Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church

Lake Worth, Florida

The Eve of the Seventh Sunday After Pentecost (July 6, 2002) Proper 9A
Canon Richard T. Nolan

“DO YOU LIKE THE WAY YOU’VE TURNED OUT?”

“I just don’t like the way I turned out.”

          Some parents reported that when their older son was six years old, his mother found him standing on a stool looking at himself in the bathroom mirror. There were great big tears rolling down his cheeks. Alarmed, she asked, “What’s wrong? What’s the matter? Why are you crying?” He sobbingly replied, “I just don’t like the way I turned out.” Many of us don’t like the way we’ve turned out in any number of ways, and to many of us this is among the greatest burdens that we bear.

          The advertising models for clothing, cars, shampoo and underwear, if taken as the norm we all should measure up to, can lead to a burdensome self-perception that one isn’t attractive enough, one’s weight is too little or too much, one’s muscularity is insufficient, one’s lips are too thin, one’s nose is wrongly shaped, one’s eyes are too far apart or too close together, one’s ears are too pronounced, one’s hair is the wrong texture or color, one’s skin is the wrong shade or too aged, and so on. A week ago in the Palm Beach Post there was a report about people uncontrollably preoccupied with perceived physical inadequacies. This includes extraordinarily good looking individuals who see themselves as badly flawed.

          Other burdens may include our own perceptions of our social status, our religious or moral respectability, our economic class, our educational ranking, our abilities and talents, our marital and family status, our career standings, and whether we (or at least our heroes) are competitive winners. Desperate wannabes as well as generally glum persons of all ages are convinced that they just don’t measure up. They might even see themselves as losers. They certainly don’t like the way they’ve turned out.

Living in the Flesh

          All of these are examples of what St. Paul’s calls living “in the flesh.” For Paul “flesh’ and “Spirit” are conflicting mind-sets that involve a deliberate choice of values and human efforts towards a particular goal. Each is a relationship to God. Being “in the flesh” is a defiant alienation from God, a surrender to superficial values and patterns of living.

          For Paul a major instance of living in the flesh is the enslaving obedience to a multitude of religious and moral laws of his day. By Jesus’ time the Ten Commandments had become so inflated that 613 commandments had been developed, and every righteous Jew was expected to obey them. Covenant living had become a life of intimidating, inflexible rules that governed every action of the day.

          Any area of life elevated with too high a priority, with too great a devotion, and made needlessly complex, fits the category “living in the flesh.” Such priorities and commitments become false gods that can never provide genuine human fulfillment. As we heard more dramatically from Paul, “To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”

          You and I often tend to be like that six year old; we perceive primarily our outer appearances: our stature and additionally our behavior and undertakings. Our choices and unwanted circumstances may have resulted in feelings of being weighed down; our self-perceptions and our surrender to secular standards further contribute to gloomy frustration. Moreover, we may feel insecure and exhausted by a hectic pace or boredom, by injustices, excessive responsibilities, or betrayals.

Life in the Spirit

           Life in the Spirit is the freedom-giving fellowship with God as lived by Jesus Christ. God’s life-giving presence and power replaces rigid regulations, superficiality, and chronic frustration.¹ I continue to believe fervently something I wrote about five years ago: [Life in the Spirit or] “Christian Spirituality is consciously living out one’s baptism every moment of each day whether at prayer, work, or leisure. Like Christ, we do not need to strain, anguish, complicate, take additional vows, learn meditative techniques or secure inner glows to live spiritually as his disciples. Rather, we pray His prayer, break his bread, sip his wine, discover the Word beneath the words of Scripture, read the morning paper, have our meals, do the dishes, attend to other personal needs, work (with all its joys and battles), play, serve others as we can, grow in our family relationships (with their ups and downs), take out the dog, and rest.”

“Come to me …………”

          About 500 years before Christ an author of the Old Testament Book of Proverbs wrote, “Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Lay aside immaturity, and live, and walk in the way of insight.”² This scriptural book was intended primarily for young men preparing for adult responsibilities. In that spirit Jesus offers an inclusive invitation echoing Proverbs: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Replacing the hundreds of rules, Jesus establishes a life in the Spirit, a life of love committed to God and one’s neighbor and self. No complicated regulations! And, no easy solutions to life’s challenges!

          Jesus’ invitation to come to him, to his Way, is a call for us to choose to be “devoted to [God] with our whole heart, and united to one another in pure affection”³ as our only mind-set, as the life in the Spirit which places all else in perspective. Accepting his call lifts our spirits, sharpens our vision of life, and gives rest to our hearts and minds. Real problems are separated from the imaginary. Nuisances are distinguished from problems. What we can and cannot change becomes clearer. And, we learn to live with what is realistic in our various circumstances. Furthermore, we receive strength to cope with our difficulties.

          My hope for that sad, dissatisfied six year old is that as he prepares for adult responsibilities, he will be nurtured toward living in the Spirit. I hope that he will choose a life of realistic self-acceptance, a life reflecting Jesus’ values, a life emancipated from living in the flesh. Then, embraced by Christ, the mature disciple will respond to his image in the mirror, and hopefully his entire life, with heartfelt thanks to God for whatever his diligence and imperfect circumstances have provided - as he walks securely “in the way of insight” and inner peace, quite content with the way he’s turned out.

(1)The HarperCollins Bible Commentary, p. 1058; The Oxford Bible Commentary, p. 1096; The HarperCollins Bible Dictionary, p. 341

(2)Proverbs 9:5

(3)from the Collect of the Day