Paul has some harsh words for Peter (Cephas) in today’s first reading. Paul states: “And when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he clearly was wrong.” Paul accuses all of hypocrisy, Cephas, the rest of the Jewish-Christians, and even his co-worker Barnabas. Paul confronts Peter with these words: “If you, though a Jew, are living like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?” The issues are table fellowship and celebrating the Eucharist together. In the beginning Cephas and all the Jewish Christians shared table fellowship with the Gentile Christians. Some people from James and the Jerusalem community objected to this practice since they argued it made the Jewish Christians ritually impure and therefore unable to evangelize among their fellow Jews. Paul confronted Cephas and accused him of hypocrisy:
“I opposed him to his face because he clearly was wrong. For, until some people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to draw back and separated himself, because he was afraid of the circumcised. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him…”
Paul confronted Cephas because he saw a core issue at stake:
“But when I saw that they were not on the right road in line with the truth of the Gospel, I said to Cephas in front of all, “If you, though a Jew, are living like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”
Paul states that he is fighting for the “truth of the Gospel.” While all agreed with the truth that all are justified by faith in Jesus Christ in theory, they denied it in practice by refusing table fellowship with the Gentiles. They were de facto still treating the Gentiles as sinners.
The Galatians like all Christians throughout the ages were struggling with the practical implications of their faith in Jesus Christ. We also struggle today as we face such difficult issues as abortion, capital punish, war and violence, racism and hatred and the just treatment of immigrants. At times we need people like St. Paul to challenge our hypocrisy: we cannot claim to be a Christian and espouse hatred and violence. We cannot claim to be a Christian and belong to the KKK or any antisemitic or other hate groups. The Gospel challenges us not just to love your neighbor but also to love your enemy.
Image: Last Supper fresco from Kremikovtsi Monastery in Bulgaria. Image by Edal Anton Lefterov | CC BY-SA 3.0.