Homily on the 30th Sunday after Pentecost
Luke 17:12-19.
Gratitude is a quality that seems rather lacking in our society today. How many children these days will say thank you after an adult has done something for them? It is this lack of gratitude that is at the heart of today’s Gospel message. In today’s Gospel 10 lepers were healed by our Lord and Saviour yet out of the 10 men only one man of Samaritan extraction comes to thank our Lord and Saviour for his healing. As Christians, it is vital that we are always grateful for the things that our Lord does for us. It is absolutely vital that when we pray that we thank the All-Holy Trinity for the graces and gifts that He gives to us His people. Indeed, this is why the heart of our sacramental life the Mystery of the Eucharist, is in itself a great act of thanksgiving unto the All-Holy Trinity – man gives thanks unto God via the offering of the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist.
One thing that has struck me in my ministry as a priest is that if we are not grateful for even the little things the All-Holy Trinity does how can we be grateful for the little things each and every one of us does for each other? This is a message all of us the Church would benefit from remembering. For it is in societies that do not express gratitude that gifts are taken for granted - meaning that there is a certain entitlement that leads away from the love of the All-Holy Trinity! This entitlement cannot be good for if one takes people for granted then it is easy for one to exploit them – the opposite message of the All-Holy Trinity’s Gospel of love! Now we the Body of Christ are not a social justice agency however, we are called to show the love of Christ to all – for it is by love that people will know that the faith we profess is the truth. How many times does one see the very people who profess to be Christians show not love but arrogance? This is why many people when they think of Christianity think of us the Body Christ, as being a room full of Ned Flanders from the Simpsons. Whilst we are called not to judge and be loving - remember love is a quality that does not shy away from being open and honest and doing that which is difficult. For instance, if a person has an issue say like an addiction to gambling, then the loving thing to do would be to listen to the person and try and help them break the cycle of their addiction. This may seem like tough love at first because the person will probably want to borrow money to feed their addiction – however, if one does not give them the funds to feed the habit and provides the support, they need to break the habit then one is doing the loving thing! In the Gospels, our Lord and Saviour is always loving but He is always honest with the people that He is healing and interacting with! We as Christians are called to be the same – even if it means admitting that we have made a mistake and need to ask the forgiveness of another!
One thing I often reflect upon being an Orthodox Priest is how mankind has allowed the Body of our Lord and Saviour to become broken. One only has to look at how many True Orthodox jurisdictions in Australia there are all competing for the same turf so to speak. Now many of these jurisdictions once were all in communion - communion meaning that they could celebrate all the Holy Mysteries together. What happened? Well, unfortunately, people forgot the love of Christ – meaning that they forgot Christ’s call to love and forgive all their wrongs! This is an unacceptable situation for Christ prayed that we would all be one in John 17:11 for He prays –
“…Father keep through your name those who you have given me, that they may be as one as We (the All-Holy Trinity) are.”
We as True Orthodox need to rebuild the relationships with other True Orthodox groups and then once we have done this and are all united again in Christ’s Body, we can focus on bringing the New Calendar Orthodox back to the truth of Orthodoxy. Now in saying this to do this requires all groups to be humble and willing to admit when they have been wrong in the past, but it also requires all groups to be open to the workings of the All-Holy Spirit. Also, we need to be willing to show gratitude for the things that the other groups have done to help us – just like the Samaritan man in today’s Gospel. If we can do this and resist the temptation to point fingers, then we can unite that which has been torn apart by man's arrogance and stupidity. Finally, as we work towards this goal of unity let us reflect on St Paul’s words in today’s Epistle (Colossians 3:15):
“And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which you were called in one body; and be thankful.”
Let us pray this week for this noble intention - the uniting of all True Orthodox groups into one Church family!
Comments