Tag: christian

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Easy Forgiveness

“Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus ), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”

“No,” they answered.

He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.

Then he said to him, “Follow me!” (John 21:1–25)

Who are the sheep? Jesus says this figuratively to mean us. We are a group of people who need a leader like a flock of sheep have a shepherd. The word bishop means overseer, the one who watches over sheep. Pastor simply means shepherd. This image was used in Ancient Israel to refer to the relationship between a king and his subjects. Jesus is calling Peter to lead the Christian community.

What is this leadership that Jesus is calling Peter to? Is Peter the leader we need? And when we discuss Peter, we must remember that he was the leader of the apostles. What we say of him as a leader we are also saying of all the apostles.

What kind of person was it that Jesus was calling to leadership? Peter is the man who walked on the water, but began to sink because of his lack of faith. Peter is the man who swore he would die with Jesus. But when Jesus was about to die, Peter ran away and swore an oath that he did not know Jesus. Peter swore that he wanted nothing to do with Jesus. Three times. All the apostles except for one abandoned Jesus. These are the ones who will feed Jesus’ sheep!

When we sin, we harm ourselves and we harm others. When we sin it is easier and easier to do it again. When we sin, we lose our boldness in prayer. We lose sight of our high calling. We lose faith in the hope of growing into the stature of Christ; the noble and honourable stature of a child of God. We stop believing that is possible when we sin because sin is the opposite of that nobility.

When we have been weakened by this sin, any suffering or hardship or disappointment we endure will be perceived as a much heavier and oppressive torment than it really is. When our feelings are hurt, we are more likely to despair and think of a relationship as broken beyond repair. When we failures in our work or have setbacks in life, we are more likely to despair and see ourselves as irredeemable. We think, “I am the problem.” This is what happens when we are weakened by sin

And our despondency is contagious! We resent those who have the hope that shows itself in innocence, in obedience, the hope that manifests itself as guilelessness. We see such people as childish. We begin to resent those who have the hope that we so desperately wish we had. Sin makes us bitter. Bitterness makes us cold-hearted. Cold-heartedness kills our relationships and that makes us lonely and isolated.

The Christian life is like a marathon. It is hard enough to run a marathon, but when we sin it is like putting on a heavy backpack while we are running. It is like putting a sharp pebble in our shoe. How much harder is it then not to quit?

What if we had someone who could show us how to not end up with that extra burden? When we have failed, and hurt others, and humiliated ourselves, and shown how selfish and arrogant we are, when we have harmed our relationships, what if we had someone who could lead us back? What if we had someone who would give us the strength to withstand despair and despondency? What if there was someone who has done this before?

That is the ministry of a pastor. That is the apostolic ministry of the Church; of the priest and the bishop. That is the ministry of the Holy Fathers, That is the ministry of a confessor. That is the ministry of Christ, as it is practiced by the body of Christ.

When Jesus appointed Peter and the other apostles as shepherds for his flock, he gave them the gift of repentance. Jesus gave Peter the fearsome experience of being confronted with his failures; confronted by the living God, the judge of the universe. St. Isaac the Syrian says, “The suffering that grips the heart as a result from sinning against love is sharper than all other tortures.” The Creator of the world asked Peter, “Do you love me?” three times, to correspond to the three times that Peter denied him. Peter was invited to do the opposite of what he had done wrong. He failed to confess his love for Jesus when Jesus was about to die, now Peter confessed his love three times. Peter swore he would die with Jesus but ran away, Jesus promised to give Peter a new opportunity to share in his death.

Notice that Jesus did not say to Peter, “Ok, now that you have confessed me three times: now I forgive you.” Jesus had already forgiven Peter. Jesus did not have this conversation with Peter because it was necessary before forgiveness. Forgiveness is not the whole story of our salvation. Forgiveness is the beginning of salvation, not the end. Anyone who wants to make forgiveness the only thing that happens in the story of salvation is robbing us of our shepherd.

There are two things in the Orthodox Church does that I have never seen anywhere else. One is that we speak so much about remission of sins. We are always talking about how we are sinners. We say, “Have mercy on me the sinner” every day. We are constantly talking about repentance. I have never been anywhere that does that as much as we do.

The other thing we do that no one does quite as much is to offer detailed guidance about askesis: fasting, obedience, confession, prostrations. No one seems to have as many services as we do, especially during lent. Hours and hours of long services.

And I have never seen as many services in any other church that focus so much on calling out for help: “Help us, Jesus, to stop sinning. Save us, O Theotokos, for we are sinners. Because salvation is not reduced to forgiveness, it makes all the sense in the world to ask the Theotokos to save us by her prayers. “Help us, O blessed Theotokos, we are lost; we are perishing in our passions and in our sins. I do not know any other church that does that to the same extent. Is that because we think it is really hard to be forgiven? Do we do all that extra work because while other people think forgiveness is difficult, we think it is not only difficult but almost impossible? Is that Orthodoxy? Do we need to convince Jesus?

On the contrary, we do not teach the heresy of the angry God who must be placated. Our understanding is that forgiveness is easy. St. Isaac the Syrian says, “Just as a grain of sand will not balance in the scales against a great weight of gold, such too is the case with God’s justice when it is weighed against His compassion. When compared with God’s mind, the sins of all flesh are like a handful of sand thrown in the sea.”

Saint Isaac the Syrian says that if all that God needed to do was to forgive us, then Jesus did not need to die on the cross. He says, “The entire purpose of our Lord’s death was not to redeem us from sins, or for any other reason, but solely in order that the world might become aware of the love which God has for creation. Had all this astounding affair taken place solely for the purpose of the forgiveness of sin, it would have been sufficient to redeem us by some other means.”

Forgiving us is easy. Jesus died on the cross in order to show us how to leave the way of sin and become holy. He died on the cross so that when he fills us with his Holy Spirit there is a content to the life that the Holy Spirit leads us towards. He died on the cross so that if we die with him, we will trample down death as he did.

All of the apostolic Church’s pastoral guidance is a comfort to us because we need a guide to show us where to go. It is the light yoke, the nobility and dignity of Christ which is given to us. Being led on the right path is the continuation into the fullness of salvation. Calling ourselves sinners is not oppressive when we know that we have a trustworthy guide Our mothers and our fathers in Christ have all been through this same journey of repentance and ascetical struggle. The extreme focus on repentance is the antidote to despondency! Despondency is not from knowing that you are a sinner but from not facing it, not having anything to run to, being left on your own.

