RENEWAL OF MIND AND BODY - SEEING THE GLORY OF GOD

Sermon delivered on the 5th Sunday of Lent (Passion Sunday) the 9th March 2008 by Fr Nicholas J.G. Sykes in the congregations of St. Alban's Church of England, George Town, Cayman Islands.

Scriptures: Ezekiel 37: 1-14     Romans 8: 6-11       John 11: 1-45

John 11: 40 "Did I not tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?"

RECIPE FOR LONG LIFE

When we hear of some young person dying in an accident, or even being murdered, we are greatly saddened, because life has failed to reach its potential in that person. We consider that under different circumstances perhaps such a youngster could have become a family man or just someone respected in the society or in the workplace, playing his own part in setting an example to those younger or weaker than him, and helping them see what the things are that really make life good and worthwhile. But it is not to be. Instead this young person dies violently or tragically, once again leaving bitterness and regrets in other people’s lives. Perhaps imperceptibly, the tide of meaninglessness throughout the community is raised another notch, the desire for short-term self-gratification at long term expense increases, courtesy decreases, the car-horns behind the driver waiting at the traffic-lights honk more insistently and the roads get that little bit more dangerous because selfishness and thoughtlessness have worked a little further into our minds, diminishing them. Life gets a little nastier, a little more brutish, and for some, a lot shorter.

RENEWAL OF MIND AND BODY

The overall emphasis in the Bible on our life-span is not so much on prolonging life, as on renewing life. Clearly, in physical terms to prolong life requires renewal: most of our body cells die after about seven years, and if they were not replaced by new ones, our lives too could not continue. Our life is prolonged through this constant renewal. However, St. Paul elsewhere speaks of the renewal of our minds bringing about transformation. This is not a renewal of body cells, but a mental or psychological renewal. "To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace", he states in our New Testament lesson from Romans 8 today. Perhaps those who have insisted on the use of the ‘F’-word as their so-called freedom of expression in the modern Cayman should listen to St. Paul more closely. St. Paul's understanding of the renewal of our minds is part of his doctrine of the renewal of man, man's transformation from being subject to the realm of sin and death under Adam, to being sons of the Resurrection through Christ. And St. Paul sees our renewal not as an individualistic, autonomous renewal such as is sometimes preached especially in education circles, but something more like the filling in of a template. God Himself has already provided for a new race in Christ. In the "old" man destined for death under Adam, his mind is drawn downwards, so to speak, constantly filled with the things of the body of one kind or another. St. Paul shows that when the mind is in this way submitted to the body it is unable to renew the body, but on the contrary the principle of mortality that is present in the body gains control of the mind as well. "To set the mind on the flesh is death," he says. The opposite to that is setting the mind on the Spirit, and those who live according to the Spirit are those who set their minds on the things of the Spirit. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is then dwelling in us and giving life to our mortal bodies. This is the privilege to which we are constantly called as Christians, and we could hardly even imagine it if we were not already admitted to the Resurrection template. We are already baptised into membership of the new race in Christ, whose goal is not death but resurrection. By faith, take hold of that gracious membership, and walk in it daily by setting your minds on the Spirit. This will renew you, says St. Paul. It will renew our mortal bodies as well. In verse 11 of the same chapter 8, St. Paul says, "If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit which dwells in you." The Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is that powerful template which, if it begins to incorporate us through our minds being set on the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus, will renew first our minds and then our bodies. I personally can attest to the invigoration of the mind that a study of biblical and Christian thought brings about, and I have no doubt that this improves overall bodily health as well.

BELIEVING OUR RESUSCITATION

"Dry bones, dry bones, hear the word of the Lord," goes the Negro spiritual based on Ezekiel 37, from which our first lesson today comes. The dry bones in the valley possibly represent the exiles, particularly those of the northern kingdom of Israel, or perhaps merely represent the former glories of the kingdom; Ezekiel's prophecy is of a resuscitation or renewal, and not merely a prolongation of what then existed. As members of Christ's Body, we should take note that the work of Christ in us is not to enable us to pass through life unscathed, but to resuscitate us through transformation from the race of Adam to the race of Christ. Jesus said to Martha, Lazarus’s sister, "Did I not tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?" He did not say that if we saw the glory of God we would believe it. So we might not initially see the transformation we are considering, either in others or in ourselves, but the transformation is to be initially believed in. The transformation from the race of Adam to the race of Christ is an ontological reality, theologians and philosophers will teach us, a fact of being that rests on the word of Christ and the Gospel itself. Having believed our salvation, it is now for us to work it out, as is the case with marriage or citizenship for example, until through its fruits it can be seen.

JESUS THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE

This is the approach that Jesus took in the raising of Lazarus, as is recounted in our Gospel today. If it were not so, verses 5 and 6 of the chapter would make no sense whatever: "Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was." The ontological reality with regard to Jesus is that He is the Resurrection and the Life, as He testified to Martha. Believing that, she or anyone could expect to see the glory of God in the renewing of the life of the dead Lazarus. So it was indeed a special mark of his love for them that he stayed away from them for two extra days, in order that this glory might be made plain to them. This of course is incomprehensible without belief. That is true about the glory of God in all sorts of contexts. It cannot be observed without at least some measure of belief in the first place.

BELIEF BEFORE VISIBILITY

"Did I not tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?", said Jesus to Martha. We would make a mistake, I think, if we thought to make people believe through what they see. Belief has to come first, by virtue of the ontological realities, and then it is up to us to bring that believed glory into sight, sound, touch and action. So will be the transformation of the race of the children of Adam into the race of the children of Christ. Believing in the word of the Gospel, and setting the mind on the Spirit, we will, most truly, see the glory of God.

QUESTIONS

1. Body - mind - soul - spirit: discuss how these might be defined and what their relationship can be with one another. What kind of "hierarchy" might there be among them? What is the effect of disordering this? Through which of them do people most communicate - (1) in "Adam", (2) in Christ.

2. How does the fact of the Resurrection affect our life personally?