Author: St. Vincent's Orthodox Church, Saskatoon

LUKE 16:19-31

The Lord said, “There was a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazaros, full of sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table; moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried; and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far off and Lazaros in his bosom. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Lazaros to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazaros in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses, and the prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if some one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to them, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if some one should rise from the dead.’

The story is telling us to: Take the opportunity to do good while you have it.

Lazarus is so hungry he “wants to eat the crumbs that fall from the rich man’s table” – how hungry do you have to be to long for crumbs?

You have to be really vindictive to deny people the crumbs that you don’t need or want. We can easily understand the evil and dark-heartedness of denying food or material goods to people when we don’t need them for ourselves. And yet we also deny people many things that we ourselves don’t need.

That is what is going on when we are judging other people. You need compassion and understanding. You need empathy. You need the benefit of the doubt. But I won’t give it to you. I don’t gain anything by denying you that respect. But I am denying it to you anyway.

When we read today about the rich man denying Lazarus the poor man even the crumbs that fall of the table, we should consider that the crumbs do not just represent material things, they represent immaterial things as well.

When we read about bread in words spoken by Jesus, we should immediately think of communion: the bread of life. The crumbs that fall off the table are small pieces of communion. They are small every-day pieces of God’s love that we can give to people. They are the presence of God that people long and yearn for.

For example, the lady at the bank who isn’t so helpful. God can fill my heart with love for her so that I pray for her, silently, in my heart, instead of judging her. Even if she doesn’t deserve it, you can speak to her with respect and kindness. That is like giving the crumbs to Lazarus.

Or perhaps my child’s teacher at school. Maybe she’s too strict and gives your child too much homework – God can fill my heart with love for her so that I can tell her “thank you for all your hard work”. God shows us that like Lazarus, many of the people around us are hurting.

It’s easy to cut ourselves off from strangers. It is easy to feel that, “I don’t know this person, how much can I really bless them?”

Giving out these crumbs of the communion with God is the job of priests, and in the metaphorical sense I am describing today, we are all priests. This is the distribution of communion that belongs to the priesthood of all believers.

When we judge others, when we deny others respect, we are not only denying them something. We are denying ourselves the opportunity to embody that priesthood. We are setting aside our calling and our inheritance, and locking ourselves out of the Kingdom of Heaven.

But remember that Lazarus is hungry even for the crumbs on the floor. The strangers and half-acquaintances in our lives are starving for just a crumb of the love that God has given to us in our Christian faith. Even a crumb can be life-giving.

If I told you your salvation is to be found in serving others, you might go out and try to find someone to serve, and might end up heartbroken because there is so much suffering in the world and you are not able to significantly diminish it. You can work your whole life at serving those who suffer, and in the end, there will be just as many suffering people; more every day. Are you going to give every orphan a home? Are you going to feed every starving person? If you look at the suffering in the world you will learn that you have no power.

You have no power, but God does have power.

When did we see God at his most powerful? What is the most powerful thing God has done? Dying on the cross. That is the glorious power of God: the powerlessness and weakness of a love which is steadfast and so powerful that it can recreate the world.

The power of Jesus is his trust in the Father. Jesus trusts his Father and he loves us, and so he dies and breaks down the iron gates of hell.

We are all the rich man, and we need the poor man Lazarus. When we trust in God, when we learn to love our neighbour we become powerful in the way that God is powerful. We gain the power of love.

The name Lazarus (originally Eleazar) means “God helps.” Who did God want to help? He wanted to help the rich man, so he sent him Lazarus.

God wants to help you, which is why he sends you people in your life that are difficult, hurting and dysfunctional, infuriating and pathetic and needy; people who are blind and deaf to their own misery and the misery of others; people who want something from you but seem to have nothing to give you. God is helping you by giving you someone like that to love and serve.

Lord Jesus Christ, our God, you are sitting outside my gate, asking for a crumb from my table. Give me a watchful and loving heart so that I do not pass you by. Help me to receive the gift of the wounded people around me, and to find the Kingdom of Heaven.

Amen.

Jonah was a prophet living in Israel around 700 AD. God told him to go to Nineveh and preach repentance to the people. Nineveh was the capitol of an empire and that empire was mistreating the Israelites. Nineveh was the center of an evil empire, from Jonah’s perspective. It was also a place with immense power.

Jonah didn’t want to go. He didn’t want the people in Nineveh to repent. He wanted God to destroy them. He didn’t want to be at risk of getting killed for his message. So he got on a boat and sailed as far away from Nineveh as he could.

