e-vo for week of March 5

Dearest e-votees-

This week the appointed gospel is the familiar text of Jesus bringing Lazarus back from the dead—a powerful account that speaks to people deeply particularly at funerals and other times of profound mourning. That account will no doubt be the focus of many a sermon this Sunday.

We will explore the appointed text from Romans as the focus of our devotions this week. It has much to say to us as well.

Peace,
Karl

-------

To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 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, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 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. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 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.

Romans 8:6-11, NRSV

We are made in the image of God. We are also creatures made of flesh. Being made of flesh is not a problem. Jesus was God and also a fully fleshed out human being. Jesus was able to faithfully live out his days fully submitting to God’s laws. Jesus was flesh and spirit and lived in a way that pleased God.

Paul, in this text, raises the issue of what is the focus of our mind. If the mind is set upon tending to the flesh then it is death. If the mind is set on the spirit of God there is life and peace. Where we put our mind matters.

One way to think of God is the one to which we give our utmost attention or the final say. If our decisions are ultimately based on the needs and desires of our flesh then our own fleshly instincts have usurped God’s rightful place and become a surrogate god. If our decisions are ultimately based on the promptings and teachings of the Holy Spirit then God remains on the throne.

God does not desire suffering for suffering’s sake. God doesn’t disregard our needs and our desires as fleshly beings. God made the beings out of flesh and regarded them as good in the book of Genesis. But the desires and the needs of the Holy Spirit must trump the desires and needs of the flesh when in tension. There are times when we must forgo the fleshly impulses for the Holy Spirit’s sake.

The Holy Spirit at work in us gives life that the gratifications of the flesh never can. The world dangles sensory fulfillment of the flesh. God calls us to a deeper fulfillment by the Holy Spirit. The world beckons us toward the “good life” but really calls us towards death like the mythological sirens. The Holy Spirit stirs us towards “the Way, the Truth and the Life” which sometimes looks like a cross—an instrument of death. Through that cross, however, the truest life there is can be found.

Jesus, help us to set our minds on your Holy Spirit. We thank you for that Spirit poured into our lives in the baptismal font. Help our flesh give way to the things that will ultimately bring about your kingdom in us and in this world. Amen.