Romans 7:15-25
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
Proper 9 / Year A
I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is
good, evil lies close at hand. For I
delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another
law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that
dwells in my members.
I have always found this passage from Paul to
be some of the most genuine and compelling verses in scripture. Its power lies in its brutal honesty. It is a self-disclosure of his struggle to do
the right thing - a struggle we can easily recognize taking place within
us. A comedian once quipped the bible
basically talks about two things: wine and a lot of stuff that is hard to
believe, but what Paul is describing here is neither. He confesses to an inner struggle we all know
all too well.
“Wretched
man that I am,” says Paul! “Who will rescue me from this body of death?”, which is a very good
question. The answer for Paul is only
the atoning death of Christ can set him free, but allow me to add something to
this.
Sigmund
Freud holds human beings are driven by impulses. Many of these impulses are strong and
unidentified until they are denied. We
Christians who practice fasting and self-denial during Lent get a first-hand
opportunity to discover just how powerful some impulses can be. All impulses stem from basic human needs –
survival, security, nourishment, love, etc. – and so they are both good and
necessary. But they can also become
distorted. The impulse for survival can
become a will to power. The impulse for
food can become gluttony. Freud believes
within every one of us there is something he names the superego – a parent-like
voice of morality whose function is to moderate our impulses and keep them from
running out of control.
Psychiatrists
are finding the superego is not present in serial killers. It has been destroyed by childhood trauma or
simply never developed. Thus these
killers have no conscience, no sense of right or wrong, no feelings of guilt or
remorse, and no internal conflict where a moral voice advocates for behavioral
control. There is only unregulated and
perverted impulse. Given this knowledge,
we might want to say to Paul his internal struggle is actually an indication of
health and well-being. The mere fact he
wants to exercise control over his impulses indicates he is on the right path.
Christian
tradition has always made a distinction between penance and mortification – two
practices which don’t get a lot of run these days. Penance is an act of making reparation for
one’s sins. Think of it this way: when
you act out on a distorted impulse – say, losing your temper – penance looks
like making amends; perhaps asking the forgiveness of those who bore the brunt
of your wrath. Penance is associated
with actual behavior.
Mortification,
on the other hand, is associated not with actions, but with impulses. The very word in Latin (which also gives us
the word “mortician”) means “to put to death.” In the Christian tradition mortification is a
conscious form of self-denial with the aim of subduing distorted impulses
(those desires which, if acted out, hurt us or hurt others or draw us away from
the love of God). It is an attempt to
strengthen the power of our own will and the power of God’s will in our lives. The Christian practice of mortification
falls within the gamut of self-denial, abstinence, self-imposed poverty,
wearing abrasive clothing (such as hair shirts) to the extreme of
self-flagellation.
Paul
is right, when we want to do good evil is always close at hand. There simply is no way of escaping it. God has created us in such a way that the inner
voice Freud identified is there to help us navigate these treacherous
waters. At the heart of the Christian
faith, at the core of our proclamation, is the truth God loves us and accepts
us. Yes, God desires our
perfection. Yes, God seeks to dispel our
inner darkness. But no, God does not
condemn us or forsake us because our impulses do not always conform with God’s
holy will. God comes to us in our
weakness and shows us pure love.
Jesus,
seeing how the religious leaders of his day laid it on thick and heavy, Jesus,
observing how they sniffed out the inner struggles of the faithful, Jesus,
knowing they sought to convert the weakness of good people into self-loathing in
order for their own position in the religious hierarchy of the day might be more
firm and prominent, made this offer: “Come to me, all you who are weary and
carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. I will not lessen the standards, but neither
will I impose artificial burdens of human religion as a means of deliverance
from internal struggles. Take my yoke
upon you and learn from me. I am gentle
and humble of heart and in me you will find rest for your weary souls. My yoke is easy and my burden I light.”
The
Christian Church is not a place where hurtful behavior is dismissed without the
call to repentance and the command to make amends, but neither is it a place
where good people are to be beaten down because inner impulses suggest hurtful
actions. The Church of Jesus Christ
calls us to purity of action by providing us with spiritual resources aimed at
strengthening will power. Jesus calls
this his “yoke” and in love he offers his yoke to each one of us.