God sent a great storm, and the people on the boat thought that they were all going to die. Then Jonah told them that he was the one who caused the storm by disobeying God. Jonah told the people that if they threw him overboard the storm would stop.

Jonah thought he was going to drown; that God was punishing him. He faced the consequences of his actions. But when he was struggling to keep afloat in the stormy water, and when he thought he would drown, a whale came and swallowed him. And he stayed alive inside the whale for 3 days.

When we make wrong choices, the consequences begin to become more than we can manage. But this is not a punishment from God.

Sometimes it is just the broken, fallen world we live in that gives us more than we feel we can bear. It is tempting to impose the narrative that “God is punishing me” because maybe then I can bargain with God and buy back my freedom. In that mindset the goal of worship is to get what I want from God. God becomes a kind of Santa Claus figure, the only role my personal faith plays, in this model, is to get from the naughty list to the nice list.

But the goal of true worship is to become one with Jesus Christ. Not to get God to do something.

When our trials and challenges become overwhelming it is common for our only focus to be on the problems, not on the possibilities.

I don’t have money. How do I get more money? I am suffering. How do I find relief? Something unfair is happening to me. How do I get justice?

To be sure, we need to have money, we need to relieve our pain and we need justice. But even when you get those things, then there is another question you need to consider: Who is the person who gets the money? What kind of person is she when she gets it? What kind of person are you going to be when you get out of your current predicament, whatever it is?

The person who wants to control God through bartering and observance of rules is actually disinterested in God, and has no relationship with God. The person who only focuses on solving problems loses any sense of identity.

Who am I in the midst of my challenges?

Let’s read from today’s gospel:

At that time, there came to Jesus a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue; and falling at Jesus’ feet he besought him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying.

The rulers of the synagogue were often the ones who did NOT like Jesus, and did NOT like his miracles.

For example:

Luke 6: man with a withered hand healed on the Sabbath: the religious leaders did not like it.

Luke 7: a woman who was a sinner washed Jesus feet with her tears, but the Pharisees were indignant that he let her touch him.

We’re going to hear about touching Jesus in a minute. But this man, Jairus, was in a place of desperation. His desperation brought him to Jesus.

Now the story gets interrupted as Jesus is going to Jairus’ house:

As Jesus went, the people pressed round him. And a woman who had had a flow of blood for twelve years and had spent all her money on physicians and could not be healed by anyone,

Weakness and helplessness caused her to be in a state of desperation when Jesus came. She was someone who was used to having enough money for doctors. But when the money ran out, the person who, perhaps would not have come to Jesus otherwise, now came to Jesus.

came up behind him, and touched the fringe of his garment; and immediately her flow of blood ceased. And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?”

Under the Jewish laws of purity, this woman was not actually allowed to touch people because of her illness.

She broke the rules to be healed.

When all the people denied it, Peter and those who were with him said, “Master, the multitudes surround you and press upon you!” But Jesus said, “Some one touched me; for I perceive that power has gone forth from me.”

And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. And Jesus said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”

This was a woman who was used to hiding.

Now she saw that she was not hidden anymore. She was someone who was used to having the power and the privilege to make her problems go away. But now she is brought face to face with a few things:

She was brought face to face with her sickness (no one in the crowd knew that she had been sick otherwise but now they knew). She was brought face to face with her estrangement from society by all the people who new understood that she was ritually unclean. She was brought face to face with her desperation and weakness that were so immense that she was willing to take such a big risk to find healing. She was brought face to face with her belief that Jesus could heal her. Jesus wanted her to reflect and internalize these insights.

“Faith has made you well,” he said. In other words, faith caused you to go do something about it and that made you well.

Jesus does not say faith is some kind of a magic ticket to make God do what you want. When Jesus says, “faith has made you well,” he means – take a moment and think about how utterly convinced you were of my power, that you were willing to go this far to find me! Don’t forget that you were that convinced that I am the Son of God. Because that belief, and the lifestyle it leads to, are the only way to actually be saved. Don’t set aside that faith now that you have what you came for.

While he was still speaking, a man from the ruler’s house came and said, “Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher any more.” But Jesus on hearing this answered him, “Do not fear; only believe, and she shall be well.”

So this man is not only desperate but now bereaved and his soul is crushed. He was too late.

And at this moment Jesus is asking him to believe. Believe what? Again, faith is not a magic ticket that makes God do what we want.

