Rev. Tom Sorenson, Pastor
July 1, 1007

Scripture:

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O God, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

Although as a general matter I don’t dislike the writings of the Apostle Paul as much as some of my colleagues do, and although his letters contain some passages that are foundational for my own theology, I have never liked the way he ascribes every sin, everything evil, to the “the flesh” and everything good, noble, and true to “the Spirit.” We got a big dose of this part of Paul’s teachings in our passage from Galatians this morning. That passage contains something the scholars call a vices and virtues list. The vices are supposedly the work of the flesh. In our passage from Galatians Paul says that they are “fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.” The virtues are supposedly the “fruit of the Spirit. They are “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Galatians 5:19-23a NRSV My problem hasn’t been that I think Paul’s wrong about what’s a good thing and what’s a bad thing. Obviously not. My problem has been that Paul’s denigration of the flesh here is a Greek idea that comes from Greek philosophy, not from Jesus and his Jewish tradition. That tradition, in Genesis 1, says that our creation as physical, fleshy beings is good, and Paul seems unaware of that part of the Jewish tradition. Paul’s sharp dichotomy between flesh and Spirit, in which everything bad comes from the flesh and everything good comes from the Spirit, has long been one of my primary complaints about his theology.

This week, however, as I studied and struggled with the lectionary readings for today, I had an insight about this notion of Paul’s that flesh is bad and Spirit is good that has softened my dislike a bit. That insight came not from reading Paul himself but from contemplating this morning’s passage from Luke. There Jesus sends some of his disciples ahead of him to make arrangements for his trip from Galilee to Jerusalem. Some of them went into a village of Samaria, which lay between Jesus’ home in Galilee and his destination Jerusalem. Luke tells us that this Samaritan village “did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem.” Luke apparently means that the Samaritan village would not let Jesus stay there on his journey because he was Jewish. Generally speaking, in Jesus’ day Samaritans and Jews would have nothing to do with each other. So this village closed its gates to Jesus and his followers.

James and John, two of the inner circle of twelve Disciples, heard what had happened, and they had a very human reaction. Basically, they wanted to nuke the place. They asked Jesus: “Lord, do want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” Luke 9:54 NRSV I don’t know about you, but I fully understand that reaction. Do you sometimes feel the anger, the rage, swell up within you so strongly that you’re almost overwhelmed by the desire to smash someone you’re mad at? I do. When someone attacks our country here at home or somewhere abroad, is your first desire to send in the Marines and just wipe them out? When some extremist says, for example, that we should just nuke Iran now and be done with them, as I once overheard local people saying while I was having breakfast at the Dutch Cup Restaurant in Sultan, do you find at least a part of yourself saying yes, yes, do it? I don’t ever go that far, but I understand the emotion. It’s hard-wired into us. It’s part of our animal nature. It’s the fight or flight response that in a state of nature is necessary for survival. At the level of instinct it is part of what it is to be human. It’s why John and James wanted to “bring down the thunder from the sky,” to quote the Notre Dame fight song, and wipe out that Samaritan village. It’s why our first reaction to most threats is to resort to violence. It’s part of what it is to be human.

That’s the insight that changed my attitude toward Paul’s denigration of the flesh. I still think he’s basically wrong, but it is nonetheless true that there are parts of our human nature that are inherent in our physicality that Jesus tells us to overcome. Our reading this morning says that he “turned and rebuked” his friends when they wanted to retaliate against the hostile Samaritan village with divine force. The New Revised Standard Version we heard has a translator’s note at that point that reads: “Other ancient authorities read rebuked them, and said, ‘You do not know what spirit you are of, for the Son of Man has not come to destroy the lives of human beings but to save them.’” Jesus here unmistakably rejects that very human reaction that we have to strike out against those we call our enemies. He tells his disciples that his way is a better way. His spirit is a better spirit than the spirit of violence that we so often give in to. His way is the way of salvation and of life, not of destruction and of death.

That way of destruction and of death, the way Jesus rejects, is part of our physical human nature. It is part of our flesh, to use Paul’s terminology. So it is perfectly understandable when we give in to it. It’s understandable, but it isn’t right. Jesus calls us to a better way, to a better spirit. To follow it we sometimes have to fight back our emotions. Sometimes we have to suppress some very natural reactions. That’s not always easy to do, but it is Jesus’ way. If we are to be his disciples, it must be our way too.

So I still think Paul’s wrong that everything bad comes from the flesh and everything good comes from the spirit. But of course not everything that comes from the flesh is good, and our instinct to fight when we get angry or feel threatened is one of those fleshly things that is not good. Jesus calls us to a better way, to his way of peace, of life, of salvation for all. May God grant us the strength and the courage to answer that call. Amen.