Homily on the 7th Sunday after Pentecost
Romans 15: 1-7; Matthew 9: 27-35.
When asked what comes to mind when they hear the word ‘God’ many people bring to mind this vindictive monster who seeks only to make the lives of His people a living hell. Yet the truth could be nothing further from this fear inducing nightmare. The reality is that the All-Holy Trinity is a loving God who seeks loving communion with all His people. For Saint John tells us this in 1 John 4:7-12:
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not love God, because God is love. In this the love of God was was manifested towards us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this love of God, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
Moreover, St John of Kronstadt puts it this way:
“The Word became flesh; that is the Son of God, co-eternal with the Father and the All-Holy Spirit, became human- having become incarnate of the All-Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, O, great and awesome mystery of our salvation! The one who had no beginning according to the human condition; the one without flesh took on flesh – becoming the God-man – without ceasing to be God. The unapproachable one became approachable to all, in the aspect of an humble servant.
Sermon on the Nativity of Christ part 1.
There are many who seem have forgotten this key tenet of love for many seek to point the finger at others and make them scapegoats as if they are the cause of all the world's problems. Many seek to be religious zealots like the Pharisees and point at those whom they deem not worthy. They mistake zealotry and pious pageantry for righteousness hoping that the world will honour them for their holiness. Axios – I think not!
True Christian love is humble and seeks not to condemn but welcome. Put it this way, is it better to out yell those you disagree with than to welcome them in and have a conversation with them?
How did Christ welcome those whom Jewish society of His day deemed unclean? Did he stand on a street corner with a placard yelling’ ‘you are going to hell’?
Did He not say ‘let the little Children come unto me’ (Matthew 19:14). After which, He gently catechised them, correcting their errors, bringing them into conformity with His will. As someone once said, ‘flies are not attracted to vinegar!’
Therefore, we are to become like Christ – becoming icons of Him in the world. Christ is God, He could have brought the whole world under His control in an instant. Indeed, the evil one tried to tempt Him to do so to no avail (Matthew 4: 1-11). Yet what did He do? He humbled Himself unto death on a tree for all – emptying Himself of every dignity owed to the Creator of the world dying the disgraceful death of criminal (Philippians 2:8).
Thus, we are to be like Him and show this humility to the world. This humility is not false humility – we still declare the truth of the Gospel of love to all – but rather, we do so in a way which shows the love of Christ being His hands and feet in this broken world. Anger and frustration are not becoming of a follower of Christ for it leads to despair and hatred towards others which is against our faith.
Part of following this commandment is going into the world seeking to show Christ to others – via acts of love and not seeking to cast the first stone (John 8: 1-11). We are all frail and commit sin and like in the account of the adulterous woman, we must not be like her accusers – who are we to point the finger? We are called to lift others out of their difficulties and gently – like Christ – nudge them towards the correct path.
As saint Macarius the Great says:
“If you reprimand someone, you yourself get carried away by anger and you are satisfying your own passion: do not lose yourself, therefore, in order to save another. Do no evil to anyone . Observe this and you will be saved. If we keep remembering the wrongs which men have done us, we destroy the power of the rememberence of God (any act of right worship or good deed).”
What this means, is that rather than getting carried away with anger because someone did this or that, do not let their actions cause you to sin by getting angry or seeking to judge them – this only harms your soul and leads you closer to the evil one. Remember, the fallen one seeks not the benefit of others but rather that which will bring others down to his level. It is far better to pray for those who do us harm then to curse them – love is sweet and not bitter!
Remember the words of Saint Paul in 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 on love:
”Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”
What this means is that in all things we must seek to be like He who embodied all these excellent qualities and show these qualities to those around us. People do not respond well to being treated poorly - if we can show them these qualities of true Christian love via our words and actions, we will truly show them that we are Christians, and they will know we are His followers by our love (John 13:35).
One thing that is clear is that, whether fairly or not fairly, many have turned their backs on the Church. Many, faithful still seem to be under the impression that the world listens to what the Church says – the opposite is the truth. Many people run as soon as they hear the word Church or Gospel.
A large part of this disdain for Christianity has been caused by the action of well-meaning souls who have misinterpreted the scriptures and acted in ways that do not correctly exhibit the love of Christ. The classic archetype which clearly represents this misguided evangelization are the street preachers one often has the misfortune of meeting in the big cities – they have made it an art form of turning people from Christ!
Unfortunately, many Christians have forgotten how to treat people as beloved children of God judging them as being unworthy of His love because of whatever sin they are perceived to have committed. Yet these same Christians, whilst looking to take the speck out of their brother’s eye, neglect to see the speck in their own eye (Matthew 7: 3-5).
We are called to be icons of Christ to all, not acting like the Pharisees, who were so blinded by their conceit that they could not see that Christ was God incarnate Who came so that all may have the chance to truly be saved. These same pharisees were so blinded by their spiritual pride that they accused Him of working miracles via the power of the demons – thus hardening their hearts leading to the great sin of final impenitence - the unforgivable sin against the All-Holy Spirit (Matthew 9: 34; Matthew 12: 30-32)!
As Saint Simeon of the Pskov-Caves says:
“For a kind person everyone is kind, but an evil and bitter person not only has a twisted view of everyone, but also suspects, scorned and speaks spitefully of those who are righteous.
