WALLING UP WHAT LIES BEYOND!
A certain lawyer approached him and asked: “Rabbi, what is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Then Jesus replied saying: “You shall love the Lord who is God wholeheartedly – lifting your soul onto him and having your mind set on the Most High. This is the first of the great commandments; the second which renders justice to the first is as follows – Love your neighbour as your own self! All the prophets who testified to the law adhered to these very words!” (Mat 22: 35-40)
These days like yesteryear, there are those who must follow their faith in the sense of rule (Religion) in order for them to feel settled. On the other hand, there are those of us who live out our faith via good works and render assistance whenever we can. In many ways these are complimentary for we need to know what we believe and the way to go about it, but we also need to live by what we believe (mercy personified) – the reaching out onto others in their needs.
There seems to be a growing contradiction when you see so called Christians infused within the life of worship, but then when something is asked of them – they tend to turn the other way as seen in the parable of the good Samaritan (Lk 10: 31- ) it is true that we all suffer from mood swings and there are days that we just want to be left alone, but it can’t be like that for those of us who have been ordained. It can’t be like that for anyone who truly professes their faith in God’s intervention (Jesus Christ) who came to wake us up from delusion, make us aware of our surroundings, and call us to rise (grow to our full potential) – his Church made of living stone!
The reason why people don’t bother belonging to a faith or a church these days is because we have become stagnant – we have very little to offer, many are even uncertain of what they really believe. Yes, there are spiritual realities that the Lord warned us about, but in all honesty; these are not my words alone but of many who have come to the same conclusion: “Why are we coming to Church to be told that we are not good enough despite life’s problems – why is the Church so blooming obsessed with sin?”
This is a good question, for it is a heresy that has infiltrated the Church especially in the West – the impediment of sin is diabolical…..as the early monastics of the Egyptian desert constantly reminded their own: “If you fall – pick yourself up and continue; do not allow Satan to keep you wallowing in your sin!” The Lord knew we are bound to stuff up again and again – that’s why we have the mysteries of the Church especially holy anointing (for we are all broken and need God’s merciful touch) BUT if we want peace we need to render it and at times make it up to those we have hurt otherwise absolution will not happen regardless (Mat 5: 24-26)
At this moment the Pharisees had gathered and Jesus perceiving their hearts asked them: “What do you all think about the one who is Christ? Whose Son is he?’ With that they responded: “He is David’s Son!” Then Jesus replied: “Why then when David was filled with the Spirit whilst acclaiming in psalmody - calling the Christ ‘Lord’ exhorting: “The Lord Most High said to my Lord who comes in his name – sit at my right hand for I will make of your enemies thy very footstool!”? “Why then does David call him Lord – how then can he be his son?” (Mat 22: 41-45)
Unfortunately the Church or Christendom in general has totally watered down what we believe in order to make others happy – yet these will never accept our objectives but we must be quiet and allow what have you! There is a place for everyone, for every faith – we must coexist, yet why are we Christians bowing down to idols in the sense of putting Christ in the closet not to offend others???
The Apostle Paul addressing the Church present in Corinth stating: “The Cross is foolishness to others in their perishable existence, but for those of us who have been given the faith – God’s power for the world’s salvation!” (1Cor 1:18) Yet the cross has become foolishness to its own people – how many Christians have removed the cross form their worship areas in order to not offend! I admire the Italian people when there was a movement to take down the crosses from hospitals and other places due to causing offence; the people rebelled and the crosses went back up! We are experiencing spiritual schizophrenia which is evident in the fruits the so called church is producing; rotten to the core!!!
If people only experienced what our brothers and sisters go through in Iraq and Egypt – a land that runs red with the blood of the martyrs who wholeheartedly embrace the cross; we are a total disgrace to our venerable Church present in those lands! The cross is not the means of death, doom, and gloom, but God’s own testimony as the parent of us his kids – he places his life on the line to keep us safe. This symbol that has been so shunned, tarnished and misunderstood is the very testament of what one does out of love for their own (Jn 15:13) We have heard the saying ‘over my dead body’ yet the Father Pantocrator ascended the cross in the flesh so that all flesh may rise in his name! The Orthodox Church is not a death cult, but the faith which professes that LOVE (God) NEVER DIES!!!
On Friday we celebrated the Universal exultation of the life-giving cross – a practice from the Church of Jerusalem where the true cross was lifted high to expel all harm and disease in the power of faith. We orthodox Christians relive this moment yearly where a cross is raised in faith in the certainty that the Lord keeps us in his grace – the supernatural (grace) means of consolation and wholeness! A reminder that it was not a mere man who was nailed (many good people come and go), but God who took of Holy Mariam’s flesh, bone, and blood in order that man (humanity) may rise again on wings of prayer! We are not doomed to perish into dust, rather, love (God) nurtures the life he ushers into the world and guides it to bloom and grow in him for he is the vine and we are the fruit of the apostolic branches!
Hence, we all know this very account which has left a profound imprint on humanity……..undoubtedly most of us have encountered crosses in various places along roadsides; automatically we say to ourselves “something tragic happened here – someone or various people have lost their life in this particular spot!” Hence, the cross which began as an instrument of torture has become the insignia of death and its hold over creation.
Unfortunately we are drifting way from our faith – our apostolic heritage with various temporary alternatives society fathoms……! We believe in good luck rather than grace, in fate rather than the freedom of conscience given us by the giver of life and source of all blessings! A perfect example of this is found in the phrase “touch wood!” We have truly lost the origins of this notion which is used as a talisman so to speak against any negative occurrence; “what are its origins?”
On Good Friday we come to church to TOUCH the wood of the cross….to KISS the wood of the cross, to VENERATE the wood of the cross; this very wood which begun as the instrument of torture and death has become the means of redemption and hope for those who were lost but now have been reclaimed by love personified who shed his blood in the assurance that through his wounds we find strength and are healed. Thus, the cross is our story, our glory, and our song and as a holy people via the baptism we have received. The cross is the first symbol we receive traced on our foreheads at birth and last symbol traced with sanctified oil on our foreheads at death: we thus cry out in hymnody and sing: “sweetest wood, and sweetest nails, sweetest weight is hung on thee!”
The year is almost drawing to a close and the festive season will come upon us once more – thinking of our crucified Lord; “Will we leave Christ out of Christmas this year too???”
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