The apostolic ministry of the Church gives us the opportunity to be guided and taught. It gives us the opportunity to do the opposite of the sins that are weighing us down: rebellion, militant ignorance, rejection of communion with God. The Church offers us the nativity fast. The chance to do the opposite of our thoughtlessness, to do the opposite of our selfishness. The Church offers us repentance as a way back to the nobility that God created us for. It is best for each person to go to confession once during Advent. The Church is the community of sinners who have found a way to follow Jesus again, and have returned to the true path. Will we accept that opportunity?

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Does God answer prayers?

Orthodox Christian icon of Jesus praying in Gethsemane.

Praying is the most natural and fundamental activity of human life. By praying, I mean the most basic definition of prayer: asking. The word pray originally meant simply to ask.

When I was in seminary, we did a ministry in the local jail. You have never seen a more religious group of people than those who have made very bad decisions and ended up in jail. They each have a well-worn bible, full of notes and underlining. They had all day to read them. Many of these people would have laughed at you before they went to jail for talking about God and prayer. But here they are, gathering in the chapel for a bible study with a bunch of Orthodox seminarians in black cassocks.

Or there is another example of how people just default to prayer: a very close friend of mine who used to be a Christian, but who does not identify as a Christian anymore, still calls me up sometimes when there is a crisis and asks me to pray. She can’t ask God but she can ask me to ask God. Something at least.

Many of the people in jail who are asking God to get them off the hook, or asking God for a lighter sentence, will not get what they are asking for. Many of the relatives of patients in the hospital who pray for their relatives to recover will in fact see their relatives die.

Some people will be healed. Some people will keep their job. Some people will keep their house. It may appear to be a kind of lottery; the “God jackpot.” We might ask, “Are you going to pick the right number or say the right prayer?”

People make all kinds of promises to God when they are in dire straits. They make a deal with God. This is where we get the saying “I swear to God.” That is a kind of verbal exclamation point that means, “I really mean it! I swear.” We promise or swear to God that we will stop drinking if God just lets us out of jail. Or we will start going to church if only God heals our friend or if only I find a new job.

I am not saying that this is a ridiculous thing to do. I know of people who have made that kind of oath, and they did receive what they asked for. Subsequently, they also did turn their life around like they promised. But God did not help them because they promised God something. God helped them find determination by allowing them to face adversity. God gave them the circumstances that led them to repent, and then God paved the way for them to serve him with this new-found determination. It wasn’t actually a “deal,” but sometimes it does work out in a way that makes it look like we convinced God. Actually God convinces us.

Most of the time, however, when we swear such oaths, we are trying to give ourselves hope. What we are really saying is, “I cannot hope that God will help me and I do not really see how it will work out – it probably won’t work out … but maybe if I promise God something then I can hope in the deal that I can make with God. Even if I do not have faith in God, I have faith in my ability to convince God.” What kind of faith is that, really?

Calling out to God is a good and natural thing to do. Whatever you want to ask of God, ask! Do not feel guilty for asking. Keep asking. Miracles do happen (actually you don’t even need to ask for miracles because they happen all the time without you knowing it, but it doesn’t hurt to ask for them).

But prayer is not a lottery. Saying that you should ask God is not the same as saying, “You might win the jackpot, so buy a ticket. You never know, you might win.” That is not why the Church tells us to keep praying and asking. The Church gives us words to pray so that we learn how to pray, not so that we can maximize the chances of God doing what we want.

The fathers tell us that God has revealed himself to us even before Jesus came and healed the sick, even before God parted the Red Sea. Nature itself teaches us enough about God that we should know about God with certainty. This is called natural revelation. If we do not know that God exists, that is because we are not willing to look.

And the fathers tell us moreover that the way events come together in life is itself a revelation of God. We just “happen” to meet a person who helps us, or we just “happen” to find something out at the right time. God is there, in those events. The Christian faith gives us the glasses to see those providential events as providential. But what is more, the Christian faith gives us the glasses to see our disappointments as opportunities to pray the prayer that will always be answered, “God, give me the serenity and the peace to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

We can see (especially after the fact) that God has put a person in our life, or an event, and this was an intervention for our sake. We also see how a challenge that God did not just clear out of our path, or a loss, or a crisis was something that caused us to mature. It was something that equipped us to have more empathy with other people who have gone through similar things. God gives us the opportunity to trust that He will always be with us. And he shows us afterwards that he always was with us. Having gone through a crisis gives you boldness to trust God on behalf of others as well. It also gives us the boldness to trust God when we are choosing between doing what is right and wrong. Perhaps we need boldness to endure the cost of doing right: our experiences of adversity in the past help us to trust God in those moments.

God is there in times when it seems obvious that our prayers were answered. And God is there in the times when it does not look like our prayers were answered. How do we know that God is there even when we do not get what we hoped for? What is it that we get instead? Let’s read these passages from the Bible to see. The first passage is from the Epistle of St. James:

“Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!

Why is St. James talking about grumbling against each other? Because if you think that bad things happen only when people are trying to hurt you, you start to have many enemies. First you see God as your enemy (or at least an unsympathetic father), and then you even start to distrust people as well. St. James continues:

Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned.

That means that when you pray, just ask. It is better not to make promises. Just say “yes, I would like this to happen.” Or “no, I would not like that to happen.”

Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”

James 5:7-16

St. James knew that people died of sicknesses. He does not mean that you are guaranteed to get a miracle as long as you have enough faith, or as long as you use the right holy oil (but we still anoint people with oil). He says, “ask for healing …” and then St. James goes on to talk about

confession of sins, repentance from sins, and being a righteous person who prays.

In ancient times, the service of anointing with oil was the equivalent, or the ancestor of our current-day rite of confession and absolution. When I pray for someone who is sick in the hospital, I ask for forgiveness of their sins. And when someone has confessed, I pray for them to be healed. They are intimately connected.

Jesus prays in Gethsemane Orthodox icon

The most important prayer is, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Pray with Jesus as Jesus prayers, “not my will but your will.” Pray with Jesus, and you will become like Jesus. That is the most important miracle you can have.

