Homily on the 27th Sunday after Pentecost
Ephesians 6: 10-17; Luke 13: 10-17.
How often do you take the time to walk outside and just be in the presence of God? What I mean is, just being present noticing the beauty He has created around you. We live busy lives. We tend to let the worries of life take away from the simple things in life like wonder and gratitude.
Yet in these moments of silence, in front of our Creator, we can truly experience the wonder of God’s love and the beauty of His creation. The reality of our existence is a sign of this love. Love builds and does not destroy. Love embraces like a cool breeze in the shade on a hot summer’s day. This Love, being God who gave us the ultimate gift – His Son the second Person of the All-Holy Trinity (John 3:16).
Love is the currency of the Kingdon of God. The only Command God asks of us is to love Him and our neighbour (Matthew 22: 34-40). For without love nothing can be built that will truly stand the test of time. This is why the gates of Hell will never prevail against the Church of Christ for it is built on He who is the divine Love from on high (Matthew 16: 18). Indeed, it is Love who opened His arms on the Holy Cross that we might have the possibility of salvation (Philippians 2:8).
Saint John Chrysostom says this on the love of God:
“God so loved the world that He gave His Only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
What He says, is this: Marvel not that I am to be lifted up that you may be saved, for this seems good to the Father, and He has so loved you as to give His Son for slaves, and ungrateful slaves. Yet a man would not do this even for a friend, nor readily even for a righteous man; as Paul has declared when he said, “scarcely for a righteous man will one die.” Here Christ speaks concisely for each word had much significance. For by the expression, so loved, and that other, God the world, He shows the great strength of His love. Large and infinite was the interval between the two. He, the immortal, who is without beginning, the Infinite Majesty. They who are but dust and ashes, full of ten thousand sins, ungrateful, and have at all times offended Him. These are the ones He loved. Again, the words which He added after these are alike significant, when He says, that He gave His Only-begotten Son. Not a servant, not an Angel, not an Archangel. And yet no one would show such anxiety for his own child, as God did for His ungrateful servants (Homily 27 on the Gospel of Saint John).”
There can be no doubt that this love of God is beyond anything man can show to his brother without the help of God. Yet, we are called to show a love such as this to our fellow human beings for in Christ we are given the grace to show such love.
As I have said over and over, if we are not connected to God through the Holy Mysteries of His Church then we truly cannot love as He loves. Nor can we truly live. We are called to put on the armour of God. This armour being the Holy Mysteries of His Church.
Saint Paul explains it like this in today’s Epistle:
“Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which, you will be able to quench the all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6: 11-17).”
What this means, is that by being joined to Christ’s Body the Church, through worthy reception of the Holy Mysteries of His Church (Holy baptism, Chrismation and The Holy Mystery of the Eucharist), we put on the armour of God. No one can ‘fight the good fight win the race’, to paraphrase Saint Paul in 2 Timothy 4: 7-8, without doing this.
The whole of salvific history tells the story of a loving God who seeks to sustain His beloved Children. This is shown for us in the account of the Exodus. What does the All-Holy Trinity do? He feeds His beloved Children on the manna from on high – this manna being a prefiguration of the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist (Exodus 16:31).
Psalm 78: 24-25 puts it in this way:
“He rained down manna upon them to eat and gave them food from Heaven. Man did eat the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance.”
This manna from on high being the very prefiguration of the greatest gift of all the Holy Mystery of the Holy Eucharist – Christ’s very presence here on earth.
Jesus, in John 6, explains the importance of receiving the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist in this way:
“Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from Heaven to eat’.”Then Jesus said to them, “most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from Heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from Heaven and gives life to the world.” Then they said, “Lord, give us this bread always.” Jesus said, “I am the Bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst…the Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the Bread which came down from Heaven.” And they said, “is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven?’ Jesus therefore answered them and said to them, “do not murmur to yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day… I am the Bread of life. Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the Bread which came down from Heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven. If anyone eats of this Bread, he will live forever; and the Bread I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world… “most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of man and drink His Blood, you have no life in you (John 6).”
Our Lord and Saviour could not be clearer, if we do not partake of the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist, we cannot have eternal life. Therefore, anyone who says that the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist is merely a memorial is wrong for if it were, then John 6 is merely a lie, a fabrication.
Here lies the problem, too many groups profess to proclaim what they believe to be the truth. Yet, this truth which they supposedly proclaim is not connected to the truth which is proclaimed by the Church of Christ, the Orthodox Church.
There cannot be multiple truths for one is either right or wrong. Unfortunately, these groups which seek to reform the truths of the Gospel of Christ into their preferred message cut themselves off from Christ’s Church.
Therefore, the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist is truly the most Holy Body and Blood of our Lord and Saviour – the most precious thing on this earth.
Saint Irenaeus of Lyon puts it in this way:
“But what consistency is there in those who hold that the bread over which thanks have been given is the Body of their Lord, and the cup His Blood, if they do not acknowledge that He is the Son of the Creator… How can they say that the flesh which has been nourished by the Body of the Lord and His Blood gives way to corruption and does not partake of life? …For as the bread from the earth, receiving the invocation of God, is no more common bread but the Holy Eucharist, consisting of two elements, earthly and Heavenly… (Against Heresies 4:18:4-5)”.
