People of the flesh or People of Love?

2 Peter 2:10-16

"God is especially incensed against these 'teachers' who live by lust,addicted to a filthy existence. They despise interference from true authority, preferring to indulge in self-rule. Insolent egotists, they don't hesitate to speak evil against the most splendid of creatures. Even angels, their superiors in every way, wouldn't think of throwing their weight around like that, trying to slander others before God. These people are nothing but brute beasts, born in the wild, predators on the prowl. In the very act of bringing down others with their ignorant blasphemies, they themselves will be brought down, losers in the end. Their evil will boomerang on them. They are so despicable and addicted to pleasure that they indulge in wild parties, carousing in broad daylight. They're obsessed with adultery, compulsive in sin, seducing every vulnerable soul they come upon. Their specialty is greed and they're experts at it. Dead souls! They've left the main road and are directionless, having taken the way of Balaam, son of Beor, the prophet who turned profiteer, a connoisseur of evil. But Balaam was stopped in his wayward tracks: A dumb animal spoke in a human voice and prevented the prophet's craziness."

Balaam was a prophet whose rather comical story can be found in the book of Numbers 22:21-35. While his story of using his gifts as a prophet for his own profit brings about some laughter to the reader, the truth behind the story is not so funny. Balaam is the son of Beor or son of Bosor (Beor and Bosor being interchangeable apparently). It is thought that the name Bosor is a play on the Hebrew word basar meaning flesh. So Balaam is thought to be a son of the flesh.

A son of the flesh would be a person much like the false teachers that Peter describes. It wasn't uncommon in the those days of Peter's writing to call life and injustice and social ills as you saw them and even with some brutality in recounting the facts as you viewed them. So, Peter's voice in this text is a bit on the harsh side. In this day an age we tend to tone down our harsh assessments a bit. Nonetheless, we have the same temptations and love of flesh surrounding us.

We have Wall Street--a place where in recent months and years people became very greedy. We have individuals who wanted more house for the money and wound up defaulting. We have banks that were out to make extra bucks off the desires of others. We have people who love money more than they love the people who love them. We have people who love pleasure more than they understand the value of hard work. We have among us people of the flesh. Peter would call them--people of the wicked way who give themselves to the disobedience of God. These sorts of people are all around us and maybe their very dispositions are in us.

But, we also have people who actually love for love's sake. What of those people? These are the people who are hardly and rarely seen in leadership positions. They are the humble folk who weather life's storms no matter what the storm may bring because they are people of the righteous way who seek in all things to be obedient to God.

Peter's concern is for how these two groups live together. His words are a call to self-discernment and understanding. Those who fall strongly along the continuum of love may well be the people who can live among those of the flesh and make a difference but those who live more weakly among the continuum of love will be easily tempted by the things of and the people of the flesh.

Thus, it seems that the call of the passage for us is first to ask the questions: where do I fall on the continuum? Am I a person of the flesh or a person of love? If I am a person of love, how strong is my love and am I able to weather the temptations of those around me? Once we have those answers, other questions arise toward action: If I am a person who is of the flesh, am I willing to be changed? Do I care to be changed? What will it take for me to change? If I am a person of weak love, what do I need to do be stronger and how do I protect myself from the influences of the flesh? If I am a person of the strong love, how will I be used to help my fellow being in strengthening them to love? How can I use my gifts to minister to the people of the flesh and to transform our world?

What ever our answers to these questions, may we find the ability to grow in love and may we rise to our callings as a transformative souls.