For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you. – Galatians 3:26-29

I love butterflies. I have, on several occasions, taken our grandchildren to butterfly gardens. This one, in Richmond (many years ago), was particularly magical. They are best when they take you by surprise, like the spectacular specimen that lighted on my hand in the Costa Rican rainforest, or the thousands or Monarchs that suddenly took off from the sea oats where they were hiding on Pensacola Beach.

A butterfly is in many ways a serendipity, like seeing a dolphin break the surface of the water or a shooting star in the night or an owl fly across the face of the moon.

So this morning – talking with the men’s Bible study about the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians, and his incredulity at their movement away from freedom in Christ and back toward the legalistic strictures of Mosaic Law – I suddenly thought about the butterfly.

“Paul pointed out that The Law had served good purpose, ‘keeping us in protective custody’ as the NLT translation puts it,” I said. “Much like the law of gravity keeps me safe in that I do not step off tall buildings – the law is a guardrail.”

But because of Jesus I am more like the butterfly. Gravity still exists but I have so much more freedom and beauty of expression and movement.

“What happened to the Galatians,” I continued, “when false teachers came in and told them they had to come under the jurisdiction of the law first (including practices such as circumcision) reminds me of when I was a child and my friend Paul offered to show me his butterfly collection. I loved butterflies and I went over to his house anticipating a butterfly garden, or maybe an aquarium with butterflies flying around inside….

“But I was horrified when he opened a book and showed me his specimens pinned to the pages. Beautiful creatures literally skewered.

“This is what Paul saw in Galatia,” I said. “Instead of restored relationships with God celebrated in freedom, still respecting God’s law while soaring like butterflies, Paul saw the Gentile Christians as pinned to the pages of the Mosaic Law. Enforced gravity without freedom or joy.”

Last week it was the image of Sisyphus rolling his rock up the hill without making any progress. This week I can’t unsee the idea of beautiful butterflies literally skewered to the law.

Jesus offers us the grace of butterfly wings, the beauty and the freedom released by love. Jesus is God’s invitation into what becomes not just possible but natural, when we live into the grace of Promise.

Because He Lives – DEREK