Jesus was not asking this man to magically convince himself of an idea that could not be believed. Jesus was asking this man to take an honest look at his own belief in Jesus, the belief that caused the man to come to Jesus in the first place, and to realize that he not only believed that Jesus could heal, Jairus also believes, if he would only realize it, he believes that Jesus can raise someone from the dead. Deep down inside, Jairus knows that Jesus is the Son of God.

Jesus was causing Jairus to really truly understand the extent of his own faith, knowing that he was capable of so much more.

The story continues:

And when Jesus came to the house, he permitted no one to enter with him, except Peter and John and James, and the father and mother of the child. And all were weeping and bewailing her; but he said, “Do not weep; for she is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead.

Here “laughing” does not mean “ha ha ha,” it means that they rolled their eyes and shook their heads and thought Jesus was in denial. They thought he was ridiculous.

But Jesus, taking her by the hand, called saying, “Child, arise.” And her spirit returned

By the way, “her spirit returned,” does not mean that there was this ghost wafting up into the air and then it came back down.

Spirits are not like the cartoons where when someone dies a little angel in the shape of the person, with wings and a halo, starts to float up into the sky.

The Spirit is not a THING that came back. She started breathing again. Spirit means breath or wind. Her breath came back and she started breathing again. It’s important to point out that as Orthodox Christians we do not believe in ghosts and spirits of people floating around in the ether.

Her spirit returned, and she got up at once; and Jesus directed that something should be given her to eat. And her parents were amazed; but he charged them to tell no one what had happened.

Why is Jesus so secretive? He doesn’t let anyone into the room with him except three disciples and the parents. And now he says they should not tell anyone about the miracle. Why?

I think Jesus knew that they would be persecuted if they told everyone.

I think Jesus didn’t want them to suffer unnecessarily before they were ready.

Maybe they needed to grow in the faith first, and become part of the post-resurrection church community first, and then they would be ready to suffer for their faith. I don’t know for sure, but that’s my theory.

I think also Jesus wanted his teaching about how to be saved to be the primary thing people knew about him,

not just that he could do miracles. He wanted people to hear his message.

So let’s sum up the stories from the gospel today:

The woman who was bleeding was brought – by her desperation – to seek Jesus. And Jesus asked her to think about her situation, to realize how much she was suffering,

to realize how ready she was, in the midst of her desperation, to trust Jesus. Jesus wanted her to be strengthened in her faith, and he used her desperation as a context in which to meet her.

Then Jesus used the desperation of Jairus to do the same thing. Jairus thought that his daughter has just died,

and Jesus asks Jairus, “what made you come to me? Surely you came to me because you believed that I have something you need. Maybe you would not have figured that out without something so tragic happening to you.

Now, in the moment of desperation, that faith in me is the only thing you have, and I want you to hold on to it.

I want to be sure you will not lose the precious gift you have been given.”

Today we also read from 2^nd Corinthians. Paul writes:

To keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I besought the Lord about this, that it should leave me; but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

It is a great gift to realize how much we need Jesus. Because then we are motivated enough to turn to him wholeheartedly and sincerely. When we realize that we are weak, we rely on Jesus. We accept the tools he has given us for our salvation so much more readily.

He has given us the tools of self-denial and repentance. He has given us the tools of confession, of asking for forgiveness, the tools of practicing virtue and righteousness.

He has given us services and service. He has given us his Spirit, the prayers of the Church, the bible, and our calling to wash the feet of our brothers and sisters.

Jesus has given us these tools, and only those who know that Jesus is their only hope truly embrace these tools in order to find Jesus.

Now at the beginning we were telling a story about Jonah. Remember Jonah got swallowed by the whale just as he thought he was going to die.

Listen to what Jonah says from the belly of the whale:

Listen to what Jonah says from the belly of the whale:
“In my distress I called to the LORD,
and he answered me.
In my soul’s distress I called for help,
and you listened to me.
You hurled me into the depths,
into the very heart of the seas,
and the currents swirled about me;
all your waves and breakers swept over me.
I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight;
yet I will look again
toward your holy temple.’
The engulfing waters threatened me,
the deep surrounded me;
seaweed was wrapped around my head.
To the roots of the mountains I sank down;
the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you, LORD my God,
brought my life up from the pit.
“When my life was ebbing away,
I remembered you, LORD,
and my prayer rose to you,
to your holy temple.
“Those who cling to worthless idols
turn away from God’s love for them.
But I, with shouts of grateful praise,
will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the LORD.’ ”

When Jonah is in the belly of the whale, he says that the idolaters have turned away from God’s love for them.