Let’s read another passage:

“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of our spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Romans 8:20-28

We do not know what we should pray for. We ask God to help us to pray for His will to be done. We ask God to help us to trust him. Help us to do right. We ask for the strength to keep trusting Him and to keep loving the people around us. We ask God for inner peace in all circumstances.

In another passage, St. Paul writes:

“Brothers, in your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing and emptied himself by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Philippians 2:5-11

God giving Jesus the “name that is above all names” is not a reward in exchange for Jesus’ death. It means that God has shown us that the greatest glory that a person can have, the best person we can be, is when we give everything we have for the love and service of other people. We empty ourselves like Jesus. We humble ourselves like Jesus. We obey God like Jesus.

For example, when we start a family, we give all of our effort to nurturing our family faithfully. We are dedicated to being the best husband or wife we can be, with God’s help. We are faithful to being the best father or mother we can be. We work hard in order to provide not only for our families, but for our whole communities.

Maybe we find a job where we make an obvious impact on the lives of people. But even if it is not obvious that our work impacts people, we still make many sacrifices. We prioritize our church services, our prayers. We sacrifice time by working for the church or welcoming people into our home. When we prioritize these things, that means we will have less time for other things. But this is how we are our truest selves: by dedicating ourselves to what is the most important, which is to show the love of God to everyone we can.

You do not know when the moment will come that you will be able to make a huge difference in someone else’s life. The people who have made the biggest difference in my life probably had no idea at the time. Small kindness at God’s appointed hour will save the world. But when you have fostered character, virtue, the fruits of the Spirit, when you have been willing to give, or because you were honest when other people would not have been, because you have shown yourself to be trustworthy: moments will come when your small service and your small faithfulness will make a world of difference. Ask God to make you that person who comes along at the right time for someone else, that is one of the greatest joys in the world. But you don’t know when it will be. So prepare yourself with prayer, and make yourself a servant now.

When we say that God gave His Son the name that is above all names, that means that you are your truest self when your life is directed towards serving others, praying for others, helping others. That is the greatest hope you can have. That is the answer to all our prayers: God’s calling to us. If you are trying to “find yourself” or trying to figure out what God wants you to do in your life, this is the answer. Pray. Work. Love. Rejoice.

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Fasting to feed the five thousand

At that time, Jesus saw a great throng; and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a lonely place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass; and taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and broke and gave the loaves to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children. Then he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.

MATTHEW 14:14-22

Previous to the events in today’s gospel, Jesus had sent out the twelve disciples to wander from village to village, doing what Jesus himself had done. They preached, they cast out demons, they healed the sick. They did this while making themselves vulnerable by taking no money on their journey. The disciples returned, and with great joy they reported what had happened. They knew the power of God that could come from their participation in Jesus’ ministry.

Then Jesus and the disciples got news of the death of John the Baptist, killed by Herod Antipas for preaching against Herod’s adultery. Jesus decided to withdraw to a deserted area so as to keep a low profile while Herod was enraged. We do not know how long Jesus and the disciples had isolated themselves before people found them, but eventually a large crowd came to them where they were.

People follow us when we stand for something. When we stand for it to the point that it costs us something, whether we are persecuted or simply on the margins, people see that we have something worth holding on to. So in today’s gospel the people go out of the cities to find Jesus

At this point, the supplies might have been running low for Jesus and the disciples. The disciples protest, “we have only five loaves here and two fish.” They did not have remotely enough food for themselves, let alone for a crowd. Sharing at that point was harder, in one sense and yet people with less are much more likely to share than people with much.

Jesus tells his disciples to feed the crowd. This sounds to me like an impossible task it’s like asking a child to lift a car. What use is that? Surely that would just exasperate the disciples? Is Jesus just preposterously unreasonable?

No.

It might seem that way, but earlier in the gospel, the disciples had already experienced that God provided for them when they went out on their first mission. Even though they took nothing with them on that first mission, they were able to give! Jesus even told them when he sent them, “freely you have received, freely give.” Give what? They had no money and no extra tunic! And yet it worked, somehow.

But now, when they are in the wilderness, when the euphoria had worn off, when they had been hiding out and nothing exciting had happened, they forgot that God can provide. They forgot that God does not just provide for me so that I can have. God provides for us so that I can give. The greatest poverty is not when you have nothing. The greatest poverty is not understanding that you are called to give. When the disciples withdrew into the desert to spend time alone in silence and contemplation, that prepared the disciples so that they had something to offer the people, but they did not realize it at the time.

On Tuesday, we begin the fast of the Dormition. This period goes until the 15th of August which is the feast of the death of Mary. The kind of quietness and contemplation that Jesus and the disciples practiced as they withdrew is a demonstration of what our fasting periods do for us. We settle down. We turn off the TV and the iPad and we focus on cleansing our own hearts so that we are of use to others. Our confessions and our attendance at church are a kind of offering to God which he multiplies so that it feeds others.

We are a counter-culture. We are boldly proclaiming through a silent and unobtrusive lifestyle that meaning is not found in acquiring things and experiences. We unapologetically tell the world that life is not better when I am unchallenged. Life is not better when I congratulate myself on my virtue.

We want to practice poverty so that we can teach poverty. We tell people what is not fulfilling by not looking for fulfillment in those things. We will pray a short prayer service called the Paraklesis on weekday evenings during the Dormition fast. Paraklesis means calling out. In that prayer service, we call out, singing things like “the passions disquiet me.” That means that my own impulses and my sins are causing me not to have peace.

Our songs in the Paraklesis say that we are “surrounded by enemies.” The enemy is our own listlessness and insatiable appetite. We put aside time during the next two weeks to not be controlled by impulses so that we can the safe haven. We practice silence so that we can offer people a peaceful place to rest. We are telling them all to sit down on the grass so that we can distribute to them what Jesus has given to us. We offer our time in the services so that we can make a welcoming space for people to come to. We bring ourselves back to a place where we can remember to whom we belong so that when people wander into our church we can show them whose house it is.

Come to Paraklesis. Read the words. Fast in such a way that your life is calmer and quieter. Take long walks. Fill up your time with something else. That is our gift to give the world. No one else is offering that. There is other Church where people call themselves Christians and offer fasting and silence as one of their chief expressions of the Christian faith. This is true life. When people find us, they recognize that this quiet counter culture is something they need.

We get to be the ones who hand out the fish and loaves to the five thousand people when we follow Jesus out into the desert.

