The Reverend Marsha Hoecker, June 30, 2025

Sermon 6-30-25 St. George Chapel

“For freedom Christ has set us free.

Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.”

Freedom is of the Spirit, Paul tells us, and slavery is of the flesh.

Unfortunately the dualism in this assertion can lead to some misunderstanding.

Too often our Christian faith has identified this use of the word flesh with the physical body. The Greek word used can indeed be translated as body, but to jump to the conclusion that the body is bad is going too far

The physical body was created by God and God called it good.

The body is the home of the Spirit while we live in this reality.

We cannot manifest the Spirit except through the body.

We cannot share love, joy, or caring except through our bodies.

Our bodies smile, sing, embrace and talk.

Our bodies feel peace, as our heart rate slows and our muscles relax.

We do the work of peace by using our bodies to strive for reconciliation in many different ways.

We need our bodies to write letters, and to talk on the phone.

We need our bodies even to think of those we love.

We need our bodies to pray and praise.

The Spirit is made real through the body.

Can kindness, generosity, patience, faithfulness or self control be achieved without the body?

When St. Paul speaks of the Flesh, he is really speaking about something that happens first in the mind…lust, envy, selfishness,

anger, strife; these are all emotions that motivate us to use our bodies in destructive ways.

Perhaps it would be better to say that the body without the Spirit's guidance, is a wayward and unpredictable gift.

There are other forces that press upon the body.

These produce what Paul seems to consider works of the flesh.

But just as all good works, they proceed from the mind and heart through the actions of the body.

All that long list, fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, drunkenness, anger, jealousy, greed, etc. etc. come from a desire for power over others, or personal gratification at the expense of our own or another’s well being,

Pretty much everything on this list ultimately damages the body.

God created the body and the Spirit to be a team, working in harmony to do the will of God; to serve love, with care and concern for our bodies and those of others.

What Paul calls the “will of the flesh” is really the impulse of selfishness, self gratification without regard for others.

It is a product of the body, mind and spirit just as much as all the positive impulses are, but without Love.

What Paul names the Spirit I would name Love.

Using the scripture to denigrate the physical body poses yet another danger. If we do not love and respect our own flesh, our own bodies,

It becomes easier for us not to love and respect the bodies of others.

Human bodies have been disrespected throughout history in so many ways; slavery, torture, the mistreatment of children, sweat shops, prostitution, separation of immigrant families, inhumane incarcerations.

In Paul’s dichotomy these ills come from the will of the ‘flesh’.

I think what he really means is that they come from a mind devoid of love; a body functioning without the spiritual oversight of love.

When love is at work in body and spirit,

humanity is what God created it to be.

I welcome your thoughts on the scriptures, or on the ideas I have just shared.

How do you understand Flesh and Spirit?