A Weekly Bible Study - Galatians 1:11-19

10th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Writing to the churches of Galatia, Paul is concerned that there are ambitious “missionaries” who, although well-meaning, are mistaking the message of the Gospel and misleading others in faith. Paul does not hesitate to set the Galatians straight when he tells them “the gospel preached to me is not of human origin…but came to me as a revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Should we not also go right to the source? Until we come face to face with the Sacred Word, how can we truly know the Word Made Flesh, Christ?

Paul goes on to tell us that once he received the "revelation” he spent three years in the desert of Arabia. Very little is recorded about these years. However, it is easy to imagine that during that time Paul spent many hours pondering the Scriptures, making sense of the Old Testament from the perspective of the Christian revelation.

Paul provides an important model for growing in Christian faith. God invites each one of us to go directly to the Sacred Word to find God’s truth with open hearts and searching minds. The invitation bids us to enter our own "desert " where we can linger, ponder, listen quietly for a deepening of the Bible’s meaning and message. And, like Paul, as we encounter the Word of God at ever deepening levels we may proclaim with Paul (as we will hear next Sunday), “I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me.”  (Gal 2:20)

Christians read the Bible. It's not a luxury. It's a necessity.

The author, Ms. Barbara Gawle, leads Bible studies at her parish, Incarnation Church of Wethersfield, CT. She is a CBS graduate and the 2012 recipient of the Biblical School's highest award, The Lawrence Boadt Memorial Medal.