In the storm and the inside  the whale Jonah discovers God’s love. He discovers gratitude. He says he will sacrifice with shouts of grateful praise. He says that salvation comes from the Lord.

Jonah went and preached to Nineveh and they repented. And God did not destroy them, just like he did not destroy Jonah who repented. May we also find the love of God in the midst of our struggles, and trust in him all the days of our life.

Amen.

The bible tells us that Judas was a thief before he became a disciple of Jesus.

Judas was a thief. The bible does not tell us what kind of a thief he was, but we know that there were bandits in those days who were ideological freedom-fighters, guerilla warriors who were trying to undermine the occupying Romans.

They tried to disrupt the Romans in retaliation for the unreasonable taxes that the Romans enforced. Because the Romans basically got local gangsters to extort the poor. The bandits stole back money that had been stolen.

But these bandits also needed to eat like everyone else. As a matter of fact, there is a long history in the world of Robin Hood type fighters who blur the lines between killing and stealing for the cause, on the one hand, and killing and stealing for their own benefit on the other hand.

So Judas was this money-conscious person, who wanted to see the Romans defeated, and the Kingdom of Israel restored. He was a guy who fought for the underdog. He was a political activist. And Judas was in charge of the money that Jesus and the disciples were given by their benefactors.

Judas was present when Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, washed Jesus feet with perfume. The bible tells us that Mary was so thankful to Jesus that he forgave her sins and so grateful to Jesus that he delivered her and then raised her brother Lazarus from the dead, she was so grateful that she poured out a whole pint of perfume, and then washed his feet with her hair and her tears.

Judas saw this and he was angry that she wasted something so expensive, especially in this over-the-top and embarrassing display of affection. He argued that the perfume could have been sold and the money could have been used for the poor.

Most of us think that we would never have taken Judas’ side in this argument. When I was preparing this sermon it occurred to me that if I had been there, I would have sided with Judas. The perfume was worth one year’s wages. That’s like $50,000 today.

You’re telling me that you are righteous and pious because you poured out a liquid worth $50,000 on someone’s feet? Of course I would be indignant because of all the good that money could have done for the poor!

Well the story of Judas continues.

Judas gets paid money to tell the Chief Priests where they can arrest Jesus without causing a riot. Judas helps them arrest Jesus quietly in the garden of gethsemane at night. A lot of people think that the only reason Judas did this was to earn 30 pieces of silver. About a month’s salary. But I have heard another theory that is really interesting, and I offer it to you not as fact, but as food for thought.

If Judas was a freedom-fighter, and if Judas, just like the other disciples, thought that Jesus was going to wage a war against the Romans, then Judas thought he was helping Jesus by instigating a conflict. Perhaps Judas thought that by bringing soldiers to arrest Jesus he would force Jesus to defend himself and start the war. And then if there was a war, Jesus would win and establish his kingdom in Israel.

I believe that is what Judas was doing. He was on the side of the poor and oppressed. He took the side of the underdog. And he was trying to defeat the bully. He thought he was doing something good.

The story of Judas is really challenging for people who are action people. Let’s stop talking and get this thing done. This story is also challenging for people who are generous and love charity and who have a burning desire to help the oppressed. Will we cross a line in the name of helping others? When does loving the victim turn into hating the person we think is oppressing the victim? When does concern and compassion turn into anger and hate? That is one of the challenges that I find myself confronted with when I think about the story of Judas.

I also find the story of Judas challenging when I look around at society outside our church, and I see people outside the bounds of our church and people who do not believe in our values and they are nonetheless doing good works for people in need. I begin to wonder, do we actually have the moral high ground? Do we have the moral authority to insist on our vision for the family, our understanding of purity and holy living? Do we have the right to voice an opinion about morality to people who also care about the poor? To people who also seem to love their neighbor, and maybe seem to even do it better than us?

In the gospel we hear about the pharisees who are legalistic but do not care for the poor. And so Christians today naturally understand the dangers of Christianity becoming pharisaical and hypocritical. We very easily identify with the notion that, “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” We are all familiar with the notion that our society has tended to be puritanical, legalistic, moralistic, and yet completely heartless all at the same time. We know that story.

And so it is a very difficult thing to accept that our church would have anything to say about morals, given the lessons we should have learned from history. How do we have the right to stand for any morals when legalism has replaced love so often in the past?

This conundrum is exaggerated by the fact that there are people of other religions who also give to the poor. There are people of other lifestyles, with very different morals than our morals, who are generous and kind to animals and to children, and homeless people. And so what right do we have to speak about morality, when we aren’t doing everything we can to give food to the hungry?

