Homily on the 36th Sunday after Pentecost
Luke 18: 35-43.
In today’s Gospel we have recounted for us the healing of the blind man by our Lord and Saviour in Jericho. The most striking thing in this account of the man’s healing is the faith that the man has in our Lord and Saviour. Faith is something that our Lord and Saviour reveals to be a powerful force in one’s life for in Mark 11: 24 our Lord and Saviour states that:
“Therefore, I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”
What this means for us as Christians is that when we ask things of the All-Holy Trinity, we must trust that if they are beneficial for us they will be granted to us. For instance, if our prayer is for the harm of another - well, of course, it will not be granted; for to wish for such a thing goes against Christ’s command to ‘love one another as I have loved you (John 13: 34). This then entails that like a loving parent of a child, the All-Holy Trinity knows what will be for our benefit – a good parent would never let a child eat as many sweets as they want for it will be to their detriment! Like children, this can be difficult for us especially if what we are asking for seems not to materialise however, oftentimes the All-Holy Trinity will provide us with something better than we asked for! Moreover, our Lord and Saviour is adamant that we must not give into worry of any sort for he states:
“Therefore, I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they (Matthew 6: 25-26)?”
What this means is as Christians we must trust the All-Holy Trinity, even when it seems as if all is lost. For in the end, the All-Holy Trinity will provide what is needed if one has faith and seeks to also co-operates with His grace.
Many people tend to say that they have faith, yet they seem to forget that, whilst having faith is good, one also needs to do things to show that faith in action. For Saint James says in James 2: 14-17 that:
“what does it benefit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Depart in peace, be warmed and filled’, but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus, faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead”.
This is why the old adage that, ‘God helps those who help themselves’, is true. Think of it in this way, say one needs to pass an important test who will the All-Holy Trinity help; the person who studies hard or the person who does no study and simply expects God to help them? Similarly, it is useless to say, ‘I am saved’, as many people say who belong to various protestant sects, for Saint Paul is adamant that you are to:
“…Work out your own Salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Philippians 2: 12-13)”.
What this means is that if one is to be saved in the end like the great saints of the Orthodox Church – one must have faith in the All-Holy Trinity, but one also needs to put into practice this faith by doing good works! Therefore, salvation (theosis) is worked out throughout one’s life and is an ongoing process! One is not simply saved once and for all -this can only happen at the moment one leaves this world; provided one has, ‘fought the good fight and finished the race’ enabling one to enter into that deep communion with the All-Holy Trinity which is theosis – as have all the great Orthodox Saints who are part of the Communion of Saints (2 Timothy 4:7)!’
Life today can be complicated with one being exposed to many different contradictory messages making it hard at times to lead a good Christian life. However, we as Christians have such good role models in the saints on how to live good, holy, joyous and Christian lives! As a school teacher, I often worry about the content students are listening to and watching in their own time. Back in the day, we used to ensure that all students had good role models to look up to, now if one looks at the people children and teens are taught to admire there is definitely something lacking! One only has to look at the sentiments expressed in much hip hop music to gain an understanding of why our youth can sometimes become so morally bankrupt! Furthermore, it is no surprise why there is so much violence and depression in our culture, because many of the ‘role models’ the young are encouraged to look up to - advocate lifestyles filled with nihilistic, materialistic and debauch values! Indeed, if one looks at the personal lives of many of the celebrities one often sees people who in many ways are to be pitied, for oftentimes their lives are filled with loneliness, sadness and the curse of drugs used to fill the void in their hearts! How is a society supposed to get better if the values popular culture expresses are values along the lines of nihilism, materialism and debauchery? We as a society and as Christians have a duty to our young to teach them healthy and respectful values. Who in their right mind would solely feed a child on Coca-Cola and McDonalds and expect them to grow up strong and healthy? Why then are we letting our children grow up in such a perverse culture and expecting them to grow up spiritually and mentally healthy? Clearly, this is madness for Saint Paul is clear that ‘we will reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7)!’ Now this is not to say that people cannot have fun but rather that we need to show our youth the value of respectful fun. This is to say by all means have fun but make sure that by having fun one is not harming one’s self or others – this seems to be a concept that has been lost in today’s party culture! For instance, how many drug deaths at music festivals do we need before we wake up and realise, we need to give our youth better values?
Many in society today seem to be happy that so many people have lost sight of the All-Holy Trinity, but I ask you what have they replaced Him with? It seems as if they have replaced Him with an almighty emptiness! It is a well-known fact that people long for the holy – this is why the liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom has the exclamation before Holy Communion, ‘the Holy for the holy’, as an acknowledgment that all are hungry for the grace and light that only the All-Holy Trinity can provide! Again, why were the communists in Russia unable to stamp out the Catacomb Orthodox Church? Quite simply because people had a hunger for, He who is Holy and Great beyond our limited human experience!
Finally, as I feel it is important for people to have good role models, I have decided to start a feature on the blog which will go, up at least once a fortnight, which will talk about some of the notable saints celebrated in that fortnight. I feel it should a good tool to help people find good role models to model their Christian lives on.
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