Homily on the 12th Sunday after Pentecost
Galatians 5: 22-6:2; Matthew 19: 16-26.
One thing that is certain, as followers of Christ and members of His Church, we will all be called to account for the way we have treated others. People come with many characteristics, some good and others not as good. Yet the overarching message of the Gospel is to love as our Lord and Saviour loves.
Now what does it mean to love? Saints and Philosophers have pondered this question since mankind was created by the All-Holy Trinity. Yet we seem to be not the best at expressing this love which we are commanded to show one another.
To paraphrase Saint Paul in 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 -have we been patient and kind to others – even if we do not agree with their opinion? Have we resisted envying their successes or good fortune? Have we resisted the urge to shame people when we perceive that they have done wrong? Have we resisted the urge to gloat when someone who has done us wrong suffers misfortune? Have we done our best to protect those who are weak and fragile in our community?
Whilst I am sure that you all strive to embody these qualities of love in your lives, doing so can be difficult as embodying these values can seem to go against our very nature. How then are we to show this love to our neighbours when doing so can seem difficult at times?
Well, the easiest way is to follow the example of our Lord and Saviour He is the perfect example of Christian conduct for all. In fact, in today’s Gospel, He makes it clear that we are not to be like the unforgiving servant for just as the All-Holy Trinity forgives us our wrongs, we must forgive the wrongs of others. This is not to say that once we have forgiven a wrong that we must become best friends. Rather, at the very least, we must pray for them for that is one of the greatest acts of charity a Christian can do.
St Leo of Optina puts it in this way:
“The most important way to make peace with those who offend and persecute us is to pray for them, according to Christ’s command.”
Thus, it is important to pray for those who seek to make our lives difficult for by doing so we conform to Christ’s law of love, and not the law of the world embraced by those who reject Christ’s love (John 13: 34).
Saint Seraphim of Sarov makes it clear that if we trust in God and know how to forgive then we will be given every blessing we need for he states:
“My dear one, put your trust in God and ask for his assistance, but know how to forgive your neighbour – and then you will be given all that you ask.”
We are told even more clearly in the Beatitudes Matthew 5: 2-12 how we are to be as Christians:
“Blessed are the poor in Spirit , for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven… Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the Earth… Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
If you think about it each of these qualities mentioned in the Beatitudes could not exist without a deep humility and love - without humility and love our efforts in the Christian life are in vain.
What is better a meal made with attention to detail and love or a meal slapped together because one has to?
Clearly, it is the one which the person has paid attention to the recipe making sure that everything is cooked to perfection. This is how we as Christians are to be in our spiritual lives being conscious of our every act ensuring that we act out of love. For doing this will show others that we truly care about them.
If we fail to do this at times – this is fine because we have a loving God who will forgive us our wrongs if like Prodigal son, we come back to him with true sorrow for these wrongs. This does not mean that we act like some groups who maintain that as long as you have accepted Jesus into your heart you are saved no matter what you do – no need to seek any repentance for your actions.
This in and of itself, is a great act of presumption being one of the forerunners to the sin against the All-Holy Spirit which the Pharisees of Jesus’s day fell into due to their great presumption that they were saved because they were perceived to be righteous by appearing to follow the Levitical Law (Matthew 23).
In fact, all their efforts amounted to was mere lip service – they might have looked holy but their prayers and alms giving amounted to nothing because they were not done out of love nor humility! What holy person needs the affirmation of the crowd? Many saints pretended to be insane to escape the admiration of the crowd and the spiritual pride which this admiration can bring – the so-called fools for Christ.
Yet this spiritual arrogance of the Pharisees led them to dismiss Jesus because He was not what they expected - Jesus preached love and forgiveness letting the people know that they could choose the right path if they so wanted. Yet the Pharisees were blind to the reality that this Jesus – the second Person of the All- holy Trinity incarnated – healed because He is the God-man who came to save.
This spiritual blindness caused them to mistake true Love- He who seeks to bring the lost and the broken to God- with the true hate of the evil one (Matthew 12: 22-32; Luke 11: 14-23). This attitude lead many of them to become hard and unrepentant – any sin is forgivable except final impenitence- which led them to reject God and His works through Christ!
Therefore, as Christians we are to have as one of our fundamental characteristics, a deep love for the All-Holy Trinity and others. No one is worthy of the graces which God bestows on us yet through the Holy Mysteries of the Church we are made worthy – especially through Holy Baptism, The Holy Mystery of Penance, and the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist.
In fact, the Holy Mystery of the Holy Eucharist is the summit of our Church life for through it we are brought into the deepest of unions with the All-Holy Trinity. For Christ makes it clear that the only way to the Father is through Him (John 14:6); by partaking in the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist one’s connection to Christ’s Body, the Orthodox Church, is further cemented. This means, that by faithfully receiving the Holy Eucharist one is joined to the All-Holy Trinity by virtue of being part of Christ’s Bride the Church.
