Proper 6 Year C

Proper 6

1 Kings 21.1–21a
Galatians 2.15–21
Luke 7.36—8.3
‘He loved me and gave himself for me.’ These words in Galatians 2.20, coupled with those in 1.4, probably form the earliest written statement of what we know as the doctrine of the atonement. They invite comment at several levels.

First, towering over everything else, they speak of the cross as an act of love. Paul is sometimes wrongly supposed to have seen the cross solely through legalistic lenses, imagining it as an exercise in penal logic-chopping. This passage demonstrates that for him it was far more, and far deeper. It spoke of arms outstretched in love, a heart bursting for love, the self-giving of love to the undeserving beloved. It created, in the words of the late George Caird, ‘a debt of love which only love could repay’...