THE THIRTEENTH SUNDAY after TRINITY

In today’s Epistle Saint Paul draws a distinction between the flesh and the Spirit. He tells us that we as

Christians are to be governed by the direction of the Spirit and that government by the rules of the flesh

will destroy us. Can we draw from this declaration that we are to have nothing to do with the flesh?

There are those who do just that. They believe that anything to do with the physical world and the

natural desires is evil, that to follow these principles will destroy us and are instruments of the Devil. On

the other hand, when we read the “Creation Story” in Genesis we see that at the end of each day God

looks out over what he has created and “God saw that it was good”. So, which is it to be, is the desire

that we live with as humans evil, or is it a part of what makes us what we are?

Desire is an important part of who we are and motivates us to do things that are important for life and a

happy existence. The problem arises when desire gets out of control. If we did not desire food we would

not eat, if we did not desire, we could not love. So, when does desire become a problem? When it is out

of control. How do we control it. The answer involves what we call freewill and reason. We know that

we have to eat to live, and that food is necessary for life. At the same time, we know if we eat too much,

we will be physically sick and if we keep it up, we will die. As a result, we eat moderately and we eat the

right foods, we do this because reason tells us to do so. We do not have to do so, because we can

choose not to do so, we can do this because, we have the ability to choose, as the result of free will.

Free will gives us the ability to do what ever we want, because we have this gift no one can ever make

us do what we do not want to do. Saint Paul sees that as a problem, because it means that we can act, in

spite of what reason tells us to do. There is a cost for this kind of behavior because of the nature of free

will. What ever we do we are responsible for the consequences of that action, and as a result there is

some kind of punishment. Saint Paul argues that to follow the desire of the flesh in the end will lead to

our destruction. The way out of the problem is the Grace of God. The Greeks argued that reason could

solve the problem. The power of reason could control the desires that in the end would destroy us. That

works as far as it goes, but Saint Paul points out that reason is not enough. Reason cannot by itself lead

us to the power of the Spirit. Our Lord established the “Kingdom of the Spirit” and the entrance to this

kingdom is Baptism. Saint Paul tells us that Baptism transforms us in that as a result of Baptism we are

born again. He uses the term “regeneration”. (Titus 3, 4-8). What this does for us is open us to the Grace

of God. Fr. Smith once said to me that Christ took the cross and with it burst open the floor of Heaven so

that the Grace of God was poured on us. The Grace of God restores us, and this same Grace does not

destroy but perfects. As a result of our Baptism, we live in the Kingdom of the Spirit. We now have a

relationship with God through Baptism that we cannot have without it. Saint Peter tells us that Baptism

saves us (1Peter 3, 18-22). Baptism is the gateway into the Kingdom of the Spirit, it affects what it

symbolizes. In other words, it is not an empty gesture, it transforms us in that in Baptism we are “born

again”. All of this results from our Lord’s work in the incarnation and all that follows.

To live in the Kingdom of the Spirit does not destroy our freewill. As a result, we who are baptized are

members of the new kingdom, but that does not mean that we have to live by the rules of this kingdom.

We can choose to turn our backs on the Kingdom of the Spirit and live by the rules of the Kingdom of the

Flesh. Saint Paul says at one point that he cannot understand why some have done so, for him it makes

no sense. The Grace of God given to us in Baptism does not destroy the desires of the flesh, but it does

put them in their proper place. They no longer rule us if we choose that they do not do so. Instead, they

serve us in the Kingdom of the Spirit.