It’s an occupational hazard that I still struggle with even though I’m no longer in the occupation. I’m not talking about critiquing the trim carpentry in a home that I enter – although that happens as well. No, my struggle hearkens back to my time as a pastor. As I listen to sermons, I often think about how I would preach the same passage. (I think it’s better than my aunt’s distraction. She told me – when I was a newbie pastor – that her mind would wander to what kind of underwear the pastor was wearing…but only when she got bored in the sermon! My takeaway – don’t let parishioners get bored!)

Distracted by the questions

Questions. Whereas many pastors look for the easy answers in the text, I’m more often drawn to the difficult or hidden questions. That’s what set me off on my sojourn this morning.

The text was Galatians 6:1-10. The most obvious point of the passage is that we are to cultivate the good in our lives and also in the lives of fellow Christians. Paul writes of uprooting sin in our lives as well as in the lives of others. In addition, he looks at how what we sow dictates what we will reap. The message is pretty straightforward.

In the middle of the passage is Galatians 6:6, “Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor.” What does that mean? Why is it there? And did the pastor mention it? Not that I remember. Why not? So many questions! The most important one is, “What are all the ‘good things’ that I am supposed to give to one who instructs me?”

What does “all good things” refer to?

The first and most common suggestion seems to be that Paul is calling people to voluntarily give to the support of their teachers. Paul says as much but more clearly in 1 Corinthians 9:11-13. So “all good things” is…money? I’ve been the recipient of those sorts of “good things” when I was a pastor. But money doesn’t seem to fit the context.

Nor does financial good fit with how the same word is translated elsewhere. The word agathois occurs in two other locations. Ephesians 2:10, agathios is translated “good works.” In 1 Peter 2:18, it is used as an adjective to describe a “good” master. In those contexts, the word is interpreted as the fruit of a life in which someone sowed good seed, removed the weeds, and now is bearing a harvest. What if we used the term in the same way here?

Giving Good Back

Rather than using this passage as a supplement to Paul’s teaching in 1 Cor. 9, it could be used instead as an encouragement to give good back to the one who offered it first. If someone catches me in a sin and gently restores me, I pay it forward and let her know I heard her. How humbling and beautiful is that? When someone shows me love by shouldering my burden along with me, I express my gratitude by in turn shouldering his burden or the burdens of others. It’s not about who is better and who is worse nor who is the source of good and who is the recipient. Rather, it is about doing good to all people, giving evidence of the grace and love in our hearts.

Viewed this way, Galatians 6:10 makes more sense as well. “Let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” Why separate out those within the family of believers? Because they are the ones most likely to heed Paul’s words and gently restore us.

Sharing the Good

What is Galatians 6:1-10 about? It’s about cultivating a life of goodness in ourselves and in others. Who could argue with that? But there’s more. Paul is also telling us to acknowledge the times when we were wrong and someone gently restored us, doing good to them by sharing with them the fruit of their labor in our lives. He’s instructing us to acknowledge our dependence on others when we don’t even see where we’ve strayed. These words encourage gratitude, love, and mutual respect. They call the church to a deeper and more honest way of following Jesus Christ. And these verses offer us a recipe for cultivating a greater harvest of righteousness in ourselves and in the Church.