#40 | Why Christians Fight For The Body Not Against It

Fighting against your body can feel like the normal version of spirituality. But what if that posture is backwards? I’m unpacking a line from the Orthodox theologian Father Alexander Schmemann that hit me hard: we’re meant to fight for the body, not against it and the same goes for food. That one shift changes how we think about desire, discipline, and what it means to become truly human. 

We move from theology to painfully current reality. I reflect on the hope of resurrection and a renewed body, then trace the story of food through the Christian lense: Adam’s passion and the fall, Christ crucified on a tree that bears fruit for eternal life, and the Mother of God as the bearer of that life-giving fruit. For Orthodox Christians, this isn’t abstract symbolism. Holy Communion is the real “food we need”, the Body and Blood of Christ given unselfishly, and we’re asked to respond. 

Then I bring it down to street level: caring for a healthy body with exercise and strengthening food, and caring for the soul with spiritual exercises like prayer, repentance, confession, prostrations, the sign of the cross, icons, and church. Finally, I speak honestly about war and conflict, including what’s happening in the Middle East, and the temptation to let destruction and division overwhelm us. We’re called to care for the world, but not to treat it as the ultimate prize. The deeper fight is for the world to come. 

If this gave you even one clear step towards faith, virtue, and steadiness, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review that tells me what you’re fighting for.

Transcript

Welcome And Prior Episode Plug

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Sunny Bunani. Welcome to the Sunny Bunana. I see you. Thank you for tuning in today. And I hope you enjoyed last week's episode with my brother Ainar, who came from Odin and worshiping Odin to worshiping Christ, a journey into Orthodox faith, strength, and becoming truly human. Check it out if you haven't already, an amazing testimony over there. Today I would like to talk about something Alexander Schmeman, a brilliant Orthodox theologian, says about the body. And I want it to sort of overflow into the world and the current situation and conflicts that we are seeing and hearing about in the Middle East. So Father Alexander Schmerman says we need to focus our attention not on fighting against the body, but fighting for the body. Not fighting against the body, but fighting for the body. And he goes on to say also we need to fight for the food, for the food, not against the food. So the battle here is a battle for the body that we should have, and the food that we should have. Now, in Christianity, we believe that our bodies will be regenerated, renewed after death. If we can live a life of virtue and faith and repentance in this life, we will be given a new body, a renewed body. And this is the body that Alexander Schmerman is talking about. And food. Well, the food Alex Alexander Schmerman is talking about is the body and blood of Christ, the Holy Communion that we receive at church. Now, Adam ate food that caused him to be expelled from paradise. We must remember this. This is a big point. That through his stomach, through his desire, through that passion of food, he fell from grace. Now that was on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now you you may have heard in Christianity that Christ was crucified on a tree, and this is the tree which will bear the fruit that we are supposed to eat, the fruit that will give us eternal life. Another beautiful image there is the image of the Mother of God being also a bearer of the fruit. The fruit of her womb is the food that we need, and that is Jesus Christ, who gives himself to us unselfishly, unconditionally. And it's up to us to respond to that beautiful call of this food. But I want to bring it down a couple of fractals or levels to perhaps the body that we need to fight for is the is a healthy body. So an exercising body, a a body that eats food that is for the body. We need to fight for the food that will strengthen our body. We need to fight for the things that will strengthen our bodies on that level. And you can apply it to spirituality, as I've said, we fight for the our our spiritual exercises are the prostrations and the signs of the cross and the kissing of the icons and going to church and worshiping. That's our spiritual exercise and praying and repenting, confessing. And the food that we receive, therefore, is also holy communion, which strengthens our souls and our bodies. But for us, in this life also, we need to strengthen our bodies, our physical bodies. So exercise and and healthy food that strengthens our bodies. And that's a that's quite a popular bit of advice there that I'm giving you. The and that I've been given myself. The other thing is war. So I want to end on this. Don't like to talk too much, and I'm waffling on a bit, but war. We are not supposed to be fighting for this world. Like our bodies, they are not going to last forever. Or it is not going to last forever. This world is not going to last for eternity. Okay? But like our bodies, we need to take care of it, strengthen it, so that we may have good lives. The world, yes, we need to take care of it, but we cannot die for the world. We cannot fight for the world. We need to fight for the world that is to come. Fighting for the world that is to come. So I pray that I don't get so overwhelmed by all this conflict that is going on, this destruction and division. Because in this life, we have this opportunity to live a life that is worthy of that world to come. That world to come where we'll have new bodies, that world to come where we'll be in communion with God. And this is our goal, I believe, as I've been taught through my Christian faith. Thank you for all those spiritual fathers and mothers who have guided me to this point, and that's that don't let this world weigh you down. Don't let the darkness darken your heart. Because we have a calling that can transcend that within it and through it. Because Christ becomes a man, incarnate into the world, flesh and blood. And he's saying to us, I believe, live through this, you have to go through this, and through this matter, through this body, through this flesh, through this world, can we enter into the world that is to come? But let's not put all our eggs into this basket of this world. Equally, let us love the world, let us love each other purely for the purpose of joining everybody and God in the kingdom of heaven. Let us live lives of virtue, repentance, and faith. And may God bless you and keep you. Thank you for listening to the Sunny Banana. I see you.