Some time ago, when I was teaching high school, I had a student who was really, really sarcastic. And not only was she a sarcastic, snarky sort of person, but she really liked getting into sarcastic conversations about religion. Of course, as an equally snarky teacher who also happened to be a preacher, I usually found myself good-naturedly engaging with her, as her jokes and offhand remarks would often turn into a surprisingly good, deep conversation.
One day, she came to me with a very interesting question. She asked me,
“Why is God in favor of bears attacking children?”
As you might imagine, I did a mental double take at this. Bear attacks? On Children?
What in God’s names is she talking about?
I’m sure she saw the confusion painted on my face like the erratic artwork of a particularly energetic preschooler, which led her to follow-up with the comment that just about knocked me on my back:
“It’s in the Bible, you know.”
Of course, at that I was hooked. I had to ask her just what Bible she was reading.
And, to my surprise, she pulled out 2 Kings 2: Elisha, the prophet successor to the great Elijah, was coming down from the city of Bethel when a group of kids started mocking him for his bald head.
So Elisha, in a perfectly normal and rational response, called upon the name of the Lord, by which he summoned bears from a nearby forest to maul a bunch of those meddling kids.
And that’s it. That’s the whole thing.
Moral of the story; don’t piss off a prophet or he’ll summon bears at you.
Now, I think that just about anyone reading the Bible with a reasonable eye wouldn’t assume that prophets are bear-summoning supervillains with an inexplicable grudge against wiseass children, but if you think about it, you can kind of see how she arrived at this conclusion, can’t you?
I mean, we read the Bible like this all the time; when we look at passages in the Bible, it’s very easy to approach them with a self-centered mindset that scans the text in search of something that we can use. To read each text as something that either provides an unequivocal permission for something, or an unquestionable prohibition of something.
We want our texts to be simple: God says this is bad, so it’s bad. God says this is good, so it’s good.
And it’s not uncommon for us to take this to the next level too, thinking that just because something is in the Bible, then it must therefore be good.
You’ll find this argument used by white supremacists in defense of slavery, insisting that since slaves make an appearance in the Bible then slavery must be OK.
You’ll find this argument used by misogynists all the time in defense of patriarchy; after all, male-dominance exists throughout the Bible, therefore it must be OK.
You’ll find this argument used by those who advocate for militarism and violence in the name of God; since the Bible details wars fought in God’s name, then therefore war must be OK.
But the truth is, unfortunately, not a simple thing.
The Bible isn’t a recipe book for better living; like a Martha Stewart guide to the afterlife.
The Bible isn’t meant to be understood as a binary, yes-or-no text.
When we read the Bible, we’re often taking it much like little children asking Mom and Dad about the giant bar of baking chocolate they just found in the kitchen. We’re not concerned with context, or utility; we don’t want to know what the chocolate is actually meant for, not interested in learning how to bake, not at all concerned with the cakes and cookies that bar is destined to become for poor families in the community .
No, we’re just want to know if it’s ok for us to down 37 pounds of pure chocolate before running through the yard like a coked-up Gazelle with nine legs and no sense of either balance or self-preservation.
But, much like that bar of chocolate, the Bible isn’t just here to tell you what you should or shouldn’t do. The Bible has context; it has utility.
The Bible is meant to be understood, not simply consumed.
So when today’s passage comes up, it’s understandable that our first, very human, instinct is to read it exactly that way; as a list of things that you should, and should not do.
You hear Fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these; and you’re already making a mental checklist of things that God clearly wants you personally to avoid.
You hear love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; and you know that’s the good stuff. That’s what God wants out of you, personally.
And I suppose it’s true enough that the fruits of the Spirit are, indeed, godly qualities that one ought to nurture within themselves, just as it’s true that Paul’s “works of the flesh” are qualities that would be best to avoid.
But don’t forget, there’s more to it than just whether or not you can eat that giant bar of baking chocolate.
It’s NOT all about you!
In fact, during this part of Galatians, the apostle Paul isn’t just saying “these things are good and/or bad respectively;” he’s responding in writing to a larger context; responding to a crisis situation that had developed in the church of Galatia.
You see, in the time since Paul had left, a particularly vile and destructive mentality had arisen among the leadership of the community. The leaders had wrapped themselves in all the trappings of piety and apparent righteousness, having expertly set themselves up to appear as “nice” as possible.
This niceness I’m talking about is a slimy, disingenuous thing; a perversion of Paul’s exhortation to be all things to all people, inspiring the leaders to say whatever was most pleasing to the people they were tasked with leading, to say whatever the other person wanted to hear, in exchange for cover and support. They would manipulate, showing themselves as “nice” to everyone while quietly pushing away anyone who was a threat to their security, privilege, and power.
Paul mentions as much in talking about these folks in the previous chapter. In Chapter 4, verse 17 he describes them by saying:
“They make much of you, but for no good purpose; they want to exclude you, so that you may make much of them.”