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Salvation is not supernatural: it is the restoration of our nature

During the first week of Lent we had readings that spoke of urgency in our lives. It is fitting, since Great Lent is a season of sober assessment of our characters and our lifestyle. The readings said such things as, “watch and pray,” “do not be weighed down with drunkenness,” “when you fast and when you give alms, do not show off,” “Have faith to move mountains” and, “seek and you will find.” Today we will read from the gospel which we read on Friday of the first week of Lent, during the Akathist.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (John 15:1–7)

We were always created for a life in Jesus Christ from the beginning. From the beginning, we were always going to do what we do now, just a much more perfect version of it. We were created to work. We were created to have families. We were always going to have the joy of nurturing and sharing a home. We were always going to have community. It was always part of God’s plan.

We were created to remain in Christ as we read today. We do the deeds of Jesus. We remain in those deeds. We are united to his actions. The Fathers call these actions his energies. We do what Jesus does: love, teach, pray. Our prayers spread Jesus’ healing. We do not fear death, as Jesus did not fear death. And so we are heroes who lay our lives down out of love for our families and our community and our world.

We were always going to sacrifice; it was God’s intention from the beginning. We were always going to offer our work to God. We were always going to make our world holy through prayer. That is human existence by default. It would be strange to describe it as supernatural. It is our nature. It is not just what we do now that Jesus has risen. Sacrifice is the beating heart of the energies of God as he reveals them to us. Jesus sacrifices so that we can sacrifice with him. We remain in the life of Jesus Christ.

This, by the way, is what is meant when the psalm says, “blessed art thou, o God, teach me thy statutes.” Or, “He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth. (1 Chronicles 16:14) or “Mount Zion rejoices, the villages of Judah are glad because of your judgments.” (Psalm 48:11) The judgments and statutes of the Lord are an expression of the energies of God that we are invited to participate in.

God does not demand righteousness from us. God invites us because righteousness is what he wants for us. We can become united to God. This is called theosis in the Orthodox Church. The word theosis comes from theos which means God. We become divine by grace; gods by grace. The energies of God are part of God himself. We can perceive his energies. We see what God does and has done. What Jesus does express the energies of God and when we remain in Him we are journeying the path to theosis. This was always the point of creation. Theosis is what we were created for.

We were created dignified. We were created to be a royal priesthood. We were created to live in a worthy manner, to shine with the uncreated light, the Glory of God., We are icons of God – the image and likeness of God. We have that royal dignity and honour inside us. But sin corrupted the world. Sin made our work difficult and exhausting. The corruption of sin means our work may not succeed. Without Jesus Christ our work is futile. And we die in corruption. We were going to have the joy of working and building and creating, but in the sinful world we can destroy. We voluntarily stop acting in a worthy and dignified manner. We stop being kings and queens. Instead, we becomes slaves. We become slaves to our impulses, slaves to selfishness, slaves to despair and giving up before we have even tried.

Sin also corrupted our homes and the community. Sin made the home a place where we hurt people; a place where we resent people. We have the power to destroy this too, when we could be nurturing instead.And we do destroy them.

We are born into a community that does evil as well as good. Our families and our community have taught us what is right, but they also taught us by their bad example. Then we become the ones who set our bad example for children. We were hurt and we cause pain to others. We share in the corruption and death of everything. We are dying and we are killing through negligence, by contributing to the corruption and death of everything.

What will God do? When God looks at us in our misery he sees the real person he created. Imagine this analogy: Someone has an elderly relative with dementia. And they think to themselves, “I knew my mother back when she was healthy. She was smart and funny and loved everyone. I know who the real person was. She still is that person, but old age has clouded over that person.” Or when we see sickness causing someone’s body to wither away. We think, “I know what that person looked like before.” God sees us in our slavery and our clouded judgment, but he still sees the person he created. He sees the kings and queens who are capable of dignity and virtue, capable of true worship. But what will he do?

Saint Athanasius writes:

For the word [Jesus], realized that the corruption of human beings could not be undone in any other way except, by him dying. But he is immortal and the Son of the Father, the Word, was not able to die. For this reason he takes to himself a body capable of death in order … [to] be able to die on behalf of all. [i.e. he could lead us by offering his life and death to God as a gift, so that we can do the same thing with our lives and our deaths.] And through the Word who dwells in us, we can remain incorruptible, and so henceforth everyone may be free from the power of corruption by the grace of the resurrection [the resurrection proves to us that it works]. Because he “lead his own body to the slaughter” [like a lamb being sacrificed] as an offering [which is] holy and free from all blemish [requirements for animals which are sacrificed – the best of the best, giving generously with pure intention], he immediately abolished death from all like him, by the offering of a like. [He made it possible for anyone to escape from the control that death had over people, since they can do the same thing with their lives and their bodies as he did with his life and his body]. The corruption of death no longer controls humans because of the indwelling of the word.

[Jesus] being with all [of us] through the body that is like ours, since he is the incorruptible Son of God [he is immune from corruption], consequently [made it possible for all people to be] clothed … with incorruptibility in the promise concerning the resurrection [i.e. we are free from the fear of death because we know that God can give us life]. And now the very corruption of death [the power of suffering to control us] no longer [controls] human beings because of the Word who lives in us, in the one body [the Church]. As when a great king has entered some large city and made his dwelling in one of the houses in it, such a city is certainly made worthy of high honor, and no longer does any enemy or bandit descend upon it, but it is rather reckoned worthy of all care because of the king’s having taken residence in one of its houses; so also does it happen with the King of all. Coming himself into our realm, and dwelling in a body like the others, every [plot or attack] of the enemy against human beings is completely powerless [to make us do what it wants], and the corruption of death, which had prevailed formerly against them, is defeated.

When we say, “Where, O Death is your sting,” we mean that death can no longer terrorize us into causing others death. We mean that our own sickness and shame, our own grieving, our own trauma, our own past failures can no longer force us to contribute to the cycle of death because Jesus not only forgives us, he also grants us remission of sins. Remission means that we are being healed of our propensity towards sin. We are can stop.

Jesus gives us a church to worship in. Jesus gives us a new perspective in which all the people in our life provide us with relationships as the context in which we can do what we were always created to do, which is to work with Jesus. These relationships are the context in which we love those people together with Jesus. We become one with his energies; one with God.

