The Unauthorized Homily

By Bill Dunn

A commentary on the Scripture readings from the Sunday Lectionary

(Scripture readings for Sunday, July 6th: Zechariah 9:9-10; Romans 8:9-13; Matthew 11:25-30)

BEING A SLAVE TO SIN IS HARD WORK

In this week’s second reading from the letter to the Romans, St. Paul explained how the Spirit of God can transform us. He wrote, “You are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you.”

Since it was God’s Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead, that same Spirit living in us “will give life to [our] mortal bodies also.” If, however, we live by our sinful human nature (the “flesh” or the “body,” as Paul called it), we will die. Paul concluded: “If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

In many of Paul’s other writings he discussed the difference between living by the Spirit vs. living by the flesh, often listing in detail exactly what he meant by “the deeds of the body.” For example, in his letter to the Colossians, he wrote: “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed….anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.” (Uh, oh. I’m glad Paul wasn’t within ear-shot of me the other day when the Red Sox had those consecutive one-run losses in Houston.)

Paul’s list seems downright impossible. It’s bad enough we were born with the innate desire to do most of those things, but it’s even worse nowadays since our modern culture actually encourages us to revel in all those sinful behaviors (or at the very least, our culture no longer frowns upon such conduct).

How can we possibly do all that holy-roller stuff? Paul must have been way too optimistic if he thought we could live such pure lives in this complicated, tempting world. Well, Jesus didn’t think so. In this week’s Gospel reading, Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest…For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

We often think that living a virtuous, sanctified life is such hard work. “Oh man,” we say, “I have to give up all the fun stuff and start doing a bunch of boring church things? No way. It’s too difficult.”

We don’t realize that living a life of sin usually requires much more effort. I once read about a young woman in New York City who was into the wild nightlife scene. Each night she would find herself involved in drinking, drugs, and casual sexual encounters. It was wearing her out, both physically and mentally. Finally, she sought help from a therapist, who said to her, “You know, you don’t have to keep doing that stuff.” She was stunned. “You mean I don’t have to do what I want to?” she asked. It was a surprising revelation. Just because she had the opportunity to live decadently, she didn’t have to do so.

Jesus doesn’t necessarily call us to DO a lot of boring, goody-goody church stuff. He calls us to break free from our slavery to sin.

No one has ever equated being a slave with a life of luxury and leisure. Throughout history slaves were routinely worked to death at an early age. It’s the same with being a slave to sin. The workload is enormous, the cost is high—physically and mentally—and the end result is also an early death.

In addition to the obvious, here-and-now price to be paid for being a slave to sin, there is a far costlier there-and-then, spiritual price: eternal damnation. As a wise man once said, “No matter how many years you live, you’re gonna be dead a whole lot longer.”

If, as Jesus taught, our souls are eternal and live on forever after our bodies have died, then there is nothing more important than making sure our souls end up in Heaven rather than Hell.

This is the primary function of the church: to make saints and get as many souls as possible into Heaven. A lot of people, including a lot of officials within church organizations, seem to have forgotten this fact. They operate as if the primary functions of the church are fund raising, building construction, political activism, music ministries, chicken barbecues, raffles, etc.

All that stuff is fine—as long as it is understood that they are secondary functions. If those activities in the church are not supporting the primary function—making saints—then the church is failing in its God-ordained mission, regardless of how useful it is being to society at the moment.

Is your church focused on making money or making saints? On getting people into political office or getting them into Heaven? On providing fellowship with one another or providing fellowship with God Almighty?

Is your church helping people break free from the slavery of sin and helping the Spirit of God to dwell within them? Paul said that this is what we must do. And Jesus said it is easy and not a burden. In all of our good and useful church activities, let’s not lose sight of the big picture.

©2008