Freed for Freedom: A Communion Meditation on Galatians 5

Galatians 5:1, 13-25

1 For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery …13 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. 14 For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. 16 Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. 24 And those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.

In just a few days, many of us will likely gather with friends and family for Independence Day. And even if we are less than thrilled to participate in a day filled with a kind of religious piety and devotion toward one’s country, it is, no doubt, a day where all of us are asked to reflect on the nature of freedom – what it means to be free and free from what or whom. 

It’s a scary time to ask such questions, especially when much of the country seems intent on a business-as-usual celebration of our American freedom – that is with all you can eat hotdogs and burgers and firework shows that resemble the sounds of the warzones American imperialism has brought to the world in the name of said freedom. 

But our Galatians passage reminds us that freedom is not simply about a freedom from restriction and law and oppression, but true freedom must also take into account what we are free for and free to do. The way I like to think about it is a fish may be free from restraint on a beach but it is not truly free until it finds its life and being in the water for which it was created. Likewise, we would do well to remember that we are not free until we find our lives and our beings in the Love of God and each other for which we were created. 

Our “desires of the flesh,” to use the language of Galatians, will always incentivize us towards seeing each other with the eyes of scarcity, leaving us no choice but to choose self-preservation over mutuality, selfishness over community, and seizing power over vulnerability and love. The Kingdom of God cannot be found when such abuses of freedom are used to harm our neighbors, each other, and our world. 

Yet the paradox is that we find freedom in a cross. We come to this table to be reminded that true freedom is to love and be loved. It is in his very act of self-giving that Christ saves us and heals us, and so too will we find such liberation and healing for our communities to the extent that we love each other as ourselves. 

We eat of his flesh and partake of his blood not to consume but to be consumed…and therefore, to be set free from all the things within hearts that keep us from living for love, for each other, and for a world remade in the likeness of Christ. 

With that, let us come now to remember his death – the death that brings us life and makes us whole. 

The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Come, eat, drink, and be free.