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Facing the truth

“… the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen,

People know about God by default because the image of God is in humans.

being understood by the things that are made, namely, His eternal power and Divinity, so they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were they thankful, but they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, they exchanged the truth of God for the lie, they worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. Just as they did not like to retain God in their consciousness, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; they are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things deserve death, not only did they do these things but they also approve of those who practice them.

I hope you have noticed that I do not preach to the choir you have no benefit from me tell you about what those people out there are doing wrong. It is not my calling to affirm what you already think about other people’s sins. God sends the preacher to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable. But St. Paul accuses us sinners of approving of what is immoral. And if someone asks me to tell them what the Orthodox Christian Church thinks about immorality, and the specific immorality of our time, I will not shrink from it. And the reason is that I do not want to set a bad example for children or anyone who doesn’t understand. I don’t want to cause them confusion, muddying the waters about what our church really teaches. Because I undertake allow the church to guide me in my choices. I do not want to steal from anyone else the opportunity of allowing the guidance of the church and the holiness of Jesus Christ to inform their choices. I do not want to deny anyone the opportunity to have that holiness cut them to the heart, and make them come to your senses. We are not doing anyone any favours by trying to save them from the piercing words of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

While the words of the church regarding immorality may cause people to say that they feel hurt and offended and targeted, at the right time, in the right place, we must at least not actively affirm their sin so as to rob them of the opportunity to see the truth. We should not affirm or approve. We do not need to judge. We simply do not affirm.

That does not mean we are obligated to stand on the street corner shouting and preaching doom. But be very careful never to actively and publicly approve of sin. You do not need to judge, just do not approve.

Let’s continue reading from Romans.

Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are when you judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.

But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. And do you think this, O man, you who judge the people practicing such things, that you will escape the judgment of God when you do the same things? Or do you do you hold the riches of His goodness in contempt? [Do you hold in contempt] God’s forbearance, and patience? Do you not know that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But in accordance with your hardness and your unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who “will render to each one according to his deeds”: [God will give] eternal life to those who by persisting in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality;

Those who cooperate with God will shine with the uncreated light of God!

but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey [listen to] the truth,

they do not obey the truth because they have something to hide and want the whole world to dance to the tune of their delusions

they do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—[to them God will give his] indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, … but God will give glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good … For those who have sinned without law will also perish without law, and those who know the law

that is, us who have the true faith

those who know the law and have sinned will be judged by the law … in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ,

We try to hide the truth but the secrets will come out and be judged

… You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? You who say, “Do not commit adultery,” do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law?”

Romans 1:18 – 2:23

Before the last judgment when we die, we will be faced with the horrible truth of our sins. And the equally terrible truth of God’s immense love for us. When we have tried to run from the truth we have been running from God. The bible verse I just read gives you a menu of sins and faults that I am sure each of us can find one or two of them to identify with. Let’s re-examine the list: Lying, vile passions immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; they are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; contempt for God, approving of sin, judging one another.

All of these are attempt to run away from the truth, the truth being that true life and true joy come from turning back to God; to the God who knows more than we do. True life comes from allowing the cool waters of Jesus’ love to wash over the red-hot iron of our hardened hearts. Our hearts are aflame with the wrong thing, and we need the living waters to quench those passions.

Why is it so hard? Let’s ask the thieves on the cross?

Then one of the thieves who were crucified with Jesus blasphemed Jesus, and said, “If You are the messiah, save Yourself and us.”

The truth of his own sin and of his own situation was too much. Jesus, who is the author of all truth, was right beside him, offering him true hope. He was offering the thief the true hope which is trusting in God, as Jesus was trusting His Father at that moment. True hope is to love. Jesus was not fighting back, or cursing. Jesus was not doing the things that this thief had done his whole life; the very things that got him into his current situation. And so the thief was angry and indignant at the notion that true holiness and the true hope and promise of God lie in not doing what he had been doing. He was indignant that what God was offering him was something he had been resisting his whole life.

When we go to hell, we have to walk past Jesus to get there. Think of the icon of the resurrection, where Jesus is standing above the gates of hell. If you want to get to hell, you have to go past the loving embrace of Jesus, the crucified one. You have to go past the truth of his holiness. You have to go past the beauty of his humility. You have to go past him when he says, “forgive them, Father.” But when we avoid the truth of our own sin, we are walking past Jesus on our way to death.

But the other thief, rebuked him, and said, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And we deserved this, for we receive the just penalty of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.”

Then he said to Jesus, “Remember me, O Lord, when You come into Your kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” Now it was about the sixth hour (noon) and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour (3pm). Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last.

(Luke 23:39–46)

It was not just the thief’s last-minute opportunity to repent, before he died. It was his last opportunity before Jesus died as well. Take the opportunity before you die and before Jesus comes back, because you do not know if you also only have three more hours to do it. Our sin is killing us. It is destroying the goodness that we have in us. You are all good. Fundamentally good. You were not born guilty of anything. But what you have learned to do, and chosen to do is mangling and deforming the goodness in you. You know intuitively that this is a terrible tragedy. In Holy week we sing this: “You O Lord, who on the very same day made the thief worthy of Paradise, (he didn’t just let him into paradise, he made him worthy of paradise) illuminate me also by the wood of your cross and save me.”

Illuminate. Show me the truth. The truth is that you long to be able to tell the truth to God and to say, “I have gotten myself into this mess. It was my fault, and no one else’s. But please forgive me, and make me worthy of your kingdom. This is a prayer we pray at Compline: “Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us, for laying aside all defense, we offer unto Thee as master this supplication: Have mercy on us.”

And Jesus will not only say to you “Today you will be in paradise with me,” the very fact that you repent, the very fact that you are telling the truth is paradise here and now. Learning holiness and righteousness is the sweetness that we long for.

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Lent is a season to do things!

The Lord said, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”

And again he said, “To what should I compare the kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”

Jesus went through one town and village after another, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few be saved?” He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. When once the owner of the house has got up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then in reply he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I do not know where you come from; go away from me, all you evildoers!’ There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrown out. Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God.”

Luke 13:18–29

Today is the Sunday of the last judgment. We are preparing ourselves for Lent which will begin in one week’s time. But what is lent for? Jesus says that the Kingdom of God starts small. At its beginning, it is somewhat underestimated. Who would have guessed that a tiny mustard seed would become a big tree?

