraham’s descendants and ultimately as heirs of God’s through adoption as God’s children. Paul lays this out as a battle against the cosmic power of the law to enslave us and God’s decisive action in Jesus to invade our lives and our situation and redeem us. This point is reiterated several times from 3:6-4:7. In 3:13, Christ redeems us. 3:25, Christ has come therefore we are no longer subject to the disciplinarian of the law, but freed to be heirs. And now in 4:4-7, Paul reiterates the identity that comes for those who embrace the reality that God has invaded the world, conquered the powers (like the law), and claimed us through adoption. This invasion by God isn’t a freedom of indifference, but the freedom that comes with adoption into a family and an identity. Many of us have heard or uttered words along the lines—we don’t do that in our family. We are drawn into a story that comes with expectations, but it is marked primarily by the gift of being given a new identity in Christ that is more important than all the other ways we have been taught to think of our identity.

My colleague at Anderson University, Dr. Kimberly Majeski starts her seminary New Testament course by reiterating a lesson she learned in seminary—“if you get Jesus wrong, you get it all wrong.” Christ is so important. Galatians reminds us of a few significant things as it relates to this redemptive invasion—Christ is God’s move for us. God is with us. Born of a woman, in the fullness of time, under the law, but in order to claim us, adopt us, and grant us the promises that God has made to Israel—“ plans to prosper you not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future” (Jer. 29:11).

In this pandemic Christmastide when so many of us are prevented from seeing loved ones, grieving normalcy, grieving the deaths of people near and far from COVID or any other cause of death—this passage is a reminder of God’s in-breaking action. Christmas is the primary season to mark the greatest and most decisive action of God to be with and for us—the incarnation. In Richard Hays’s words—God had “a cosmic timetable and an appointed day to break into humanity’s history of misery to bring the promised redemption” (283). Preachers—remind your people of that action this Sunday. God decided to intervene. God decided to act. We didn’t earn it, but God did it. Realizing and embracing that reality makes all the difference when it comes to the hope we have. Paul marks this by comparing the outlook of those who see themselves as slaves versus heirs. For a season, both have the same status as ones under the head of the household—but their experience of that is much different. We all face the hardships of the world around us, but to do so as ones who know that God has decisively acted to redeem us in the Incarnation offers us hope and invites us to expand the boundaries so that we too offer the promises of adoption into God’s redeeming story to a growing number of hurting and excluded people.