Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God New Year’s Day Jan 1, 2012

Children, inevitably, turn out in some ways different than their parents.  You are – in some ways, big or small – not like your parents.  And if this discrepancy has ever caused you to wonder if you are adopted, then no less of an authority than St. Paul the Apostle tells us the answer is a resounding YES.  In our second reading today to the Galatians we hear:  “When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, … so that we might receive adoption”.   All of us who are Christian have been adopted.

It is interesting the way St. Paul puts it:  not that we have been adopted, but that we might receive adoption, as in receiving a bequest, or a legacy, or a very great gift.  For St. Paul, to “receive adoption” is all about being chosen. 

Once God’s chosen people were only the Hebrews, the descendants of Abraham.  But now, according to St. Paul, all who have faith in Jesus are also God’s chosen people, and receive adoption as sons.

Now for us, living in a Western democracy in the 21^st Century, when we hear “receive adoption as sons”, we inevitably think of this as referring to males, to boys.  But, if you were a 1^st Century Galatian, living in a very different society with very different preconceptions, you would hear this somewhat differently.  The point about receiving adoption as sons is not so much about gender, about being male as opposed to female, but rather the issue is about status, and specifically your status in the family.  Because in that society only the son inherits.  Only the son, often only the first born son, is the heir to the family wealth.  The daughters marry and go off to join some other family, but the son remains.  He has the permanent place in the household and so it is the son who inherits everything.  And that is the status that St. Paul is talking about, using an example from his own time and culture.  “So,” he says, “you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then also an heir, through God.”   The point about being “sons” is not about maleness, but about being the beneficiary of the inheritance. 

Now fortunately, in our society, both sons and daughters inherit.  And if St. Paul wrote his letter to the Austinites rather than to the Galatians, presumably he would have phrased it differently.  The New Revised Standard Version therefore translates this passage as “So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.” 

So it does not matter if you are male or female, Jew or Greek, slave or free, you still have the status of the Son, and so inherit eternal life.   This is clear in St Paul’s statement that: “As proof that you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!"   The Spirit of Jesus is poured out into the hearts of both women and men, and makes all of us “sons” in that sense, so that with Jesus we inherit the fullness of life. 

            The Spirit of God’s Son, the Holy Spirit, is poured into our hearts, proving that we are “sons”, and the Spirit within us cries out “Abba, Father!”  This is a cry of intimacy.  Scholars tell us it is better translated as “Daddy, or Papa” than as “Father”.  This is not a term that the slave would use of the master, but that the loving child would use of his or her papa.  It is a sign of closeness, familiarity and love.  That is the relationship we are called to have with our loving Abba, one of intimacy, trust and love.

            As we begin this New Year, it is good for us to hear this passage from St. Paul, to remind us of our special and privileged position.  “You are no longer a slave but a son,
and if a son then also an heir, through God.”    This is totally God’s free gift, given to us through the birth of the Christ Child that we celebrated a week ago.  It is a gift that provides us free and intimate access to the source of all Being and Love.  It is a noble status that brings with it the responsibilities of a free person.  It is all gift.

Brothers and sisters:
When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son,
born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law,
so that we might receive adoption as sons.
As proof that you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts,
crying out, "Abba, Father!"
So you are no longer a slave but a son,

and if a son then also an heir, through God.

Happy New Year!