Image: Mary S. Watts, Watts Chapel - Spirit of Truth, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN.
Few words are as off-putting as “indoctrination”. No one likes this word. It’s on par with “brainwashing.” And along with brainwashing, it’s a word commonly leveled at the church. So often, the church is accused of trying to force beliefs and traditions down people’s throats. Of curtailing critical thinking. Of controlling people. Of performing mind-control tactics on children and youth. (By the way, if that were true, the evidence would show that we Lutherans aren’t very good at it!)
So, “indoctrination” is a dirty word. But here’s a dirty little secret. There’s no escape from indoctrination of one kind or another. Beginning with our families, we’re all brought up with particular ways of viewing the world, which can be healthy or unhealthy. We may have learned the importance of love, mutual care, and sacrifice, but we may also have learned other things like “Big boys don’t cry,” or “Anger is bad.” Or if you mess up or make someone mad, you’re total dirt. Or that one’s personal happiness is more important than anything else. Or that you should make any sacrifice to make another person happy. It’s impossible to overstate how much our families of origin indoctrinate us.
On top of that, we are indoctrinated by media, society, and culture. We’re bombarded with propaganda. We have propaganda machines in our homes and propaganda literature on our coffee tables. We even carry little propaganda machines wherever we go. Every time we mindlessly scroll, we’re getting a dopamine hit at the cost of our mind’s colonization. We’re told who to hate and what to buy. We’re told who’s good and who’s evil. We’re told the virtues of our way of life and the vices of those who don’t live that way. In two seconds, you can have an app open that will give you whatever perspective you find most appealing.
It’s not like it was all that different in the ancient world, though. People have always loved their lies. People have always loved their idols. That is an age-old problem we find in our reading from Ezekiel. And the problem Ezekiel zeroes in on is the perennial sin of idolatry. The kingdom of Judah, the one ruled by King David’s line, has a problem idolizing their leaders. Even some cults to deceased kings have sprung up. Now, this wasn’t an uncommon thing in the ancient Near East. In order to enjoy legitimacy, kings often ascribed semi-divine or divine status to themselves and their ancestors. But it wasn’t supposed to be this way with God’s people. As God told the people back in Exodus 19, “…you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation”. To be holy means to be set apart. They were to be set apart not for their leaders, but for God alone.
And that’s what Jesus calls his disciples and us back to. Jesus overturns the whole world of indoctrination and propaganda. Jesus does not follow the imperial lies of domination and subjugation, whether propagated by Rome or the Temple hierarchy. It’s no accident that at the beginning of his ministry in John’s Gospel, Jesus cleanses the Temple. It’s a battle between the anti-God and anti-human forces of this world and the liberating truth of Jesus Christ. But this liberation can’t be won through violence. Jesus knows that the Kingdom of God does not arrive by such sinful methods. Rather, Jesus knows that true liberation only comes through forgiveness. And that forgiveness will be known not by vengeance and wrath, but through Jesus, the love of God for us, hanging on a cross.
That forgiveness and love of God is received only by faith, which is given by the Father’s Spirit of truth. This Spirit comes to us as our Comforter and Advocate. Amid the lies and false doctrines of this world that keep us bound to hate, fear, and ignorance, the Spirit speaks the truth of God’s forgiveness and love to us. That Spirit reminds us that God’s forgiveness and love are not just for people like us. It’s not just for people with the same worldview as us. It’s not just for people who look like us, talk like us, love the same kind of people as us, or think like us. God’s scope of forgiveness is for the whole world. As we remember from John 3:16-17:
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.
And God sends his Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, Comforter, and Advocate to us, to keep us in that truth that brings us from sin to forgiveness and death to life. How do we receive that Spirit? How do we receive the love of God? By being baptized. By hearing his Word in Scripture and preaching. By receiving Jesus in the humble means of bread and wine. God’s Spirit enters us when water is poured on our heads or when the Word goes into our ears. And God’s Spirit abides with us not just when we have a fuzzy warm feeling or a spiritual experience. God’s Spirit abides with us even when we are stuck in our various unhealthy, delusional doctrines. God’s Spirit abides with us even when we feel totally lost or alone. And by God’s Spirit, we are empowered to love. That’s the meaning of the first verse there. It’s not about “Do I have enough love or faith to keep Jesus’s commandments?” (By the way, it’s worth noting that Jesus’ commandment is one: “Love one another as I have loved you.”) It’s having faith that that love has been given to us and that even now, even in our sin, we can love and forgive others, even if it’s by slow, halting steps.
People of God, on the cross Jesus opened his arms to you and offered God’s forgiveness and love to you forever. If there is something worth being indoctrinated in, this is it: Indoctrination in the Spirit, which makes love a reality, even in impossible, hopeless, desperate circumstances. Such is the power of God that silences all other lying voices that want our devotion and worship. Such is the power of God that leads not to condemnation, but to salvation. Thanks be to God. Amen.
© 2026, David M. Fleener. Permission granted to copy and adapt original material herein for non-commercial purposes.