Homily on the 28th Sunday after Pentecost
Luke 13:10-17.
In this Sunday’s Gospel Our Lord and Saviour heals a woman on the day of the Jewish Sabbath. Now what is significant about this healing is that Christ performs it on the Sabbath, which according to the Jewish Levitical law is to be a day of rest. However, this great act of mercy and love is met with great disdain from the master of the Synagogue. However, Our Lord and Saviour is quick to point out to the chief Rabbi that even they are guilty of working on the Sabbath for each and everyone of them loosens their donkey from the wall to lead it to a well so that it may drink – this being a supposed violation of their law! Today the Gospel highlights the sheer hypocrisy of the Rabbi’s and Pharisees – a theme that is repeated over and over again in the four Gospels!
We the Body of Christ must always be on guard lest we ourselves become like the Pharisees so often attacked in the Gospels! It is very easy to become filled with pride and arrogance – who has not seen priests and servers carry themselves around the altar as if they are the most important ones on the face of the planet? In this situation where has, Christ been relegated to one must ask? Is not the Divine Liturgy where we (the Body of Christ) enter into more fully the mystery of Christ’s redemptive work carried out in His life, death, resurrection, and ascension into Heaven? Oftentimes, it seems that people like this assume that holiness can only be gained by walking around as if one is holier than thou! Christ is clear that attitudes like this before the All-Holy Trinity and His people will not save - for He states in Luke 18: 14 that:
“…For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
He also reiterates this truth when the disciples are arguing about who will be the greatest in Luke 9: 46. What does our Lord and Saviour do? He takes a little child near Him to show His disciples and says:
“…Whoever receives this little child in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent me. For he who is least among you all will be great. (Luke 9: 48).”
What this then means for us is that it is of no use for us to seek prestige in Christ’s Body the Church – for as Our Lord and Saviour is clear that in so doing one will become lesser! Moreover, as Saint Isaiah says in Isaiah 53:3-6:
“But in comparison to all men, His form was lacking in honour. He was a man in suffering and knew how to bear sickness. His face was turned away, and He was dishonoured and not esteemed (by His own people). He bears our sins and suffers for us, yet we considered Him to be in pain, suffering, and ill-treatment. But He was wounded because of our lawlessness and became sick because of our sins. The Chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His bruise we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. Man has gone astray in his way, and the Lord delivered Him over for our sins.”
Now in this extract from the prophesy of Saint Isaiah concerning Christ’s future suffering and death on the cross, we have Christ in the prophesy and in the reality of His suffering in the future (the actual events), showing us this exact attitude of humility– Christ was humbled so that we may be made spiritually well again and be brought back into the life of the All-Holy Trinity (Saint Isaiah lived 700 years before Christ)! This is why we Christ’s Body must follow His example of humility to the end – for in being humble we imitate Him Who is the perfect example of Christian living. It is a sad reality that there are many clergy that seek high office, however, what they do not realise is that if they seek this high office against the will of the All-Holy Trinity for power and prestige, they are essentially bringing condemnation upon themselves (for in so doing they are being the opposite of the Suffering Servant Christ)! There are countless stories of great saints who when elected to be consecrated bishops tried everything in their power not to be consecrated bishops! These holy saints all went on to become great and holy leaders - who we the Body of Christ the Church would do well to emulate!
Furthermore, it is vital that we always look after those little ones in Christ’s flock for Christ is clear that we are to:
“…Let the little children come unto Me, and do not forbid them; for such is the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 19:14).”
Now, in this passage ‘little children’ has a broader meaning, in that it can refer to those who are literally children, as well as those whose sincere faith renders them like little children. Remember, Christ is adamant that we in the Body of Christ (His Church) have a distinct duty to nurture the faith of these little ones for He states in Luke 17: 2 that:
“it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.”
What this means is that we the Church have the distinct duty to nurture the faith of these little ones and help them on their spiritual journey into the truth that is Christ’s Body. I have seen many little ones in the past hurt by and discouraged at the words of arrogant and conceited clergy and laity. Christ came to save the little ones for He did not come to save the spiritually well rather he came to save the sinners for He states in Mark 2:17 that:
“those who are well do not have need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Now in saying this Christ is not saying that the scribes and Pharisees were righteous but rather He knew that they in their conceit and arrogance would not listen to His message – for in many ways they were among the chief sinners as they created many laws which made it almost impossible for a normal person to be considered in good standing before the law. This is why Saint Paul asserts that the Levitical law could not save - rather Christ and His New Covenant saves for in 1 Corinthians 15:55-58 he states:
“Death, where is your sting? O Hades (Hell), where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law (the Levitical law) But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”
Finally, if we follow Christ’s commandments of Love (Mark 12:30-31) then we can only but do that which will enable us to be brought into Christ’s Body and in so doing by being steadfast in faith and deed be saved through our communion with Christ – the true rock of our faith. Let us always be open to welcoming people into the faith as they are for it is in so doing that, we can allow the All-Holy Spirit to commence His transformative work – turning that which is imperfect into that which will eventually be perfected. Think of it in this way when a child is learning to talk it makes no sense to punish the child harshly if it mispronounces a word for if one does this the child will give up and cease to speak. Also, we live in a time where people have been fed many garbled messages about what Christianity is and as a result, we the Church ought to kind and gentle towards people when they misunderstand the reality of the Church. One does not attract people with words of fire and brimstone but rather people are attracted to words of love and hope. This is our calling to spread the Gospel of love so that all may have the opportunity to work on their salvation in ‘fear and trembling’ (Philippians 2:12) before the loving presence of the ‘God who is a God who loves mankind’ (the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom).
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