Jesus said to Peter, “the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41) Jesus had asked Peter to pray for him. Peter wanted to pray for Jesus, but couldn’t.
God inspires our church when we gather in worship on Sunday and we leave with a desire to share Jesus. But, we don’t. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
We see the needs in our community and we hear the call of Jesus to follow him into the world to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and set the captives free. We want to follow, but we don’t go very far. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
We are in a social setting and someone speaks words of hatred, or bitterness, or racial prejudice. We want to speak for God and against injustice, but we remain silent. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
In our passage today Paul says there is coming a glorious day when our Lord shall return and when He returns our flesh will no longer be weak. In his letter to the Romans Paul writes, “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.”
Here is what Paul believed. God has promised that He will establish His Kingdom on earth where there will be peace and harmony and eternal life. God has given the followers of Christ His Holy Spirit as a sign; the scriptures actually call it a down payment, to guarantee the coming Kingdom. In this present time we live with our hearts longing for the Kingdom. This is the Spirit within us. The Spirit is in our natural bodies which are destined to die. Our natural bodies seek to control our life and thus in our natural life now we are in conflict with the Spirit of God within us. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
But, as we learn to trust God and as we become more willing to surrender our lives to God, the Spirit within us ascends and the flesh or natural life within us descends --- until ultimately when Christ returns He completes the transformation within us and we become like Him: The spirit indeed is willing and without any weakness. Amen
God has now given us two huge promises which together form the foundation for our faith, hope and love: The Resurrection of Jesus and our eventual resurrection and transformation.
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