Grow the good
Clare L. Hickman
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Ferndale
June 29, 2025—Proper 8C
Galatians 5:1,13-25; Luke 9:51-62
What is it about us, that our first urge in the face of opposition is to want to rain down fire? Or, if not actual fire, then outrage … derision … maybe a nice bit of character assassination? Clearly, rejection hurts us. Disagreement threatens our sense of worth, our sense of purpose, our sense of self. And far too often, our reaction is to strike back. It’s easier. Because it’s frightening to allow our position to be tested or changed. And it requires a more advanced spiritual discipline than most of us possess to, well, just let it roll off.
So, we recognize the disciples’ instinct here. Or, at least, I do.
But Jesus, apparently, has had enough. Clearly, nothing he has said to them has sunk in! So he rebukes them, which we don’t get to hear. But we do get his striking words to them about the fact that the way he walks will require them to change, will require them to rise above their instincts, to follow a different path. And then … he just starts walking. All the words have been said, and maybe his disciples still don’t understand, but all he can do now is live it. All he can do is show them that God’s response to opposition and rejection will not be more opposition … will certainly not be violence. Instead, Jesus will walk into Jerusalem, and demonstrate that the antidote to fear (and rejection, and the threat of death) is not the attempt to overwhelm it on its own terms: on the cross, Jesus will show us that the only antidote to fear is courage, compassion and trust.[1]
In the face of an onslaught of negative, our best response is the positive.
We find a similar message in Galatians today, though we often lose it in the panic brought on by that list of fleshly shortcomings. Though I should note that if we really want to understand Paul metaphorical contrast between flesh and spirit, we would do well to pay attention to verse 13, in which he explains it as self-indulgence vs. service to others. Both of which are experienced in, enacted by our bodies. It’s not the body itself that’s the problem. And some of the self-same actions can be either one: can be self-indulgence, can be an act of service. We know that. and we also know that we can slip all too easily into self-indulgence. So that first list hits hard!
At least one of them is sure to stick: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing … and if none of those, miraculously, hits you where you’re vulnerable, then there’s that final toll of the bell: “and things like these…”
And good lord, we don’t hear another word, because we are caught up in the question of how on earth we are going to STOP doing that thing we know we shouldn’t do, but can’t seem to stop doing. Paul is right: we are a slave to self-indulgence, and surely we need to put all our efforts into figuring out how to stamp that out … how to stop doing it … how to yank it out by the roots!
But as fixated as we become on that list of vices, Paul’s text actually suggests we focus our efforts elsewhere. Live by the Spirit, he urges. If you live by the Spirit, then you will no longer be a slave to sin (you’ll be less tempted to self-indulgence). In other words, maybe don’t think so much about how you can root out fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, (and things like these) within yourself. Instead, work on planting more love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Then the sins will take care of themselves.
It’s a little like weeding in the garden. Yes, there are things you can do to inhibit the growth of weeds. Yes, you will always need to pay some attention and pull up some unwanted growth along the way. But one of the best ways to cut down on your weeding task is to plant more things you actually want in your garden. Encourage the good growth. Put in lots of vegetables! Plant a ridiculous number of flowers! Don’t leave as much empty space for the weedy things to grow. Just keep cultivating (planting and watering and nurturing and fertilizing) the good stuff.
If you do … then even the occasional weed won’t really make that much difference.
Focus on the good stuff, and don’t be afraid to let yourself plant things that are native to the soil. That is, you don’t need to spend all your effort trying to grow the things that come difficult. If patience has always been your weak suit, then I’m not saying you shouldn’t try to plant some (go for it! I still try to grow roses occasionally, despite my pitiful past history), but it doesn’t need to be the centerpiece of your display. Grow tons and tons of generosity, if that’s your native plant. Or gentleness, goodness knows we could use more gentleness, and who doesn’t smile as they pass by a beautiful bed of gentleness?
Plant peace, if that is the scent that speaks God’s voice to you. Cultivate kindness, and you will be beautiful in any season. Make your garden a riotous display of joy. Plant so much joy that jealousy can’t find room to grow and anger gets lost in the underbrush.
Don’t get caught up in the task of rooting out the bad behavior. Instead, multiply the good. Remember the Spirit that lives and moves within you, and allow that Spirit to flourish. Allow it to work its miracle of abundance. Let it free you from your slavery to sin, a slavery that only lays heavier chains on you when you focus your efforts on NOT DOING THE BAD THINGS. Let yourself instead be freed to do the good; to cultivate love or joy or peace or patience or kindness in your heart; to sow great overflowing meadows of generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, or self-control in the world around you.
This is how we follow Jesus as he sets his face toward Jerusalem: we set all that goodness, all those fruits of the Spirit (the POWER of the Holy Spirit), against the forces of sin and evil. Because the forces of evil and death cannot be overcome by the instruments of evil and death. We can’t even defeat evil by managing to negate it (avoiding it somehow). As Jesus proved on the Cross, the only way to overcome the forces of destruction is to counter with the powers of creation: to embrace them, to surround them, to over-plant them with courage, compassion, forgiveness and trust.
And maybe a nice border of generosity. A window box of self-control, perhaps? A scatter planting of love, placed willy nilly and just where it’s needed.
Grow a good crop. Make it a bumper crop. Live by the Spirit. May it be so, Amen.
[1] David Lose, posted June 22, 2016; http://www.davidlose.net/2016/06/pentecost-6-c-gods-alternative/