Reflection: Only Human (February 16, 2014)

The 6th Sunday after the Epiphany
Deuteronomy 30:15-20;  1 Corinthians 3:1-9; Matthew 5:21-37

“It’s only human to …” sums up how we justify or excuse our sinfulness. We consider it only human to get angry with people who hurt us, to grow disinterested in our commitments, and to daydream about being with a person whom we find appealing. We’re convinced that there’s really nothing wrong with these things, as long as we don’t act on them. This attitude is captured in the well worn response of men who check out other woman and excuse their behavior by saying, “I’m married, not dead.” In other words, they’re saying “I’m only human, and it’s only human to do this.” And they’re right. But being only human is the problem.

Jesus rejects our “only human” defense by showing us that God’s Law goes beyond our behavior to condemn our sinful thoughts, attitudes, and desires. It may be only human to let one’s mind dwell on a attraction to another person and entertain desires that we would never act upon, but Jesus doesn't allow us to excuse ourselves because of it. “I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” It’s only human to get angry with people, even the people who are close to us. But Jesus tells us that “everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.”

Today’s Epistle reinforces that it’s not okay to use being “only human” to justify ourselves. Like us, the Corinthians should have matured in the Faith and been at the point where they were living as God’s holy people empowered by the Holy Spirit in their sanctification. But they were “infants in Christ” and “still of the flesh.” Their attitudes and behaviors were driven by “being merely human.” But our problem isn't that we are actually “only human,” but that we've allowed ourselves to think that we are. Having been buried with Christ and raised to new life in Him in Baptism, we are no longer “only human” but have become something very different. We are the children of God, set apart from the death and decay of this world and established in everlasting life and glory. We are not subject to judgment, not in danger of the fires of hell, and not bound to the impossible demands of the Law, but we have been judged righteous in Christ, been given a place in Heaven, and are free to live in God’s grace. We belong to Christ. We are no longer of the flesh, but of the Spirit. We are “God’s field, God’s building.” We are the objects of His love and affection. We are extraordinary new creatures in Christ, still human but definitely not only human.

Click here to listen to the sermon "Only Human" (or right-click to download the MP3 file).