Meditation for 25 March 2009
From The Rev. Peter A. Munson
Romans 8:6-11; John 6:32-33
Romans 8:6-11
6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law - indeed it cannot, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.
John 6:32-33
32 Then Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
Are We Dead or Alive?
Do you ever find yourself feeling sort of dead, like you have no energy to do things, no energy for life - no pizazz, no gas left in your tank? I feel that way sometimes. It can happen when we have worked too much and have not had enough time to rest and recover. It can happen if we are spending too much time doing the things or being with people that drain life from us, as opposed to doing the things or being with people that give us life. If one of these things is going on, we can make an adjustment - take some time off or rearrange our priorities - and before we know it, we are back in the groove, and feeling alive again.
But what if you feel dead most of the time? What then? I think both Paul and Jesus would say that if that is our situation, it is an indication of a spiritual condition, as opposed to our schedule or our priorities being out of balance. That spiritual condition? Well, to put it succinctly: life without God. When we squeeze God out of our lives, then the life is squeezed right out of us, because God is the one and only animating, life-giving source in the universe. As Jesus said, "It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless." (John 6:63) And for both Jesus and Paul, "the flesh" is a metaphor for life without God, life before we ever knew the transforming power of a relationship with God lived through Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus, the bread of life, came down from heaven to give life to the world. (John 6:33)
Let's return to those powerful words of Paul again in Romans 8. "If the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you." When you and I professed faith in Christ and were baptized, we were given the Holy Spirit by God. The Spirit came to live in us. What does that mean? That means that the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you and in me! And this is not just about being given new life again when we die, as happened to Jesus - although that is a very cool thing! It means that we are given this new life right now, for the Life Force - that is, the Holy Spirit - is within us. And that means that if either you or I are feeling dead - especially for long, extended periods of time - then we are doing something to cut ourselves off from this Life Force. We are acting as if God is not alive and real and a force within us... we are acting as if God does not exist... we are thinking that it's all up to us, that God is not around. When we go to that place, though we have been given the Spirit, we have moved back to that old place where we were before we knew Christ, we have moved back to life "in the flesh", even though God has already transferred us out of that place, to a whole new place, which might be called "Christ in you, the hope of glory". (Colossians 1:27)
That is indeed where all our hope is based - Christ in you, Christ in me, Christ in us as a community of faith - Christ in us, the hope of glory. To put that in another way, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. (cf. Philippians 4:13) "All things", as in amazing things... faithful things... where we come through tremendous struggles and challenges... things where we make a difference, when others just stood idly by and said "What can we do? This problem is too big!"... things like relationships being transformed and people who were formerly estranged being reconciled. We can do all things because the Spirit dwells within us, and that Spirit is the Spirit of Christ, and the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead! And if the Spirit can raise Jesus from the dead, just think about all the things it can do while working in us and through us!
So... are you feeling dead? Perhaps you just need a day off. On the other hand, if it seems way bigger than that, then probably you need to go to a brother or sister in Christ and say, "I have lost touch with the Life Force, the Spirit of God within me. Can I talk to you about this, and will you pray for me and with me, praying that I will re-open my heart to the Spirit, and reconnect my spirit to the Spirit that gives life, so that I can be alive again?" And when you reconnect to the Spirit that gives life, then all of heaven will rejoice with you. They will say, "Let us eat and celebrate, for this [child] of mine was dead and is alive again; [she/]he was lost and is found!" (Luke 15:23-24)