Moreover, in this mystical act we are shaped and conformed into ‘icons of Christ; with the implication that we are to reflect Christ’s love to the world. This is why as members of the Church we must not let discord and hate take hold.
What happens when the immune system starts to fight healthy tissues in the body? The body begins to disintegrate and not function as it should. Likewise, whilst it is true that the Church can never fall as promised in Matthew 16:18, the Church cannot effectively minister to a broken world if all people can see is the world reflected back to them with all its political and social battles.
What this means, is that it is vital that when people look into the Church, they see that whilst we are human and imperfect, we seek to love one another and take Christ’s commandment of love seriously.
Moreover, it is vital that we treat each other with humility and not be like the Pharisees walking around condemning others whilst forgetting that we too are sinful. Christ makes it clear in Matthew 7: 3-5 that we must acknowledge that we too are imperfect and can do the wrong thing for He says:
“Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but not consider the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck in your eye’; and look a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite. First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
This does not mean that there will not be disputes in the life of the Church because there will be, this is why the Church has had the Ecumenical councils to settle theological and disciplinary disputes so that She can get back to her job of ministering to a broken world.
Therefore, as members of Christ’s Body the Church we are to be models of how to show forgiveness and settle disputes.
St John of Kronstadt points this out for he says:
“Never confuse the person, made in the image of God, with the evil that is in him: because evil is but a chance misfortune, a (spiritual) illness, a demonic reverie. (Do not forget) … The very essence of a person is the image of God, this remains in him despite every disfigurement.”
This means that as members of Christ’s Church we must acknowledge that every person is made in the image of God, and it is a sacred God given duty to respect them. As an acknowledgement of this, we must try and resolve every dispute in the life of the Church and our personal lives in a way that respects that we are all made in God’s image.
This is why it saddens me when I see Christians who should know better treating each other so disgracefully. One only has to go online to see how toxic some people have become over what are often only trivial issues in the life of the Church. This toxicity leads to groups breaking away from each other even though they agree with each other. This is why everything which is done or said must be carefully though through and above all be done out of love - not an agenda, there are enough people pushing these at this moment in time!
This is not to say that there are not important issues which the Church needs to discuss but these discussions should be prayerful and most importantly loving with an acknowledgment that we are all sinners and as such should hesitate to cast the first stone (John 8:7).
Let us pray that we never fall into this trap as so many do who broadcast their opinions online. If one believed what they say, then one would really believe that the Church was falling apart, and that we are all doomed.
Yet the truth is far from this – Christ promised that the gates of cannot prevail against the Church for it is built on Him who is the cornerstone (Psalm 118: 22).
Moreover, as we celebrate the beginning of the Church year which was on the 14th of September we are reminded that all will be renewed in Christ for it is on this day that Christ entered the Synagogue to proclaim His salvific mission (Luke 4: 16-22).
He made it clear what He had come to do when He quoted Saint Isaiah:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; because He has anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord (Isaiah 61: 1-2).”
By quoting this He is making it clear that He came that we might be released from the bonds of sin and have our eyes opened from the state of spiritual blindness which had blinded mankind since the fall of Adam and Eve.
What a joyful message this is the proclamation of our liberty should we accept it and the promise that we are not alone for we have a loving God who sent His only Son that we might have life and live it to the full (John 3: 16; John 10:10).
This is the very reason that we are commanded to always partake worthily of the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist for it is the Mystery through which the life-giving medicine is administered to us. It is through this great Mystery that we are made spiritually alive and joined to Him who is the source of all our life.
Therefore, always approach the Holy Chalice with faith, humility, and love for in it is He who gave His life on the Holy Cross so that He might raise up fallen humanity with Him on the third day. What a wonderous Mystery, a Mystery which gives us life.
Some will never believe, even if the proof hits them in the face, some will make up false doctrines to try and disprove the words of Christ yet no matter what they do Christ prevails. This is why the rhetoric of the new atheists has been getting more and more toxic for the more they try and have life without Christ the more this life proves to be an empty prison where they are chained up via the means of their passions.
You see, theirs is no new rebellion against God they are simply regurgitating the rally cry of the one who fell from God because He so envied God. This is a truly terrible situation for through their actions they cut themselves off from the source of their life.
Man is born to thrive with God and not to exist apart from Him. Man without the grace and support of God is like a tree in the middle of the desert without the hope of rain. Yet those who have God in their lives and regularly partake of the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist are like those trees who are nurtured by the waters of an oasis – they have all they need to thrive.
Let us pray this week that all who do not believe may have the opportunity to say yes to God and all that He offers. For it is Him who can only give the peace that the world cannot give.
Also, let us pray that we may grow and become more and more like He who is our salvation for if we do so we will be better able to be Christ to the world. Let us accept our mission to be Christ’s hands and feet in this world to proclaim Him through our actions and through the love we have for others.
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