You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other,since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
Zombie Salvation
Have you ever come home and realized you and your clothes stink? In the midst of summer, when the days are hot and humid & you’ve been walking and working in the hot sunshine you come home to bathe and refresh & drink something cool.
Got the image?
Now let’s extend that image a bit. Say you somehow became a zombie, a member of the undead. Your buddy zombies have been pushing you to join in their zombie activities, eating things zombies eat, drinking things zombies drink, doing those things zombies find entertaining, like eating people and such. All the while you push to the background the stink of your own diseased rotting festering flesh. It’s easier to live the zombie unlife if you don’t think about it too much.
But now that you’re home and have a little time for quiet contemplation the thought of being free of this stinking undead body sounds so nice, to leave the stench and rancor behind, to start anew in a real, clean, living, vibrant body, to really live.
When Paul was writing there may not have been much zombie lore, but the New Testament is full of this kind of imagery. If you’re crucified and dead but still walking round in your dead body you’re a zombie. But unlike the various recent versions of the zombie idea the Bible offers an elegant solution to the zombie problem, Jesus. To God’s eyes and ears and nose our anger and rage are a zombie rant, our badness and foul talk are cacophonous zombie yells, our lies and petty prejudices are the stink of rotting meat. We would all be better off if we saw ourselves as he sees us. This might motivate us to seek something more.
Put it off Put it on—Change Clothes
Jesus told his disciples he was going to prepare a place for us. Most people think Jesus was talking about heaven. I think he may have been talking about our new apartments, our new bodies fit for heaven. This body is just a temporary dwelling, a tent, and the tent is made of dying material. Jesus has prepared a new dwelling, one that will never die or decay or stink or lie. Paul invites us to live like we’re already living in that new heavenly dwelling. We have to take off the old putrid outfit, clean ourselves off and put on the garments of praise and light.
Prayer for Today
Father,
You are light and life and goodness and truth and refreshment.
Today make me like you.
In the name of our Lord, Jesus
Amen
