Reading
for Proper 10A: Romans 8:9-17
July 14, 2002
The Rev. Karen Siegfriedt
St. Jude the Apostle Episcopal Church, Cupertino,
CA
Paul lived during the first 60 years after the birth of Jesus. He was a teacher of Judaism who actually never met Jesus. Being a zealot of the Jewish religion, he began to persecute those Jews who regarded Jesus as the messiah. One day, on his way to Damascus, (where he was going to arrest some of the followers of Jesus), he was blinded by a light, and had a personal experience of the risen Christ. In other words, he had one of those tremendous conversion experiences that few people are privileged to have. Because of this conversion experience, he was able to speak about God, humanity, and the resurrected Christ in ways that had never before been spoken of. He wrote down these ideas (not in a systematic theological treatise), but in letters to various house churches in the Mediterranean.
Paul’s theology can be very difficult to understand because he uses the same Greek words to convey different meanings (especially words like soul, body, psyche, flesh, and spirit). He spoke to a people in the 1st century using mostly a Jewish perception of reality. Since we are not Jewish, nor are we in the context of the 1st century Mediterranean, it is natural to misunderstand his thought process. When we misunderstand people and the way they think, then we often dislike them. When we dislike someone, we often miss the pearls of wisdom that they can offer us.
Most people think Paul disliked women and sex. Neither is true. We need to remember that women in 1st century Palestine rarely spoke in public or went out without covering their head. The exception of course was with prostitutes. So, when Paul challenges one congregation to maintain a sense of decency and modesty, he is concerned about the social implications within a first century context. He would have had no idea that this specific, human advice, offered to one church, would be taken to be a universal axiom some 2000 years later.
In regards to sex, we need to remember that women and children did not have control over their bodies or sexuality. They were simply property to be used as the owner saw fit. Women and children could easily be sexually abused, either by their owner, husband, or father. There were no social services to turn to. In cases of rape or unwanted sexual advances, there had to be at least one witness to prove sexual wrongdoing. The only thing a woman could hope for after being raped, is that her father or brothers would kill the offender and not throw her out into the streets to fend for herself. It is into this context that Paul speaks of the body as the temple of God; a temple where there is no room for exploiting someone else for one’s own sexual gratification. It is into this context of patriarchy, domination, and exploitation, that Paul elevates the status of women, children, and all people of God. We are still waiting some 2000 years later to realize these human rights.
Today, I would like to focus on what it means to “live in the Spirit.” I will compare this idea of living in the Spirit with the concept of living in the flesh. In his letter to the church in Rome, Paul provides one of the most interesting analyses of the inner human being. Paul views the self as having three elements: reason (which is the seat of God’s law); the flesh (out of which selfish, unchecked desire rises); and the “I” (or the will), which has the capacity to choose between good (God’s law) and bad (the selfish, sinful, narcissistic desires that cause harm to God’s creation).
1900 years later, a famous psychiatrist, named Sigmund Freud came up with a similar trinity of ideas to explain the human psyche. He divided the human psyche into three components: the id, the ego, and the super-ego. The id (which Paul would call living in the flesh) is that unconscious, instinctual desire for satisfaction, self- preservation, and aggression. Like Paul, Freud said that human beings were enslaved to this part of the psyche. The ego (which Paul would call the “I”) is that somewhat conscious ability to exert control over these selfish, instinctual desires. Finally, Freud spoke about the superego, that part of the psyche which speaks through the voice of conscience, and produces guilt and other psychic sufferings in order to get a person to listen to his/her conscience. Paul would call this aspect of the mind, “living in the Spirit.” While Freud’s understanding of the mind is somewhat different and based on a secular, scientific, and atheistic model, it is interesting to note how close it comes to Paul’s theology that was developed some 1900 years earlier.
