Pandemic: Body Soul Duality
I came across this picture on my Instagram this past week. What I would normally think is a wonderful thing- the next generation of youth and young adults getting baptized at the beach, saying "Yes!" to Christ- is actually something really disturbing. This is a picture of a revival at Huntington Beach, collaborated by dozens of churches in Orange County that took place last Saturday, while California is experiencing a Coronavirus surge. As you can see there are thousands gathered together hugging, singing, crying (all the super spreader things) not wearing masks, and not social distancing. Each of these people will go back to their respective families, where they may be asymptomatic carriers and possibly bring the disease to their friends, families, and maybe those who are at most risk- their parents and grandparents.
Many Christians raised their alarm and concern in the comments, urging the leaders and participants to wear masks and to social distance, these comments were met with quippy remarks such as "We worship Jesus not the mask!" and reactions such as "You must be a leftist socialist"...etc. One commenter said, "Everyone is going to die one day. Would you rather people die Spiritually so they can avoid dying of Covid?" Essentially this movement and the people behind it, validate putting thousands of people- and potentially the tens of thousands of people they will eventually come in contact with- at-risk because of their theological understanding between the "body" and the "spirit." This is often called the "flesh and the spirit" as Apostle Paul delineates. This disassembling between the flesh vs. the spirit is quite pervasive in Christian thinking and it shows in people's practice of ministry.
Paul has much to say about the flesh and the spirit. He makes it clear that the two are working against one another. In Galatians 5:17 it says "For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh.." In Romans 7:18 he says "18 For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it." Most Christian traditions take the "flesh" or in the greek ἡ σὰρξ (he sarx) to mean one's physical body. They understand this as the body being sinful and needing to be subdued by the spirit. In Matthew 26:14 Jesus tells his sleepy disciples, "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." However, if we take a closer look at Paul's words in his Epistles and what Jesus says in the Gospels, it is clear "flesh" is distinct from the physical body. The flesh is the side of humanity that is sinful and self-serving. In Galatians 5:20 Paul explains the flesh produces "...enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, 21 envy," It is not a person's body that is against the spirit... it is one's sinfulness. The list of Paul's are all part of human brokenness and all these vices can all be traced to one thing, selfishness.
If Jesus did not care about one's physical body and well being, why did he choose to heal people's physical ailments? Why did he heal the sick, the lame, the mute, the blind, and the leper? In Matthew 9 Jesus says "5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’? Healing the man's ailment was just as much of an indication of the Kingdom of God coming to earth, as was his spiritual healing. In Matthew 9:20-22 Jesus heals a woman suffering from bleeding for 12 years. She was ostracised from society because of the Mosaic Laws about bodily cleanliness. Jesus healed these people because healing their pain, and being able to elevate their station, to give them a chance to live with dignity, was a sign of God's Kingdom; that God cared for the poor, the oppressed, and those with physical ailments as it says in the scrolls Jesus reads in Luke 4:18. It was the religious establishment that instilled this mentality that one's station in life, one's ailments, one's struggle were not important, and that was no excuse in not obeying the law. This turned into a heavy "yoke" or burden on people.(Matthew 11:28-30) Jesus sought to change people's lives spiritually, but also in real tangible ways.
In Matthew 15 Jesus gets into an argument with the Pharisees because his disciples were not washing their hands. The rabbinic law was quite exhaustive in trying to keep the body "clean" as it was easily vulnerable to being "unclean." Jesus pushes back to say that it is not what goes into the body, but how a person lives that makes them unclean- meaning, one's thoughts and actions. In Matthew 15:19 he says "or out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”
Going back to the post, I believe as disciples of Christ, we are to care for a person's whole being. We are to fight the "flesh" or the evil that pervades in the world and within our very own selves. That does not mean our physical bodies, but our self-centeredness and how that selfishness manifests in the world. The creators of this beach revival continue to promote it and are extending the dates, while the cases of COVID continue to rise in the OC area. Their justification is all tied to the ways they dichotomize between the body and the spirit. However I believe this dissembling of the two, luring people in to engage in this- despite the danger and the damage it can do them and to society as a whole- is antithetical to life and teachings of Jesus, and the way in which the Kingdom of God works on earth. As disciples of Christ and witnesses to the Gospel, I pray that everyone can love their neighbor in body and spirit by wearing a mask, continuing to social distance, and to try to find new and creative ways to engage with one another during this pandemic. Let's continue to be agents of change, in making a real difference in the world by caring for people's situations, pain, and struggle just like Jesus.