We judge our neighbours because we make no effort to know ourselves. The one who seeks to know himself, his shortcomings, sins, and transgressions has no time to see them in a neighbour. Remembering our own sins, we never think about the sins of others. It is unthinkable to leave our dead man, our soul, to cry over the dead man of our neighbour.
By Condemning others, we condemn ourselves as we are not free from sin. When we cover the sins of our brother, the lord covers our sins; when we show the sins of our brother to others then the Lord shows our sins to others.
The tongue of one who judges is fouler than hell; yet hell takes those who are evil, while the tongue kills both the wicked and the good. When we are too strict in our judgement of our neighbour, we condemn ourselves, by doing so, we show everyone our hatred and negativity.”
We need to re -Church the world and start teaching the Gospel of love, with sincerity, showing them that there is such beauty in a faithful life lived in the bosom of Christ’s Church. We need teach them about the importance of regularly receiving the Holy Mysteries of His Church. Without doing this we are failing in our mission to bring the Gospel to the ends of the world (Mark 16:15).
Each of us has a part in this Great Commission – whether clergy or laity. Little acts of kindness are what make people want to know more about our faith. We are not called to run around with placards telling non-believers that they are condemned – to do so is to show them that we are indeed like the Simpsons Caricature of Christians – Ned Flanders.
Also, not everyone will accept the Gospel there are many people who have exercised their God given gift of free will to reject the Gospel. In cases such as this, we are simply to pray for them and continually witness to them via small acts of love and charity in the hope that they will come to Him who is the source of all life.
Furthermore, it is sad to see that so many well-meaning traditional groups in the Church seem to have lost hope. What I mean, is that they have resorted to being angry at the world and those around them. This is not a healthy state of mind to be in, for if one goes into their Churches one can feel the cold unwelcoming stares of the faithful who seem to thrive on judging every soul who walks into their Church. no wonder many traditional minded people refuse to go near such Churches!
Who wants to be told every Sunday that they are not good enough and will never be. One result is that because of such inhospitality many of these groups end up breaking Ecclesiastical Communion with each other fracturing into ever smaller and more extreme groups. If a group forgets the Divine command to love as the All-Holy Trinity commands Christians, is it not like the salt that has lost its saltiness (Matthew 5:13-16)?
Moreover, did not our Lord and Saviour promise that His Church will prevail against the gates of Hell (Matthew 16:18)? For wherever there are valid bishops, priests and deacons the Church is and by this very connection to Christ’s Mystical Body this promise is fulfilled!
Love is what brings people to Christ; we are called to be beacons of hope in the world in much the same way that sea routes traditionally have lighthouses to guide the ships navigating through the perilous waters - we are, as Christ’s body the Church, called to be lights to the world helping our fellow humans navigate the treacherous waters of their daily lives. Many are hungry for the truth and we must make this truth shine so that they can brought to He who is the source of all truth.
Finally, we are called to be people of prayer. We must make prayer the centre of our lives – if we do not pray or regularity attend the Divine Liturgy, we are cutting ourselves of from the very source of our spiritual lives.
As mentioned before, we have a loving God who wills the best for us His people. This is a God who provides for us so that we may have the strength to carry on throughout our lives fighting the good fight, finishing the race and keeping the faith (2 Timothy 4: 7-8).
One of the greatest joys I have as a priest is celebrating the Divine Liturgy - for in the Divine Liturgy Christ is made manifest in the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist. The Eucharist being the source of our great strength as Christians - for through this great Holy Mystery we are brought into communion with our very Creator- the All-Holy Trinity.
Moreover, when the priest intones ‘Blessed is the Kingdom’, at the start of the Divine Liturgy the whole of Heaven is made present wherever the Divine Liturgy is being served. What a great gift we are given in this great Mystery – although we cannot see them – all the angels and saints are present praying with us here on earth!
This means, that every Orthodox Church throughout the world is joined together through their membership of the Body of Christ because they share the same Holy Eucharist. We are all bound together whether we are physically in the same place or not for through this great Mystery of the Eucharist every Orthodox Christian is joined to their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
This is why it is important for us as a Church to pray that all groups who seek to follow Christ’s Gospel might one day become one in the truth of Holy Orthodoxy.
Let us not forget Christ’s Prayer for unity John 17: 20-23:
“My Prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me, and I am in you May they also be in Us so that the world may believe that You have sent Me. I have given them the glory that You gave me, that they may be as one as We are one – I in them and You in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that You sent me and have loved them as You have loved Me.”
What this passage illustrates for us is that through sharing one Eucharist as the Body of Christ we are brought into a deep spiritual unity with the All-Holy Trinity and this union brings about the union of all those who are part of Christ’s Body the Church. Without the great Mysteries of Holy Baptism, Chrismation, and the Holy Eucharist we cannot be joined to Christ’s Body the Orthodox Church.
Therefore, always make it a priority to receive the Mysteries of Christ’s Church as often as you can. If for some reason you cannot make it to Church pray to the Lord and ask Him for the graces, you would have received if you could have come to Church.
This week let us pray that we might all be examples of Christ’s love in the world showing those around us how much the All-Holy Trinity loves them and wants them to come to Him in His Church.
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