It’s Wednesday 22nd April – the middle of the working week for many people.

And today, I would like to start by saying a huge thank you to those of you listening to or reading this who are keyworkers – those working in the NHS and social care, to all the teachers and nursery staff. I know there are people who access this podcast working in the local council, for Royal Mail, on public transport, in supermarkets, for charities and organisations supporting those who are vulnerable.

Thank you for the sacrifices that you are making in your working week, and thank you for taking 10 minutes in your busy day to spend time with God, reflect on his word in the Bible, and engage with worship.

I hope that these podcasts are an encouragement to you, as you serve others and live out your faith in the workplace this week.

REFLECTION:

Our Bible reading today is Galatians Chapter 2 vs15-21, and I’m going to focus on verse 16 from the English Standard Version:

“Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”

Whilst we are in the middle of this coronavirus crisis, there have been many fantastic examples of communities coming together to support one another.  So far, via our Whatsapp group, neighbours on our street have shared or given away eggs, strawberry plants, Lego, freezer bags, a baby monitor, Monopoly, and a large amount of compost……to name just a few items!  People have given musical performances in the garden, collected fabric for making hospital scrubs, and filled two boxes with donations for Foodbank.  I am sure many of you have similar stories from your street and neighbours – if not, maybe set up a Whatsapp group and see what happens!

However, on social media and in the press, what we have also seen in recent weeks is an increase in people who have been labelled “corona curtain twitchers” – those who name and shame, accuse others of not following social distancing guidelines, and make judgements about what is or is not an ‘essential’ item, journey or form of exercise.

There was a great piece in the Guardian last week about the ‘virtuous saints’ and ‘the sinners’ of the coronavirus crisis.

Virtuous saints follow government lockdown guidelines to the letter, and believe that because of their total obedience to the law, they are entitled to enforce others to follow them in exactly the same way as they do.

And then there are the sinners – people who, according to the virtuous saints, should not be in the park, or riding their bike, or buying flour again; and because of their failure to follow the law in the same ways as the virtuous saints……well these sinners cannot possibly claim to be supporting the NHS or helping the nation.

This is legalism and it is condemnation.

And it is the same issue that Paul address in this passage to the Galatians.

The argument was between Judaizers – those who believed that before someone could become a Christian they had to take on full obedience to the Jewish law including circumcision – and those, like Paul, who believed that justification comes through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

The word ‘justification’ or ‘justified’ is key here.

The dictionary definition of the verb ‘to justify’ is to declare someone not guilty, innocent or righteous.  Its theological application is for someone to have been declared or made righteous in the sight of God.

Justification by the law teaches us that the only way we can be righteous is to work hard to obey every law, and work even harder to refrain from doing anything that the law forbids.  And if you do this, God will accept you – you will be justified by the law.

Maybe outwardly it looks like we are doing a good job of this……but behind clo...