If you have never seen a tiny mustard seed, it is about the same size as a sesame seed or a poppyseed. Tiny seed. Big tree. Also the analogy about the baker: small yeast. Big loaf of bread. The Kingdom of God starts small. In particular, it starts with a very small amount of excitement. Holiness seems boring at first. There is no pomp and circumstance. If there is pomp and circumstance, or lightning and the choir of angels in your spiritual struggle, you are probably going in the wrong direction. There is a trap and a passion which, in Slavonic is called “Prelest” and in Greek is called “Plani.” It is spiritual delusion. People stir themselves into a spiritual ecstasy which they convince themselves is from God. But it is actually self-made. Carrying your cross means walking to your death. Very seldom is it anything but a challenge, and if the angels do show up, it is often in the midst of extreme struggle.

The Orthodox Christian spiritual path is not glamourous. It is not one that you would suspect opens into a great palace. It looks more like the servant’s entrance. A narrow door.

Jesus tells the people these two analogies today. And someone asks him “Are there only going to be only a few people who are saved?” What is Jesus’ answer? Jesus talks about the door to the household being shut. Get in while you can. To be sure, there is a deadline for repentance. There is a deadline for beginning the path of holiness. There is no deadline for completing the path to holiness, as that takes all of eternity. But make sure you are still pursuing it. Keep going. You do not know when the deadline is. It is either when you die or when Jesus comes back; whichever happens first. You do not know when that will be. So get busy now.

There is a second way of looking at the matter, which is that we observe this Sunday, the Sunday of the Last Judgment, every year. How many last judgments are there? The point is to remind us that the doors will close. This is meant to convince us do what Jesus says in this passage: Strive. Hurry up. Get to work. Do something! Your deed will be small and unremarkable like the mustard seed and like the yeast. They are both deposited and hidden. You have no control over what happens after that. You cannot make the tree grow or the dough rise, but they will.

There seem to only be a few people who can enter through the narrow gate. Or at least, it is difficult enough that many fail. Do it. Be one of the ones who strives. Be one of the ones who gives. Be one of the ones who deposits their fasting and their prayer into the earth and who believe that the creator of all will cause it to grow. Because while the level of difficulty might scare people off, the results will be out of all proportion to what you have done. Many will come from the east and the west and north and south to eat at the feast of the Kingdom Perhaps they will eat the bread that your yeast was put into. Perhaps they will eat food that has been flavoured with the mustard from the tree that your mustard seed grew into. I should not really say “perhaps.” It will happen. You will not see it in the short term.

Jesus says that the door will be shut, and the people will say: “Lord …” They call Jesus Lord. They say, “You came and taught in our cities, and we ate and drank with you.” These are largely passive matters though. Jesus was the one teaching, not them. Who did the cooking? These people were eating and drinking. They were members of the community, not servants of the community.

Do something. You are empowered. You are invited. What Jesus has done is not done in order that you do not have to do anything, but rather so that you will learn to do that which is good. Lent is given to you As that “something” to do.

If you must choose one thing to do during Lent (and you do not have to choose only one), show up. Practice the askesis of the feet: feet on the floor of the church. Your soul will be softened like a pebble in the stream because of all the prayers washing over it. You deposit your attendance, and the Kingdom of God will grow in you. But only if you show up. People tell me, “Father, I struggle to remember to pray, to make myself go to my icon corner and pray.” Well, lent helps you because you don’t have to organize your prayer yourself. You just show up at church. And you will be carried through a whole hour of prayer!

The second thing to do in lent is to search your soul and find more to give. Strive to come in through the narrow gate. Choose the challenge.

And third: fast. In the Orthodox Church, fasting means that we abstain from all or some of the following: meat, fish, dairy, alcohol, and sometimes from oil. This all depends on what kind of fasting day it is. During Lent we abstain from all of this except oil. Most of us should not attempt to abstain from oil. It is too much if you are not a monk, in most cases.

I am going to finish by reading two more passages which demonstrate the teaching of our gospel passage. One is from the Didache, which is a very early Christian document written only a few decades after Christ’ ascension. And the second one is the gospel reading which the deacon read a few minutes ago. Let’s see if you can hear any suggestions about what we can do.

There are two ways, one of life and one of death; but a great difference between the two ways. The way of life, then, is this: First, you shall love God who made you; second, your neighbour as yourself; and all things whatsoever you would should not occur to you, do not also do to another. And of these sayings the teaching is this: Bless those who curse you, and pray for your enemies, and fast for those who persecute you. For what reward is there, if you love those who love you? Do not also the Gentiles do the same? But love those who hate you, and you shall not have an enemy. Abstain from fleshly and worldly lusts. If someone gives you a blow upon your right cheek, turn to him the other also, and you shall be perfect. If someone impresses you for one mile, go with him two. If someone takes away your cloak, give him also your coat. If someone takes from you what is yours, ask it not back, for indeed you are not able. Give to everyone that asks you, and ask it not back; for the Father wills that to all should be given of our own blessings (free gifts). Happy is he that gives according to the commandment; for he is guiltless. Woe to him that receives; for if one having need receives, he is guiltless; but he that receives not having need, shall pay the penalty, why he received and for what, and, coming into confinement, he shall be examined concerning the things which he has done, and he shall not escape thence until he pay back the last farthing. But also now concerning this, it has been said, Let your alms sweat in your hands, until you know to whom you should give.

The Lord said, “When the Son of man comes in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.’ And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

MATTHEW 25:31-46

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MATTHEW 15:21-28

At that time, Jesus went to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and cried, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely possessed by a demon.” But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” And he answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

Sacrifice is a feast; a holy meal. Sacrifice, the festive meal, is where we give what we have worked for, our work and dedication, as a gift to everyone gathered and to God. We give. The guests meet God’s providence and God’s love. We give thanks to God and proclaim His love to each other. Sacrifice is the heavenly wedding banquet, the table of Abraham. God recreates and saves his people at the meal of the Passover and at the Mystical Supper. That is sacrifice.