I think that question is basically the same question as Judas asked when Mary poured out the perfume on Jesus’ feet.

What right do you have to do something that can only possibly have spiritual value when there is so much pragmatic value that could be had from the same object? Perfume in this case. How can you pour out precious things to your God when there are people who need them?

The vision of charity that speaks with the same voice as Judas is still nonetheless a vision of charity. Some people do good and are active in charity without loving God.

But the story of Judas shows us that a love for our neighbor that is not rooted in the love of God is shallow and crumbles under pressure.

Judas, in his less-talk-more-action mindset causes something terrible to happen. And because the self-offering of Christ is both a sacrifice of righteousness to God, and a gift to the poor, Judas could not see the death of Jesus on the cross as anything but a defeat. Judas was blind to the value of worshiping God in spirit and in truth.

Judas probably thought the first commandment (love the Lord your God with all your heart) was a waste of time. And he could not see how embracing powerlessness, he could not see how trusting God even in the face of defeat, could do more good for than any war ever could.

We humans often do good because we like to see people smile, we like to see the effects of our work. We like results. We also like to be admired by other people for the good things we do. We like to feel good and righteous about ourselves.

Not only do we like to feel good and righteous about our own work, without the love of Christ, our good works and charitable intentions can devolve into rage against evil-doers (as we perceive them) and hatred in the name of loving other people. Because of so-called love for the marginalized, we begin to feel obligated to hate the oppressor. Many wars have been fought in the name of loving the people, defending the people.

Jesus tells us a story in today’s gospel reading about what happens when he preaches the gospel. (This is taken from Luke 8 and rearranged for the sake of explanation)

The Lord said this parable: “A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell along the path, and was trodden under foot, and the birds of the air devoured it.

And Jesus explains

The seed is the word of God [Christ]. The [seeds that fell] along the path are [a metaphor for] those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, that they may not believe and be saved.

So some people hear what we have to say in Jesus name, but end up not believing. The most important aspect of this seed, the Word, is that it is not just a message but the beginning of synergy with God the Word who is loves the world and saves it. What the devil steals from these people is the willingness to love the world in the way Jesus does; selflessly and with purity of heart.

Jesus continues,

And some fell on the rock; and as it grew up,  [the plant] withered away, because it had no moisture.

And Jesus explains,

… the [seeds that fell] on the rock are [a metaphor for] those people who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy; but these have no root, they believe for a while and in time of temptation [Matthew 13:21 says persecution] these people fall away.

The person who loves for good things to be done for the poor and vulnerable, but who does not love God will most likely have a short-lived flirt with doing good.

Or else doing good will always be on the terms of the giver, never for the long-term salvation of the recipient.

Charity like this is patronizing and colonial. Charity like this only provides for material needs, but has no vision. Charity like this is done by people who always want to teach the poor, but never live in communion with the poor.

When it begins to actually cost more than their surplus income, these people usually give up.

I believe the “root” that is lacking is the root of repentance. If I am not willing to endure the pain of self-examination, then I will probably not endure the pain of suffering on behalf of others.

And that is because self-examination, repentance, confession is something I do for the sake of others. I try to root out my sins for the benefit of others.

But if we are not even trying to root out our sin, if we hold on to sin in defiance of God, we show that in all likelihood we will not be able to do more for the poor than give them the scraps of our material excess.

Jesus continues,

“And some seeds fell among thorns; and the thorns grew with it and choked it.”

And Jesus explains,

And as for [the seeds that] fell among the thorns, they are those [people] who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life [Matthew 13:22 – worries of this life and deceitfulness of wealth], and their fruit does not mature.

For our time, I would interpret the thorns as a metaphor for the cares of competing world views. Sometimes I listen to people talking about political issues and I agree quite a lot. There are some groups of people who are exploited, and it’s unjust. There is discrimination and violence against certain groups of people, and that seems unfair and wrong. I can personally sympathize with a lot of the anger and disappointment that is expressed in the world of politics. I start to feel oppressed myself, even though I am not really in one of the disadvantaged groups.

But just like the thorns and the wheat compete for the nutrients in the ground, the problems of the world compete for my attention and my concern. I can only serve one master. I can only be scandalized – truly and utterly scandalized to the point of being moved to action – by one thing. And if that one thing is not my own sin then my anger and disappointment with injustice is pretty much meaningless.

If my sin is not the biggest injustice and scandal I know of, I am not doing the most I can do for the world. Because my sin is something I can do something about, whereas many of the other problems in the world are beyond my control.

