I think most of us prefer people to be balanced in the life of flesh and the life of spirit. Some people “live in their head,” as though physicality counted for little, and some others seem to be so spiritually disconnected, so completely focused on matters of the flesh, that they are neither very healthy nor very interesting.
We are coming to the end of the “I am the bread of life” discussion between Jesus and people in his hometown synagogue. He more or less ends the argument by suggesting that the preoccupation with “flesh” – which he stirred up by saying people had to eat his flesh if they wanted to be part of the Life of God – is really a distraction from what really matters. He says,
“It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”
It seems harsh to say that “the flesh” is useless. That quote might reflect the bias in John’s gospel toward Greek thought and ideas, which posited a greater distinction between flesh and spirit than would be common in Jewish thinking. Might Jesus have made a more nuanced statement like, “The flesh is useless in the long run?” For it appears God valued human flesh enough to take it on in Christ’s incarnate life.
St. Paul uses “the flesh” as short-hand for “the human nature without God’s influence.” And that, I think we might agree, has a short run indeed. It is our spirits that connect with the Holy Spirit, who gives us the Life that transcends life, the life we begin now, even as we still very much live the life of the flesh.
The life of the flesh allows us to enjoy the gifts of God, to fully inhabit this world and its pains and blessings. And the life of the spirit in us allows us to hold all that lightly, to recognize it as transient and temporal. We need to nurture both in this life, for a full humanity makes for a healthier spirituality.
What do you do in your life to balance the life of the spirit with the life of the body and mind? How might you invite someone who seemed “not to have a spiritual bone in their body” to open up that part of themselves? Every day we can invite the Holy Spirit to strengthen the life of our spirit.
The flesh is indeed useless once we no longer inhabit these bodies of ours. For now, though, it is our very flesh that allows us to have the feelings and emotions and relational connections by which our spiritual lives grow. The flesh sets up the life of the Spirit, which gives us Life forever.
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