Believing, Belonging and Becoming through Christ
25/08/2024 Year B Mass Book Page 123
Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time 2024 Year B
It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail.
When Jesus said this to his disciples, was he saying that our physical bodies are worthless, and that this world is ungodly? It may be easy to over-spiritualize the Christian life, thinking Jesus wants us to live on some other, higher plane of existence. But that would be forgetting an essential truth: God made everything good! He had a reason for giving us bodies and fashioning this world.
So, what is Jesus trying to teach us? Maybe that as we look at our lives in a “fleshly” way, using only earthly parameters and seeking physical proof, we can miss out on the fullness that God wants to give us. In the same way that we are not meant to live above the physical realm, God did not create us to live only in the physical realm either. By placing his Spirit within us, he wants to see our earthly existence take on a spiritual dimension that we could not possibly experience without him.
Many times, when our perspective is on the “earthly life” endless of the varieties, God gives us a glimpse of heaven, and the Holy Spirit gives us proof of his action or presence. We may witness physically unexplainable healings, reconciliation where we doubted it was possible, or transformed lives. But God doesn’t show us these things simply for the sake of proving himself to us. These glimpses are meant to bring us to deeper faith. Consider Thomas, demanding physical evidence of the resurrection: When he finally saw the risen Lord, he proclaimed, “My Lord and my God!”. Thomas didn’t just say, “Now I understand it; now I have enough proof.” No, the spiritual insight swept away his need for physical proof and brought him to a new level of faith.
The Holy Spirit wants to open our eyes to heaven and so bring life to our earthly existence. So, let’s recall the ways we have seen proof of our faith. And let’s allow this proof to lead us to a deeper relationship with our heavenly Father.