Wrestling

THE TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

Contrary to how many define secularism, secularism isn't the absence of belief, as in a binary world where one either believes in God or rejects him: believers vs. atheists. Secularism or the construct of secularity isn't simply defined as atheism; it's quite the opposite. We live in an age of never-ending choices, options, paths, and ways one can go; western culture is the furthest thing from a binary understanding of reality (God vs. No God). Modern secularism is better defined as an ever-expanding constellation of beliefs. Many attend the church of science, being catechized by all sorts of evolutionists and materialists. Others worship in the cult of human sexuality at the temple of the flesh. Even paganism has made a resurgence in our day. Wiccan communities have re-emerged, resurrecting a fascination with the occult and the practice of witchcraft.

The Druids have made a comeback as well. There are many people, in searching for something beyond this material world, who find the otherworldly in worshipping Nature: finding in the tall trees and rolling landscapes a sense of the divine, the transcendent, or the spiritual by entering and connecting with creation, even divinizing Nature: trees, rocks, and so on. John Muir, the 19th-century Scottish naturalist, writer, and philosopher, said, "I'd rather be in the mountains thinking of God than in church thinking about the mountains." Sissy Spacek (actress and activist) has professed that "Nature is my church in recent times. The wind in the trees and the bugs and the frogs; all those things are a comfort to me."

Secularism is its own religion with many denominations and share of priests and priestesses: from the cult of the body (where the human body becomes the focus of worship) to a myriad of self-help programs led by celebrities and cultic personalities. Secularism orthodoxy often ends up being a mishmash of all sorts of things: a dash of Oprah; a Buddhist meditation now and then; maintaining strict dietary laws (no carbs!); designing a daily liturgy of life for personal empowerment and success; you get the point... throw it all in the Insta-pot and presto! Out pops a good representation of secular religion, a faith fervently believed in hopes that the modern-secular person will flourish in this life, attain success and live their best possible life with the amount of time Mother Nature or the actuaries at Liberty Mutual have granted.

We are surrounded by a million different systems of belief: meaning, there are a million different ways of spirituality. This in part is why Christianity, historic Christianity in particular, has fallen from the height of prominence in the classical and medieval periods, down to the lobby of ideas in this modern age: Christianity is just another option, and in the view of many, its outdated, outmoded, irrelevant, poppycock! Stories for children and folly for the sophisticated. St. Paul writes, "the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God" (1 Cor 1:18). The Psalmist confesses, "The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple" (Ps 19:7). So this morning, I speak to those who once were wise in the ways of this world but now have been made simple by believing the Gospel. This homily is for us, simpletons.

As Christians, we have an inherited spirituality, its origins in the death, burial, resurrection, and ascended Christ, Jesus the Messiah. Its aim and end are in Him as well. We follow a risen savior, one like us yet perfect, who died yet lives. The first man to enter Heaven, the only one who could ascend unto the hill of the Lord in Psalm twenty-four, Jesus: He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear deceitfully. He [Jesus] [has] receive[d] blessing from the LORD and vindication from the God of his salvation" as evidenced in the power of his resurrection and ascension. And now, exiled humanity may also enter the heavenly courts through faith in Him, by the new Moses, the second Adam, the perfect man and perfect God, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the content of Christian spirituality, who says, "​​Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me" (Jn 14:1), and "Truly, truly, I tell you, if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death" (Jn 11:26).

Every secular form and approach to spirituality aspires to attain a promised reward; some offer better health, others, a slimmer waistline, wealth and prosperity, secret knowledge, a college scholarship, extended mortality, a better marriage, worldly fame, and so on… adherence to Christian spirituality promises eternal life, a never-ceasing existence of beatitude and bliss. The promotional bumper sticker for Christian spirituality is this: "Death has lost its sting." With the prophet Hosea, St. Paul rejoices, "Where, O death, is your victory Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor 15:55-57). Friends, this is our end: to never end.

Christian spirituality is simply how one lives intending to attain the prize of eternal happiness: it's the "how-to" of Christianity. Scripture offers different motifs to illustrate and communicate 'The Way' of Christian spirituality. The Bible often speaks of walking in the Light as opposed to stumbling around in the dark, the word is given as a lamp to our feet, to walk "circumspectly [in this world], not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is" (Eph 5:15-17). As children of Light, we are to walk informed of the Divine precepts as illuminated by the Holy Spirit.

Paul often sets the spiritual life in a domestic context, children reborn into a divine family as members of the household of God. As a family, we are to uphold our duty to one another in the church through the unity of the Spirit, in the bond of peace, and righteousness of life. We are to love the brethren, not forsaking the gathering with each other in the Lord's house, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. John, speaking rhetorically, asks, "If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen" and Jesus, "By this everyone will know that you are My disciples if you love one another."