Do I really care all that much, if I am not doing the one thing needed, the one and only thing that I actually control in this universe: repenting of my own sins? Am I really putting my money where my mouth is, if I am not doing my part first?

Jesus’ model is this:

Jesus says,

Some seeds fell into good soil and grew, and yielded [fruit] a hundredfold.” And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said, … [the seeds] in the good soil … are those [people] who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience.”

Whenever we talk about people bearing fruit, I want to bring our attention back to St. Paul who says,

“the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, for each one should carry their own load. Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor.”

Galatians 5:22–6:6

In the passage I just read from Galatians, the last sentence is especially tricky. It says in Greek, let the one who has been catechized (literally catechumenized) in the word, commune (or let him become a partner) with the one who catechized him in all good things.

In other words, the Christian vision of charity is to follow Christ in his character, to become a partner with him in his offering of his life to the Father as worship. And in doing so, we cultivate love, joy, peace, patience, kindness and goodness. We do not allow ourselves to become indignant about anyone else’s actions.

What we just read from Galatians said, “Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, for each one should carry their own load.”

But that last bit is so interesting to me.

Let the catechumen become a partner with the one who catechized him in the word – a partner in all good things.

What I take away from that verse is that my life and my actions as a whole will be instructive to someone else. Like it or not, I am a teacher of others. At the very least I am a teacher of my children.

And it is important to get the whole big picture right, not just the part about compassion for the poor. My commitment to doing the hard work of self-examination and repentance needs to be as robust as my commitment to compassion for the oppressed. I need to be willing to be challenged about my sinfulness if my generosity is to have the effect that I want.

I need to be seen to be offering my offerings to the Father in order to teach my children how to be children of the Father.

When Jesus said, “man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word which proceeds from the mouth of God,” perhaps he meant that yes, we need to provide for each other’s material needs, but in the end a human being is called to shine with the light of the crucified Christ, not just to have a full belly. Yes, we need to give people the shirt off our back, but then we need to give them a cross to carry – otherwise we are not giving them the good news.

When Jesus healed the sick it was on his way to the cross.

Jesus said,

“Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.”

John 12:24–26

I say this in election season as a challenge to all of us no matter what our inclination is politically. I happen to have the advantage of not knowing about, nor indeed caring about Canadian politics. But I have devoted large amounts of time and effort in the past towards participating in political dialogue.

And I am personally challenged when I read today’s readings. My energy and my attention are like the soil that the seeds are planted in. There is not enough nutrition to go around for both the thorns and the wheat.

I have to choose what is the MOST important thing for me to be enraged by. If it is not my own sin, then I will be lost, no matter how much merit the political message has. My own sin is the biggest scandal.

When Judas saw that his activism had caused the death of Jesus, he gave up any hope of being redeemed, and hanged himself. He could have repented. He could have said he was sorry, and Jesus would have forgiven him. By betraying Jesus and hanging himself afterwards, Judas showed that he did not believe that he could be saved. He did not try to repent of his sins, he just tried to save the world.

We should repent of our sins first, because Jesus has promised us that it is through the forgiveness of sins that true life will come into the world. And then we should also remember the poor.

I pray that Jesus will give you a vision of how worshiping in church, offering your time and money and talents to the church, how confession and self-examination and prayer are highly pragmatic things to do. If you are all about doing, then do these things first. And the love and concern for the poor and the oppressed will not only remain in your heart, but will be brought to a Christian maturity that is life-giving and not just life-preserving.

May the Holy Spirit fill us with the love of God and of his righteousness, and then equip us to serve our neighbors as if Christ himself were in our midst.   

Marina was the child of wealthy Christian parents. Her mother died when Marina was very young, so Marina was raised as a devout Christian by her father Eugenius. As Marina approached marriageable age, her father intended to find his child a husband and then retire to a Monastery. When Marina learned of his plan, she asked why he intended to save his own soul and destroy hers? When asked by her father, “What shall I do with you? You are a woman”, Marina answered that she would live as a monk with him: she then shaved her head and changed into men’s clothes. Eugenius, seeing his child’s strong determination, gave all his possessions to the poor and traveled with Marina to the monastery to live in monastic community life, where they shared a cell. She took the name Marinos. The other monks attributed her soft voice to long periods of prayer, or else believed their new brother was a male eunuch.

