Thoughts on Trinity 14
I’m not quite sure where I’m heading this week, but here’s some initial musings after my chat with Petersen. I’d like to know where you’re headed.
The one who accepts the Father’s words and follows in the path set forth by him, to walk in the paths of uprightness, according to Proverbs 4, is the one whose steps will not be hampered and who will not stumble when running. Their path will be free of obstacles so that they may walk and run freely. But the one who enters the paths of the wicked will be shackled. They cannot do anything without working evil. They cannot rest without causing harm. They are slaves to wrongdoing.
The Scripture paints this picture of what it means to be free and what it means to be a slave. Those who are free are subjects of the Father’s instruction. They heed Wisdom’s call. They seek the Father’s insight. They are filled with understanding from the Father’s words. The wicked are not so. They are bound by their desires. They cannot sleep, they cannot eat or drink without being driven by their desires. They are slaves because they are unable to say no to their flesh. When the passions flare up they can only satisfy them. Thus they are slaves. They are undisciplined fools. They want to be free, but they do not know what it means. They seek freedom by becoming slaves to their flesh and desires. And they think that those who subordinate themselves and their actions to the word of God lack freedom and are slaves of foolishness. This is the vast difference between true freedom as it is revealed in the Scriptures and the false freedom put forward by a decaying and dying world deceived by demons.
St. Paul does not want us to be ignorant of this. He distinguishes between the works of the flesh and the works of the Spirit. The works of the flesh arise from slavery to the flesh. The works of the Spirit arise from the receiving of and submission to the Spirit.
Our Lord demonstrates this slavery to the flesh in his encounter with the Ten Lepers. They are all slaves of their condition. They have no freedom. Their way is hampered at every turn. In order to be free they must be cleansed. That rids them of the disease that stands in their way and causes their exile. But that disease is simply a symptom of a greater problem. That disease only highlights the necessity not just of cleansing but of faith. So all ten were cleansed, they were all set free from leprousy. But only one was saved from the effects of sin, only one had faith to return to give glory to God in the person and work of Jesus Christ. That is, only one worshiped God in Spirit and in truth. He submitted to the Wisdom of the Father. He prostrated himself at Wisdom’s feet. He was set free so that his path back to God, to his true home, was free of obstacle, and he could walk and run freely.