The journey is another spiritual motif likening this Christian life as a wilderness pilgrimage. Like Israel, we have been redeemed from the death of Egypt and now must walk in loving obedience to our savior through temptations, deprivations, hardships, and doubt. Like fire and smoke, Christ is with us in the wilderness, who promises not to abandon us as orphans until we cross the Jordan, raised to eternal life in the land of promise, and ascend to the heavenly Jerusalem to perfectly worship the God who saved us.

Jesus also speaks of spirituality as the way of the Cross, a difficult and sacrificial road, and one must enter through a narrow gate. The Lord says, "The way [of Christian spirituality]" is "hard that leads to life," adding that "those who find it are few" (Mt 7:14). Spirituality, according to Jesus, is dying to self, picking up your Cross, and carrying it. This is the cruciform way of Christian Spirituality.

In today's epistle, St. Paul offers another motif for Christian spirituality in writing, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Eph 6:12-13). Christian spirituality is a wrestling match with that wily old serpent, the Devil. In chapter six of the epistle to the Ephesians, Paul implores the church to "be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might." How? By putting "on the whole armor of God." Why? "that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil." For Paul, the point of all Christian exercise is to "stand," meaning to endure, withstand, weather the attack, to remain upright (morally, physically, and spiritually). "To stand" is to be the righteous man of Psalm one:

"who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law, he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so but are like chaff that the wind drives away." In the end, this man will stand in the assembly of God because he withstands temptation to wickedness; his roots run deep, being anchored firmly in righteousness, ready to face the next onslaught.

But the Enemy is full of wiles, meaning he's extremely crafty. His tactics are never obvious; he's sneaky and deceptive. In fact, he rarely makes an appearance choosing instead to work behind, in, and through things. Therefore, the Apostle says that we wrestle NOT against "flesh and blood"- our Enemy isn't other people- it's the Devil. And yet, people are often the means by which he executes his insidious work. St. Paul reveals two primary channels by which the Devil works: things of "this world" and things "in high places." The first are the "principalities, powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world." These are the systems and structures, political, economic, and philosophical structures through which comes the wickedness of the world. This is "the world" opposed "to the Kingdom of God"; "the world" which hated Christ before it hated his disciples. The world says St. John, which already stands condemned; the world into which we have been sent by Christ just as the Father sent Him. The rulers of the darkness of this world are but puppets whose strings the Devil pulls to draw children of Light into darkness.

The Apostle then speaks of powers and principalities which we wrestle against, this is the "spiritual wickedness in high places." The battle rages not only on earth but in the transcendent realms as well. A cosmic battle for the souls of men is being fought on two fronts: the visible and the invisible. The battle in the heavenly places, meaning all that we cannot see, the demonic hosts, intend to despoil Christians of their blessings. For the Enemy and his evil minions, this battle isn't about riches and it's not about glory. It's about plundering all that we have received in Christ. This wrestling match is about our being enslaved- not to Christ- but our former Slave master. Beloved, the stakes are high. The Devil is doing his very best to cast us out of Heaven.

"Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day," meaning, the present spiritual life, the here and the now, "this present evil world" from which Christ has rescued us. And yet the Lord has left his church in the world, not removed it. Therefore, every baptized Christian is enlisted in the King's army to fight manfully in his stead until He returns to subject every Enemy to his rule, to cast the Devil into the abyss and bring justice for his people. But until that day, we wrestle with the Enemy. Dear friends heed the Apostle's words "having done all" because this is very important. By "having done all," he means that when we do what is necessary by grace to withstand evil's attack, we mustn't rest on our laurels but refortify, prepare, and remain ever vigilant for the next attack, for our wily foe may depart for a time, as he did when his temptations failed in the Judean wilderness, but he'll return as he did on that final Passover meal in the upper room. So, we must always be armed for battle, taking unto ourselves the "whole armor of God."

The "whole armor of God" is nothing less than putting on the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Have we not already heard from Isaiah that it was God himself who "put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing and was clad with zeal as a cloak" (Isa 59:17-18). In pulling this forward, declares Jesus Christ, son of God and son of man, to be divine protection of all who believe, who have (as he often says) "put on Christ." Jesus is the belt of Truth; the breastplate of righteousness; the Gospel of peace; and our shield of faith, who took the arrow of death into his body, shielding us from what none other could have endured or withstood; he took the fiery dart of the crucifixion and was pierced for our transgressions. Therefore, he is the helmet of sour salvation; the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God made flesh.

Just as no one can save themselves from sin and death, so no one stands alone against the wiles of the Devil. We stand in Christ, we preserve in Him, and in Him we overcome. As in Isaiah, the God who is clad in armor will fight for us and punish our enemies "according to their deeds, accordingly, he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies. So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up the standard against him." Therefore, be strong, not in yourselves, but in the Lord and in the power of his might. He will fight for you as you remain in Him. Be strengthened in the Word of God and always pray in the Spirit. For we stand strongest when we are kneeling. Amen+