Determination
Comments on Galatians with an ear to Luther’s commentary
Scripture Text: Galatians 2:7-8 and Acts 1:6-11
Series: Comments on Galatians
The natural thing to do, when one becomes committed to Christ, is to tell family and friends. Sadly, all too often the message is rejected (Luke 4:24). However, the sharing of good news must not end with family and friends. If it is truly good news, it has to be shared with the world.
Any elementary school student is likely to be familiar with a photograph of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in a wheelchair. What they may not know is that it was the disease named polio (poliomyelitis) that impaired him. Polio is an ancient disease, going back to the pharaohs of Egypt. It atrophied limbs and lungs and killed children by the thousands in the US each year. In 1952, Jonas Salk created a vaccine against the disease and in 1957, Sabin created an oral form of the vaccine, making it easy to dispense. By 1962 it was approved for use. Of course, most Americans today know little about polio which attests to the vaccine’s effectiveness.
The good news of a polio vaccine might have been kept in the US for people “like us.” However, in 1980, Rotary (a worldwide service club) began a project to inoculate everyone against the dreaded polio. There are now only a few countries where polio may still be found. It has been eradicated from all the other countries of the world, largely because one service club determined to share the good news of Sabin’s vaccine with the entire world.
One wonders at how the Church has failed. Rotary has taken the polio vaccine to the remotest parts of the earth. For that matter, Coca Cola has taken a soft drink into virtually every country in the world — even those countries where the gospel is banned. Coca-Cola is determined. Rotary is determined. The Apostle Paul was determined. We must also be determined to take the good news of our Risen Savior beyond the circles of our friends and family, beyond our own shores, even as Jesus said, “to the uttermost parts of the earth.”
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Author
Rev. Dr. Mark E. Ryman has served as Pastor for St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Salisbury, NC, since 2021. Previously, Pastor Ryman served congregations in North Carolina and Ohio, as well as a call to specialized ministry with Sola Publishing.
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