We are accustomed to thinking about the human person in terms of a duality: soul and body. This dualism is the inheritance of Greek philosophy that passed into the Christian tradition from the time of St. Augustine to St. Thomas Aquinas. While the distinction has been helpful at times, it leaves us at a loss in trying to understand how the biblical writers understoon the human person. Today's readings present us with such a struggle.
The second reading from Paul's letter to the Romans at first glance appears to present us with the duality of the flesh and the spirit at war with one another. However, we have to consider what part of the human person decides whether we follow the promptings of the spirit or the desires of the flesh. In Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians he describes the human person as spirit, soul, and body - a Trinitarian image that helps us better understand his vision of the human person. God dwells within the deepest recesses of the human person in that part called the spirit. The soul is the bridge that links the spirit to the body, and it is the soul where the struggle exists. In Paul's view, the proper functioning of the person is the soul listening to the promptings of God in the spirit and thus directing the body to carry out the will of God discerned from the listening to the Spirit of God dwelling within our spirit. In the reading today, Paul presents us with the opposite vision: a dysfunctional person is one whose soul follows the desires of the flesh and not the spirit. Such a person cannot at all be said to be a follower of Jesus.
In the Gospel text Jesus provides us with an idea of those who live according to his yoke, according to the spirit of God. It is often the least ones, the poor and oppressed, who often know the will of God far better than the wise and powerful of the world. The least ones don't live in the flesh because they lack the means to do so, whereas the wise and powerful have the means to live a life of the flesh. Thus, while they are poor in matters of the flesh, the least ones are rich in the spirit of God. They know that the will of God is not found in having more but in being more. They know that ruling comes not from conquest and institutional power but rather in ruling oneself by following the promptings of God in the spirit.
It is interesting to note that the yoke of Jesus is easy to those who are heavy burdened and downtrodden, but is yoke is very hard for the wise and powerful. The first reading from the prophet Zechariah provides us with the key to understanding this difficulty. The prophet outlines for us the identity of the Messiah: a just savior, meek, and riding on an ass. The coming Messiah will outlaw the tools of war: peace will be the hallmark of his reign. And yet we find the world continually at war, and we are told to "support our troops" - code language for telling people not to question war at all, an implicit charge of disloyalty against those who oppose the current wars. Indeed the Messiah has come, but he has yet to be received and accepted by our world. The least ones continue to find the yoke of Jesus easy but that of the world harsh, while the wise and powerful have an easy time in the world and neglect entirely the life and message of Jesus.
In seeking to follow the yoke of Jesus let us return to the image of the human person that St. Paul provides us. May we attune our soul to listen to the promptings of the spirit where God dwells within us and so direct our bodies to do the will of God we encounter in the spirit. In this way we will reject the desires of the flesh and avoid becoming one of the wise and powerful of the world. We pray with the Church for this grace today: "Let us pray for greater willingness to serve God and our fellow man. Father, in the rising of your Son death gives birth to a new life. The sufferings he endured restored hope to a fallen world. Let sin never ensnare us with empty promises of passing joy. Make us one with you always, so that our joy may be holy, and our love may give life. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen."
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