These words of Saint Irenaeus proclaim what the Church has always believed from the foundation of the New Covenant – the New Israel.
If it did not Saint Paul would not have written:
“The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a communion with the Blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the Body of Christ. For we though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one Bread (1 Corinthians 10: 16-17).”
The problem here for those who seek to interpret the Holy Eucharist as a symbolic act only (being a symbol of the body and blood of Christ), is that Saint Paul states exactly what the Holy Eucharist is – a vehicle whereby we are brought into communion with the Godhead.
Saint Paul clearly states that by receiving the Holy Eucharist we are brought into communion with our Creator. This is what the Church has always believed. To say otherwise is to invent another gospel which is not Christ’s gospel.
Indeed, prior to the Protestant rebellion there had been groups who were trying to preach that the Eucharist was merely symbolic which is why Saint Irenaeus of Lyon says this in his letter to the Smyrnaeans:
“They abstain from the Holy Eucharist and from Prayer, because they confess that the Holy Eucharist is not the very flesh of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who suffered for our sins, and who the Father of His goodness, raised up again. They who deny the gifts of God are perishing in their disputes.”
Now if the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist was just meant to be a symbol, bread standing in for the very Body of Christ and wine standing in place of the very Blood of Christ why would Saint Irenaeus write so strongly to the Smyrnaeans on the topic of the Holy Eucharist?
Moreover, Origen is very clear about how we ought to treat the Holy Eucharist with respect for he writes:
“You are accustomed to take part in the Divine Mysteries, so you know how, when you have received the Body of the Lord, you reverently exercise every care lest a particle of it fall, and lest anything of the consecrated gift perish…. how is it that you think neglecting the word of God a lesser crime than neglecting His Holy Body? (Homilies on Exodus 13:3)”
Are these the words of a man convinced that the Holy Eucharist is merely a symbol?
Furthermore, Saint Ephraim the Syrian talks about the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist in this way:
“Our Lord Jesus took in His hands what in the beginning was only bread; and He blessed it, and signed it, and made it holy in the name of the Father and in the name of the All-Holy Spirit; and He broke it and in His gracious kindness He distributed it to all His disciples one by one. He called the bread His living Body, and did Himself fill it with Himself and the Spirit. And extending His hand, He gave them the Bread which His right hand had made holy: "Take, all of you eat of this, which My word has made holy. Do not now regard as bread that which I have given you; but take, eat this Bread (of life), and do not scatter the crumbs; for what I have called My Body, that it is indeed. One particle from its crumbs is able to sanctify thousands and thousands, and is sufficient to afford life to those who eat of it. Take, eat, entertaining no doubt of faith, because this is My Body, and whoever eats it in belief eats in it Fire and Spirit. But if any doubter eats of it, for him it will be only bread (even though it is the very Body of our Lord and Saviour). And whoever eats in belief the Bread made holy in My name, if he be pure, he will be preserved in his purity; and if he be a sinner, he will be forgiven but if anyone despise it or reject it or treat it with ignominy, it may be taken as a certainty that he treats with ignominy the Son, who called it and actually made it to be His Body… After the disciples had eaten the new and holy Bread, and when they understood by faith that they had eaten of Christ's Body, Christ went on to explain and to give them the whole Mystery. He took and mixed a cup of wine. Then He blessed it, and signed it, and made it holy, declaring that it was His own Blood, which was about to be poured out…Christ commanded them to drink, and He explained to them that the cup which they were drinking was His own Blood: "This is truly My Blood, which is shed for all of you. Take, all of you, drink of this, because it is a new covenant in My Blood. As you have seen Me do, do you also in My memory. Whenever you are gathered together in My name in Churches everywhere, do what I have done, in memory of Me. Eat My Body, and drink My Blood, a covenant new and old." (Homilies 4:4; 4:6)
The Holy Mystery of the Eucharist is a great and awesome mystery. This reality is made clear to us in the prayer uttered by the priest as He divides the most precious Body of our Lord and Saviour in the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom he says:
“The Lamb of God is divided and distributed: although divided, yet never disunited; eaten, yet never consumed and sanctifies all who partake of Him.”
This prayer or credal statement, confirms what we Orthodox believe about the nature of the Holy Eucharist for when we worthily partake of this great and Holy Mystery we are sanctified and brought into communion with the All-Holy Trinity. The moment we receive the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist we are joined to Christ and though we are many we are made one in Christ’s Body the Church (1 Corinthians 10: 17).
Therefore, seek to receive the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist as often as is possible for it truly is our spiritual armour which protects us from the attacks of the evil one. Without receiving the Holy Eucharist, we do not have the grace of God within us and we are vulnerable to the attacks (physical or spiritual), of the evil one.
Therefore, this week take every opportunity to thank our Lord and Saviour for all the gifts which He gives us. Through these gifts we can truly understand how much He loves us and helps us if we let Him in.
“Every hymn is defeated that tries to make clear the many great compassions you rain upon us; if we offer to you, O Holy King hymns equal in number to the sand on the shores, nothing we have done is worthy of that which you have done for us who chant to you: Alleluia (Akathist to the All-Holy Theotokos, Kontakion 11).”
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