(Please read this Scripture passage first, before the homily.)
Paul continues his argument against those who wanted him to preach a gospel that would have his Gentile converts first become Jewish. Paul himself was Jewish and considered himself a faithful one. He also saw that his faith in Christ and the Gospel of Christ were a natural step forward in his Jewishness and he did not want to go back.
He introduced into his argument two women Hagar and Sarah, the mothers of Ishmael and Isaac. Hagar was a slave and when she presented Abraham with his son Ishmael, Ishmael remained the son of a slave and therefore also a slave. Ismael’s situation was like the child of a slave holder and his slave women in our country before the Civil War: every child of a slave remained a slave. Abraham’s son by the slave woman was a slave. Isaac, however, was born to Abraham through Abraham’s wife Sara. He is freeborn.
Hagar stands for Mount Sinai, a place outside Israel. She stands for all those enslaved by the Law. Sarah, on the other hand, stands for Jerusalem, a place in Israel, the Promised Land. She stands for freedom from the Law and the heavenly Jerusalem, the real Promised Land.
The Galatians and those who have come to faith in Christ, are freeborn children of Abraham. They are free from the Law of Mount Sinai and free for the heavenly Jerusalem. They are free in order to live in freedom, not in order to live in the slavery of sin.
Now, in making his argument, St Paul depicted the interrelationships of Abraham, Sara, Hagar, Isaac and Ishmael in broad strokes. Ishmael related to Abraham as slave to master. Isaac related to Abraham as child to parent. Ishmael’s descendants to this day tend to look upon God as the Master of his slaves. Isaac’s children to this day look upon God as a parent, not as a slave holder. We Christians have inherited the concept of God and us as members of a family.
I have one further note for you. By blood and by language, the Galatians are related to those who use Celtic languages and to the French who occupy the land once called Gaul. The Galatians are nearer to our time than we have thought. As Paul encouraged the Galatians to live in freedom, so his writings encourage us to continue living in this freedom.