Phil 3:17—4:1 or 3:20—4:1In the readings for this upcoming Sunday, Paul speaks about the power of holiness. He contrasts those who serve the world against those who have devoted themselves to Christ. The quote above describes how, by following the teachings of Jesus, God will give a holy person the grace to become aligned with the Spirit of God, to become greater than oneself with the aid of God. We see the ultimate example of what this looks like in last weeks readings, when Jesus is tempted in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights. Yet he resists the devil's temptations, because "one does not live on bread alone." Jesus is able to resist the devil and overcome temptation. Paul is promising that, through the Holy Spirit, we too are capable of turning ourselves to the Will of God.
But our citizenship is in heaven,
and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He will change our lowly body
to conform with his glorified body
by the power that enables him also
to bring all things into subjection to himself.
Paul is not the origin of this idea, by far.
Ezekiel 36:25-28Throughout the Old and New Testaments, there are stories of God granting abilities. Moses lifted up his arms strengthened his armies, King David spread the kingdom of Israel with the help of God, and the authors of the Holy Texts themselves became scribes of the Word of God.
I will sprinkle clean water upon you to cleanse you from all your
impurities, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking
from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts.
I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes,
careful to observe my decrees.
You shall live in the land I gave your fathers; you shall be my
people, and I will be your God.
These concepts are familiar in pop culture. In Star Wars, Luke Skywalker uses his senses to tune into "The Force," the ultimate fabric of the Universe. In The Matrix, people can predict the future, change reality, and even stop bullets by focusing their minds on the underlying truth of the world in which they operate. These two pop-culture examples have their roots in history. Ninjas and warrior monks used concepts deeply routed in Eastern philosophy, Buddhism, and Confucianism. They believed that by understanding the truth about reality, they could tune their consciousness to truth itself, and through the unification of their minds, bodies, and spirits with the truth, they could become holy warriors, invincible and impervious to the attacks of their foes. They could ignore pain, move faster, and focus their senses beyond the abilities of a normal man.
What Paul is saying is that, in a way, these ideas are also applicable to Christianity. We often think of religion as an activity (things one does or doesn't do, i.e., going to church, not eating meat on Fridays during Lent, refraining from stealing, giving to charity, ect.). Others often think that religion is a spiritual exercise, involving meditation, singing, praising, and praying. What Paul seems to be suggesting is that in order to become an ambassador of Christ, one has to conform their entire will to the Will of God. In doing so, God grants the grace to unify one's body, soul, and mind with the power of the Holy Spirit.
Thomas Merton, perhaps the greatest Catholic thinker of the 21st century, once said this: "The first step toward finding God, Who is Truth, is to discover the truth about myself: and if I have been in error, this first step to truth is the discovery of my error." Merton, who studied Eastern religions and Buddhism with Asian monks, believed that the ultimate Truth, God, was inside all of us always, and that by reconciling ourselves to who we really are, by actualizing our holiness, we would become Christ-like. During a period of time in his life where he was struggling with his own morality, he asked an old monk how he determined right from wrong. The monk replied that he prayed so much that he hadn't had the need to think about right or wrong in several decades; he simply lived the Will of God.
I think we've lost touch with Christian meditation. We don't think about religion as the pursuit of who we already are, we think about it as a Quest for something external. We have also lost the understanding that our minds, bodies, and souls are deeply integrated. The idea that we can become stronger and holier by finding God through finding ourselves is both challenging and inspiring.
If you want to be holy, then be. That's the most important step in becoming an Ambassador to Christ.
READERS, share some obstacles, meditation methods, or tips on how to become holier with us. We'd love to hear some suggestions on how to actualize the words of Paul.
Plus, I really want to know what it's like to be a Ninja/Jedi.
P.S. My original title for this blog was:
ReplyDeleteThe Jedi/Ninjas/Pirates/Vikings/Neo-from-the-Matrix of the Ancient World
Then I reflected on what the vikings and pirates were like. VERY un-churchy. BUT AWESOME!
I like how your post points beyond a reading of Christianity as simply a code of ethics and moves in the direction of a greater appreciation for the mystery of grace, God's effective presence in the fabric of human lives bringing about our reconciliation and sanctification, and its concrete signs. But I would like to challenge you to clarify some of your thoughts on this subject.
ReplyDeleteYour concluding remarks contrast religion "as a Quest for something external" from "religion as the pursuit of who we already are." Is this a good distinction? If it is, then I feel that I must presume you are stating your preference for a "pursuit of who we already are" when you write, "If you want to be holy, then be." On the other hand, I get the sense that, even in advising the ambassador of Christ to "be", you were being careful not to say, "If you want to be holy, then just be." And by calling this the "most important step," you are admitting that this self-pursuit, if I can call it that, is just a step. To put this more concretely, if "the first step to truth" for me, a sinner, "is the discovery of my error," then it seems that I must pursue the correction of my error in some subsequent step. And when I speak of my being cleansed from sin and error, am I not talking about something other than religion as the pursuit of who I already am?
One further question: I have a guess regarding why you are connecting the notion "that our minds, bodies, and souls are deeply integrated" with the understanding of religion that you are developing here, but I don't think you have really spelled this out. Could you explain the relationship between these two ideas in more detail?