After ten years of prayer, fasting and worship together, Eugenius died. Now alone, Marina became only more intently ascetic, and continued to conceal her sex. One day, the abbot of the monastery sent her with three other monks to attend to some business for the monastery. As the journey was long, they were forced to spend the night at an inn. Also lodging there was a soldier of the eastern Roman front. Upon seeing the beauty of the innkeeper’s daughter, who was working there, the soldier seduced her and defiled her virginity, instructing her to say, “it was the monk, Father Marinos, who has done this to me” should she conceive a child.

After some time, it was discovered that the inn keeper’s daughter was pregnant and, as was agreed, she told her father that Marinos (Marina) was to blame. On hearing the story, the man went furiously to the abbot of the monastery. The abbot calmed the man and told him that he would see to the matter. He called for Marina and reprimanded her severely. 

How would you feel if you were Marina? If you were a woman accused of getting another woman pregnant? Angry. Falsely accused. Helpless. 

In today’s gospel we meet other people who are also grieving and who are experiencing sorrow.

At that time, Jesus went to a city called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. As he drew near to the gate of the city, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a large crowd from the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” And he came and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up, and began to speak. And he gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all; and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!

Luke 7:11-16

The widow was a very vulnerable person in Israelite society. She has no one to defend her, to provide for her. She is at the mercy of everyone. There is a reason why Jesus saw a widow who who only has two pennies bringing them to the temple.

The widow is part of a kind of figure of speech, or a shorthand for vulnerable people. For example, in Exodus it says, “Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless.”

He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing.

Deut. 10:18

When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

Deut. 24:19

“to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless.”

Isaiah 10:2

They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.”

Mark 12:40

The widow in today’s gospel has only one son and he died. The only person in the world who was obligated to help her has died. And all her neighbors and friends come to grieve with her. But if they are so grieved why don’t they take her in to their house? Why don’t they provide for her?

Ungodly sorrow or “worldly sorrow” is sorrow which takes no responsibility. Something undesirable has happened, I am hurt, I am grieving, traumatized, offended, angry, humiliated, wrongly accused, misunderstood.

Worldly sorrow stops there. Worldly sorrow doesn’t want to go beyond that. In today’s world the “victim” of injustice has a kind of sacred status. The person who has been wronged, or at least can say that they have been wronged, has this status, and everyone suddenly treats them like a celebrity. The anger of the victim is listen to as a kind of prophetic truth. And because the victim is given so much attention, they have this status of being what all of us wish we could be. We all want to be listened to, so the status of victim becomes very desirable.

But worldly sorrow only wants to be angry and right. Victims today are believed to be telling the truth when they accuse people, simply because they say that they are victims. If you have the status of a victim than whatever you say is believed.

And everyone wants to become a victim. Then you are untouchable. No one can question whether you’re telling the truth or not, whether you are being reasonable, whether you also did something wrong. You’re a victim, and anyone who doesn’t believe you is an oppressor.

As Orthodox Christians we might think that we are immune to this spiritual disease. We are not. How many of us love to wallow in our disapproval of society around us. We love to perceive ourselves to be the victims of the world’s intolerance or the world’s rejection of our values and morals.

Worldly sorrow looks at my first-hand experience of sorrow and anger and pain and says: that is ultimate truth. The ultimate truth of this world is my experience. When I am angry, that is the way the truth and the life. My anger and my pain is the gospel. Everyone needs to hear it. Everyone must hear it. You must all bow down in submission to the truth of my pain and my anger.

You can hear where I’m going with this. The pain of the victim becomes an imposter-gospel, a fake religion. It is a religion that can do nothing to relieve pain. It is a gospel which has no good news for anyone.

When Jesus finds a whole village mourning with worldly sorrow he knows that none of them are going to actually do anything about it. No one is going to take care of this woman. No one is going to willingly accept discomfort and indignities in order to give her life. No one is going to embrace pain as a context in which to glorify God.

When Jesus raises the son of the widow the people say, “God has visited us.” They still think of God primarily as one who either does what we want (which makes us happy) or someone who doesn’t do what we want (which makes us mad).

Yeah God!!!

If the people really understood what was happening they might not have such exuberance. It might be a more sober joy

Jesus touches the dead man. And he does this because the body of Christ is life-giving. The body of Christ has the power to raise the dead. It has this power because Jesus Christ is the crucified one – he is the crucified one for all eternity. 

At all times in history Jesus is the crucified one. He is always the one who loves us enough to die for us.

The person who truly understands that they need the life that Jesus can give them, asks Jesus, “help me to be willing to die for others.” Jesus is the one who loves us with a love that is truly life-giving. He does not simply sympathize with our pain, he does not simply show us his sad face, pat us on the back, and say, “that’s really terrible, isn’t it.”