So this is the context into which Paul is writing about the works of the flesh and the fruit’s of the spirit. When he pens today’s passage, he isn’t necessarily talking about the internal, untouchable, ineffable realm of one’s own spiritualism and personal piety. He’s talking fairly bluntly, fairly directly, about the tools that we can use to discern whether we are following leaders who practice true submission to God’s call to justice, love, and mercy, or whether we are following people who have, for whatever reasons or justifications they might posses, decided to don the trappings of Christ while quietly living out a ministry of manipulation and division, working always search of a world in which they are respected, in which they hold position; a world in which they are unchallenged, unthreatened, safe and secure in privilege and power.
We don’t simply accept any old leader who claims to be of God; we put them to the test. We check to see if they are well and truly invested in growing the fruits of the spirit in themselves and in the world around them, or if they’ve dedicated their efforts to the works of the flesh instead.
US politics, as challenging and divisive a subject as that can be, is perhaps one of the more obvious arenas in which we can see this play out. Consider your average politician, leaders who regularly make idols of military, or money, or both; who live their lives in competition for more votes, a greater stipend, a bigger office, better committee assignments; who define themselves by their partisan enmity. Compare these leaders with others among the crowd; like Senator Bernie Sanders, who upon figuring out that an image of him had become popular immediately put it on merchandise and sold it, just to donate every cent of profit to Meals on Wheels. Or Representative Ocasio-Cortez, who skipped out on the inauguration event in order to be provide help with a labor strike instead.
Who among our leaders is truly showing the fruits of the spirit?
And despite the fact that I love talking politics, and all this big-picture sort of stuff, this isn’t the only place in our lives where we can use these as a tool of discernment. In fact, we often see the works of the flesh flowing from leaders much, much closer to home. We find them in our community leaders, the leaders in our workplaces, and yes, even among church leadership .
In fact, despite what one might think, church leadership is an incredibly fertile environment for growing the works of the flesh. Where the fruits of the spirit take nurture, maintenance, and deliberation in their tending, the works of the flesh are habits easily slid into.
As leaders in the church, it’s easy to think that leading the church is all about just doing whatever is most popular, about empowering the loudest voices, or silencing uncomfortable or unheard voices.
As leaders in the church, it’s easy to think that it’s “my way or the highway,” and to start forming divisions between those who agree with my own style of leadership, and those who don’t belong.
As leaders in the church, it’s easy to start to see those who disagree with us as not being truly Christian, or even truly human.
As leaders, it is on us to make sure that we deliberately feed and nurture the fruits of the spirit in ourselves, and in the community around us, sure.
But as members of the community, it is also on us to be aware of both the fruits of the spirit and the works of the flesh, and to hold our leaders accountable for which of them they are nurturing in and around themselves.
So today, I want to ask you to consider this: who holds the power in your community, and what fruit are they nurturing in the world around them? Are they showing the fruits of the spirit, and raising up a community of gentleness around them, filled with kindness, mercy, and love? Or have your leaders, whether they come off as “nice” people or not, raised up a community that seems to become more and more divided, full of strife, enmities, jealousy, anger, and quarrels?
This type of active, God-centered discernment, always looking to see what fruits are being raised up by those we have entrusted to be our leaders, is what separates the religion of Christ Jesus from something more closely resembling a cult.
In verse 13, just before today’s passage, it says “For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another.”
We are all given the freedom to see, the freedom to discern, and the freedom to choose. We don’t have to submit to leaders who are only going to be “nice” to us for as long as it takes to pick our pockets, and use us as a step stool as they climb to higher positions of power and authority. We don’t have to submit to leaders who are in place over us simply because they are already there, or have been there for a long while. We don’t have to submit to leadership that doesn’t care for the divisions they so, the enmities and quarrels they raise up around them, or factions that form either for or against them in their ministry.
We are called to freedom not so that we might pursue leaders that promise us whatever we want, while avoiding anything that might threaten us with personal growth, but so we might pursue growth together in a community where in love, we all seek to serve and care for each other. We are called to freedom so we can nurture the growth of a community that abhors enmities, strife, and jealousy; which sets out heal quarrel and divisions, and quench the flames of anger. We are called to freedom so we can nurture the growth of a community that sets aside dissensions, does away with factions, and sees the end of envy.
The hard part about this of course, is that it’s not really all that simple. Those who lead from the works of the flesh are often pretty canny about it; they do their best making much of people, knowing that the secret to power lies in the indifference and tacit support of otherwise good but currently well-flattered people. Paul says to not gratify these things not because they’re obvious and easily avoided, but because they are things that are all-too easy for us to want to gratify.
But the things that gratify us aren’t necessarily the things that lead to God’s justice, mercy, and love in the world.
The things that gratify us aren’t necessarily the things that make for love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
The things that gratify us aren’t necessarily the things that bring about God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
Because it’s not about us!
It’s about God.
So as we go forward this week, into all the conflicts and confusions we’re likely to face, let’s remember that we have the freedom to eschew the things of conflict and division, and to serve each other in love. And let’s remember that Paul wasn’t just asking us to show those fruits ourselves, but to make sure that those we allow ourselves to be lead by people who will grow and nurture those fruit in and around themselves too.
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