In today’s gospel, Jesus meets the Canaanite woman and begins to speak about a meal. He compares her request for her daughter’s healing to a request for food at the heavenly banquet. The heathen, godless Canaanite woman comes to Him to ask for healing. Not just healing but deliverance from demons. In all likelihood both she and her daughter have served the pagan demons in sorcery and other demonic occupations. She comes to a metaphorical meal with Jesus, even though her sacrificial meals are offered to the demons of her pagan gods. She calls Jesus, “Son of David,” even though it was the Canaanite idols of old that tempted the people of King David away from their God. Because of the Canaanites, the people of David learned to offer meal-sacrifices to demons, and the Kingdom of David was destroyed. The temple of David’s son, King Solomon was destroyed because of the constant idolatry. The very place where the God of Israel received sacrifices was destroyed because Israelites ate and drank and sacrificed with Canaanites and their demonic gods. That is why Jesus says, “we do not give the food of the children to the dogs.

But the Canaanite woman accepts the rebuke. She will do what it takes to gain healing for her daughter. The Canaanite woman’s humility and willingness to hear the rebuke become an intercessory offering on behalf of her daughter. The woman is offering a sacrifice of confession and thanksgiving to Jesus for her daughter’s healing. Proclaiming your belief that God can help you is the same as thanking God: in both cases God is proclaimed to be the one who provides.

Our martyrdom, our walking in the way that has been taught to us, our confessions, tithing, compassion, abstaining from whatever is not holy: all this is our sacrifice on behalf of others. As it says in the Liturgy, “Thine own of thine own we offer unto Thee in behalf of all and for all.” We offer our repentance and our obedience as a joyous sacrifice-feast with our God. We do this for others and for the life of the world.

Sacrifice is a feast. It is not to placate God, but to cause that which God intends to become all the more our reality. We become pleasing to God inasmuch as what God has been well-pleased to do becomes our life, and the life of our whole community. Our righteousness has a knock-on effect. Our example of dedication to God shows the world that Jesus is our only hope. Our righteousness is a proclamation of the gospel, because it is not our own righteousness but Jesus’ righteousness which has caused us to follow Him.

Today we remember St. Ignatius the God-Bearer of Antioch. In about the year 107 AD, Ignatius was summed to speak to the Emperor in Rome and to give an account of his faith. This would mean certain death. Ignatius would claim that there is only one God who has sent His Son to die for us, thereby denying that Caesar or any other Roman gods were truly gods.

As he travelled from Antioch to Rome he wrote farewell letters to various churches, knowing that he would die in Rome for his faith. In his letter (which was sent ahead of his arrival) to the Roman church, St. Ignatius pleads with the church not to intervene on his behalf to prevent his martyrdom. He writes, “I must use this opportunity of attaining to God.” He longs for the opportunity to become one with Christ our God in his death. He writes, “I must be sacrificed while the altar is still prepared.” There is an urgency in St. Ignatius’ desire to sacrifice: his death will be an invitation to others to join him. With the fear of God and faith and love, draw near! His sacrifice is an offering of faith to God, but also an invitation to others to come partake of the feast of faith and become emboldened to do likewise.

St. Ignatius writes:

Allow me to become food for the wild beasts, through whose instrumentality it will be granted me to attain to God. I am the wheat of God, and let me be ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of Christ. Rather entice the wild beasts, that they may become my tomb, and may leave nothing of my body; so that when I have fallen asleep [in death], I may be no trouble to any one. Then shall I truly be a disciple of Christ, when the world shall not see so much as my body. Entreat Christ for me, that by these instruments I may be found a sacrifice [to God].

St. Ignatius says, “do not keep me from living!” For him, to die as a martyr is life.

We can apply this teaching to ourselves in the same way that we did with the Canaanite woman. St. Ignatius did not want to waste the opportunity to bear witness to Christ before the emperor, and in so doing die for Christ. The Canaanite woman took the opportunity afforded her by Jesus’ rebuke. She learned that to be brought face-to-face with the reality of our sins, and to be given the opportunity to change, is a great mercy. When we take advantage of this opportunity, we are offering our improved lives, our cleansed hearts as an offering to God, and it will become a blessing for everyone. Who will be blessed, when you offer your life to God?

When Jesus died, the disciples failed to take advantage of the opportunity to die with Christ. This was especially true in the case of Peter who denied Christ three times. But Jesus invites the disciples back to the meal of the sacrifice. This is the story of how Jesus offered this reconciliation to Peter and the others – in the context of a meal.

“After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.

When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”” (John 21:1–19)

Jesus prepares a meal so that we may bring the fish that we have caught. We add our own food to the meal. We add our own sacrifice to His sacrifice. In any case, the fish were only “the disciples’ fish” in a derivative way of speaking: Jesus was the one who caused them to catch the fish when they had caught none during the night. All things are from Jesus and are offered back to Him, so that He may make all things holy.

Jesus gives you your challenges, temptations and humbling encounters with the truth of your fallenness and sins. He gives them to you as fish to cook with His. Jesus gives us joy and blessings so that we may offer our thanks as wine with the food. Jesus tells us to tend and feed His sheep. When we speak the truth of the gospel with our lives we are nurturing others who are beginning to follow Jesus.

At Your mystical supper receive me today, o Son of God … like the thief I will confess You: remember me, o Lord, in your Kingdom!

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The best seats at the wedding banquet

“On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely. Just then, in front of him, there was a man who had dropsy. And Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees, “Is it lawful to cure people on the sabbath, or not?” But they were silent. So Jesus took him and healed him, and sent him away. Then he said to them, “If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a sabbath day?” And they could not reply to this.

When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honour, he told them a parable. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honour, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honoured in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.””

Luke 14:1–11

The wedding guests are those who invited Jesus. Jesus is the bridegroom. The people who have invited Jesus to this meal have given themselves what they think is the “most important” seat. They expect to hear his eloquent teaching. In their minds, the “lesser” seat is for the sick to be healed. In their minds they do not need healing. In their minds the Sabbath only needs to be a day of teaching.

Jesus calls into question the whole notion of what the seat of honour is. He encourages his listeners to choose the place of the sinners and the sick. Choose to sit at the back. He is telling them to think of themselves as sinners, and to assign themselves the appropriate place: since that is where his healing occurs. The sick man who came to him was certainly at the back.

But in another sense, receiving healing is the best place. The guests at the dinner do not know which place is the best. Would the best place not be so sit with the ones who are not esteemed. Jesus is back there with the sick and outcasts. That is the best place, next to Jesus in that sense.

Jesus says that we should choose the place where we are asking him to give us what he determines that we need. We ask for the thing which, unknown to us, is the only thing we can receive in the beginning: healing. It is like St. Dionysios says: first cleanse your senses and your mind, and then ascend the mountain with Moses to receive the law.