Jesus’ solution to our pain is that he enables us to love others in the context of our pain. His solution to our pain is, “come and follow me.” In the midst of our suffering he give us the new life of serving others. 

He raises us from the death of selfishness and self-pity, from the death of worldly sorrow and worldly anger. He raises us from that dead way of being and gives us the true life which is to tell the gospel with our lives.

The young man that Jesus had raised from the dead started to speak – to tell the good news. That is how God reacts to our grief and our death: he gives us a task, he invites us to walk with him on the road to the cross.

Listen to the words of St. Paul:

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
… Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come (has come into being in the person – he is a new creation): The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

2 Corinthians 5:14ff

We were unreconciled to God – we were angry with him. We were blaming God for our problems (Adam). We weren’t ready to listen to his teachings. We didn’t want to take any responsibility. We were addicted to our rage and anger. We loved our status as victims more than we loved our brother.

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. ²¹ God made him who had no sin to be a sin offering for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

So that we might become the righteousness of God. This is the gift that God has for us when we experience pain and sorrow. In the midst of our sorrow we can ask God to show us how we can serve him.

Brethren, working together with him, we entreat you not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, “At the acceptable time I have listened to you, and helped you on the day of salvation.”

Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. We put no obstacle in any one’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, tumults, labors, watching, hunger; by purity, knowledge, forbearance, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

Paul is saying that while our circumstances might be infuriating, and while the world might look at our life and say, “you are a victim,” we know that we are not victims because we have Jesus living within us. We know that if we follow Christ, our suffering is only temporary. We know that we possess everything because the only thing we need is Jesus and he cannot be taken away from us.

St. Paul continues; here is is writing his second letter to the Corinthians, or at least not the first one, and he knows that he was a bit hard on them the first time, and that the people felt hurt and chastised by his previous letter. So he says,

Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done.

2 Corinthians 7:8-11

Godly sorrow leads us to take responsibility for our own actions, and find a way forward in the service of Jesus. Godly sorrow goes past sorrow to action.

Now the end of our story about Marina the woman who pretended to be a monk. She has just been falsely accused by her abbot of being the father of a child.

Marina understood immediately that all her life as a monk was preparing her for this moment. She knew that a family that had an illegitimate child would not want the child. They might just abandon the child. She saw that they were trying to sweep the whole thing under the rug, so maybe the mother of the child would be able to get married. Maybe no one would know that the mother had gotten herself pregnant, maybe it would be like nothing had ever happened.

And so Marina decided even though she was unfairly accused, even though the parents of the child were using her as a scapegoat, even though they were doing something very evil, she decided that anger at their evil deeds was not the answer.

She decided to give that baby the best upbringing she could. She decided to allow the young mother to have a new chance at having a normal life, at getting married. Marina decided to take responsibility for making something good happen in the midst of other people’s sin. 

When Marina realized what was happening she fell to her knees and wept, confessing her own sinfulness (without explicitly stating how she had sinned) and asking forgiveness. The fact that there was no attempt to deny the fault made the abbot so furious that he told Marina to leave the monastery. She left at once and remained outside the gates as a beggar for several years. When the innkeeper’s daughter gave birth, he took the child and gave him to Marina. So Marina raised the child. She fed the child with sheep’s milk, provided by the local shepherds, and remained caring for him outside the monastery for ten years. Finally the monks convinced the abbot to allow Marina to return; he accepted but he also imposed heavy penalties upon Marina, who was to perform hard labour in cooking, cleaning and carrying water in addition to regular monastic duties and caring for the child.

At the age of forty, Marina became ill. Three days later she died from the illness. The abbot ordered that Marina’s body be cleaned, her clothes changed and that she be transferred to the church for funeral prayers. While fulfilling these tasks, the monks discovered that she was, in fact, a woman. This made them very distressed. The monks informed the abbot, who came to Marina’s side and wept bitterly for the wrongs done. The abbot then called for the innkeeper and informed him that Marina was actually a woman. The innkeeper went to where the body lay and also wept for the pain and suffering which he had unjustly brought upon Marina. During the funeral prayers, one of the monks, who was blind in one eye, is said to have received full sight again after he touched the body. It was also believed that God allowed a devil to torment the innkeeper’s daughter and the soldier, and that this caused them to travel to where the saint was buried, where they confessed their iniquity in front of everyone and asked for forgiveness.

Today, Marina’s body is kept at a church in Egypt and is incorrupt.