Let’s begin with the id (or living in the flesh) - the seat of unconscious, instinctual desire for sensual satisfaction, self-preservation, and aggression. I am going to read from Susan Howatch’s novel, The High Flyer, to make my point. In this book, Howatch describes a self-made woman; a power hungry, spiritually challenged lawyer, whose goal in life is to maintain order by destroying anything that causes chaos in her life. This is her description of this high-powered lawyer:
“Walking into my office I found him stooped over my computer, and since I was not expecting a male secretary, I assumed he was someone from the maintenance department. I did notice that he was dressed as an office drone in a grey suit, but maintenance men often resembled office drones these days; it was a side-effect of the technological revolution. Abruptly I demanded: “What’s the problem?” and added for good measure: “Who the hell are you?” I always feel irritable on Monday mornings. He glanced up, decided I was just another dumb blonde hired to massage a keyboard and make the big mistake of adopting a patronizing manner. “Relax, sweet pea,” he said casually, “I’m the temp from Person-Power International! I’ve been assigned for two weeks to Mr. Carter Graham.”
“I dropped my bag on the visitor’s chair, folded my arms across my chest and dug my high heels into the carpet. Then I said in a voice designed to bend nails: “I’m Carter Graham.” The man jumped as if stung by a bee... “I beg your pardon, ma’am”, he said at once. “I must have misunderstood the lady in personnel who directed me here.”
“The lady in personnel must be suffering from amnesia. She knows I only work with female temps.” “I’m sorry to hear that, ma’am, but let me reassure you by saying”- “you’re gay.” “No, but I can do everything women and gays can do with computers and have even taken a course in Desk Top Publishing.”
“I don’t approve of dubious activities taking place on a desk-top. Are you seriously-seriously-trying to tell me that Person-Power International has had the nerve to send a heterosexual, white, Anglo-Saxon male to work in my office?” “Maybe they see it as their contribution to multiculturalism, ma’am.”
“All right, so be it. Welcome to Curtis Towers…But now you listen to me, and listen well. This is a first names office but you and I are going to use surnames for the duration of your time here. I am not having all those hormones and pheromones stimulated by any pseuds’-corner office intimacy…So get me un-sugared coffee, black as pitch and strong enough to make an elephant levitate. Then we’ll start to flay the fax till it screams for mercy.”
“Yes, ma’am” and he zipped out of the room. At that point, I spent three seconds wondering why he was working as a temporary secretary and then another three seconds wondering what he was like in bed. Then I said to myself impatiently: “Bloody sex! Why are we all so obsessed with it?” and focused my mind instead on the intricate fiscal affairs of my major clients.” (pgs. 2-5)
Imagine working in an office where the powerful dominate the less powerful; where human beings are commodities to be used rather than people to be honored! Unfortunately, this is not an unusual state of affairs. Most of human suffering arises because people are acting out of a place where their own need for power, self-satisfaction, and self-preservation infuses their personality. Most of these people have a self reliant attitude and put their trust in their own strength. Unfortunately, this results in a life where people pursue their own desires for their own satisfaction. This way of operating in the world is what Paul calls “living in the flesh.”
Let’s compare this way of walking in the world with “living in the Spirit” (which is the subject of today’s reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans.) Living in the Spirit can be summarized by the words of today’s gradual hymn (#707):
“Take my life and let it be, consecrated, Lord, to thee;
take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands and let them move, at the impulse of thy love;
take my heart, it is thine own; it shall be thy royal throne.
Take my voice and let me sing, always, only, for my King;
take my intellect and use, every power as thou shalt choose.
Take my will, and make it thine; it shall be no longer mine.
Take my self and I will be, ever, only, all for thee.”
Paul believes that we can make a choice to live either according to the flesh which leads to a life of suffering; or to live a life in the Spirit, a life which offers hope and freedom as well as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. A life of living in the Spirit begins with obedience, surrender, and receptivity to God. It is the reaching out, the opening the hand and heart to God’s grace and power, trusting in this power to make all creation new. It is the human response to God’s love that has been shown to us in the person of Christ and is now available to all of us. This choice, this level of trust in the power of God to make all things new, is what Paul calls faith.
Paul longs for a time when people are in harmony with God and each other. He believes that this is possible, not by following rules and regulations but by the transformation of the human heart. Paul’s definition of living in the Spirit is summed up in his hymn of love to the church in Corinth: “Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends…So make love your aim.” (1 Cor. 13) …For “if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” (Rom. 8)
| Updated 7/15/02 |
|