In our state of sinfulness, the most “spiritual” thing we can do is to apply the teachings of Jesus in a practical manner. We must take our medicine. St. Ephrem the Syrian describes the warning of Jonah to the people of Nineveh as a bitter “medicine.” They fast and humble themselves. This is the level of “spiritual things” which is appropriate for us now. Real spirituality is to die with Christ in our confessions. It is to surrender and to trust boldly in God when we obey Him despite our fears. Only then are we worthy to ponder doctrines.

Enlightenment and theological discussion  come after humility. When we have received healing from our passions and our sins, when we have allowed God to create within us a pure heart, then we will be sent to the “higher place” of the learned.

Why would God allow us to come to that higher place? For our own enlightenment? Are we like the Eastern religions, where the ultimate goal is a state of consciousness? Many laymen read about the Orthodox monks and spiritual fathers, and mistakenly believe that their goal is simply a state of dispassionate meditation on the uncreated light. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Doctrine and wisdom and insights into the nature of the spiritual journey are given to us in order to equip us to give them to others. These things are seeds which we must sow. The hermit in his cave is sowing seeds among the lost by his uninterrupted prayer. His efforts are for the whole world, not just for himself.

If and when we are invited to take the “best seat” at the wedding feast, it is given to us in order for us to invite others to it. We are given the place near the bridegroom in order to be mediators and intercessors for the lowly. The guests at the dinner where Jesus is visiting should have been the ones to bring the sick man to Jesus. What is the point of being near the bridegroom if you do not desire for his bride to come sit with him? The sick and suffering and the sinners are his bride!

We are not allowed to have indifferent minds, disinterested in newcomers to our church. We look, instead, for new faces in the church, and we invite them to take the seat beside the bridegroom, Jesus. We are all on duty as hosts who usher any newcomer into the place next to Christ. Coming to church is not something you do for yourself. You have come to work at the feast, to rejoice with the bridegroom who has come to seek and save the lost.

Is someone broken-hearted? Bring the light of Christ to them with your empathetic conversations, bring them words of comfort. Coffee hour is a time for you to include those who are alone or new. Or simply the ones who have not yet had the joy of getting to know you.

As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying,

“Blessed is the king
who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven,
and glory in the highest heaven!”

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”

As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.””

Luke 19:37–44

Jesus weeps because the Pharisees are quieting down the crowds. These are the same ones who previously had invited him to their dinner. They do not understand that all the miracles are expressions of Jesus’ love and desire to save sinners. Jesus longs to see the faith and service of those he heals, because those are things for which they are created. To believe and to serve is to be truly human. Jesus longs for the outcasts and sinners to become righteous. He weeps now, because the Pharisees who could have joined his work will kill him. Who would have been better equipped to serve in the actual Kingdom of God than those who spent their whole lives studying the scriptures? But he knows that they will kill him instead because they did not seek to have a pure heart first.

He is not weeping because he will die, nor because those who kill him will prevent anyone from being saved. Rather, he is weeping because those who are not watching carefully for the opportunity to welcome the lost sheep – those people will be locked outside with the foolish virgins. Jesus does not want to lose the people who could have served with him. He says, “I am the good shepherd” to those who could be shepherds. But they did “not recognize the time of their visitation.” God is visiting them, bringing with him the lost sheep.

When the Church asks you to give money, time, attention and attendance, it is not a case of “them” (the Church) asking “me” for something. It is the King of Kings riding into Jerusalem with the needy following him, bringing you a treasure. You are invited to work with Jesus to feed the hungry and visit the prisoners. Make sure that you are seeking healing for yourself now, in order to be equipped for the work you are called to. You do not know when the master will return to the house. You do not know when the time for working will come. Do not fall asleep. Humble yourself so that you may be accounted worthy of martyrdom, mission, evangelization and service. This is the white wedding garment. Pray that you may be granted the place of a servant. You are not giving your gifts and tithes to an institution of the Church. You are investing your treasure in the project of bringing the bride of Christ – the lonely and weak – to their Lord.

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Women Disciples

Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat.

And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.

And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” So he said, “Teacher, say it.”

“There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?”

Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.”

And He said to him, “You have rightly judged.” Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”

Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.” Now it came to pass, afterward, that He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him, and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities—Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from their substance.

And when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a parable: “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.” When He had said these things He cried, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Then His disciples asked Him, saying, “What does this parable mean?”

And He said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that

“          ‘Seeing they may not see,

            And hearing they may not understand.’

“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.

“No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light. Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.””

(Luke 7:36–8:18)

The following is a hymn from Holy Week:

“O Lord, the woman who had fallen into many sins, perceiving Thy Divinity, fulfilled the part of a myrrh-bearer; and with lamentations she brought sweet-smelling oil of myrrh to Thee before Thy burial. ‘Woe is me,’ she said, ‘for night surrounds me, dark and moonless, and stings my lustful passion with the love of sin. Accept the fountain of my tears, O Thou Who drawest down from the clouds the waters of the sea. Incline to the groanings of my heart, O Thou Who in Thine ineffable self-emptying hast bowed down the heavens. I shall kiss Thy Most Pure feet and wipe them with the hairs of my head, those feet whose sound Eve heard at dusk in Paradise and hid herself for fear. Who can search out the multitude of my sins and the abyss of Thy judgments, O Savior of my soul? Despise me not, Thine handmaiden, for Thou hast mercy without measure.”

We learn so many interesting things when we read long passages in the gospels, and piece various stories together. This gospel reading focusses on the presence of women in the ministry of Jesus. The woman who was considered untouchable and unclean came to Jesus with such great gratitude. What is remarkable to me is that we don’t know the back story about why she was weeping and anointing Jesus’ feet! Why Jesus? We know what sins she had committed, but why was she so dedicated to Jesus? She hadn’t even met him before.

They hymn of Kassiani tells us that the woman perceived his divinity. That really is the only thing that I think explains why she would come up to him and do that. To weep. To wash His feet. She has come to give him the sacrifice of her tears which come from “a heart that is broken and humbled.” She somehow knew that she was meeting her God, and she wanted to be reconciled to Him. She wanted to start a new life. We knew that only Christ, her God, could create in her a clean heart.

She was saying, “Please tell me that it is not too late for me to change, and for me to be forgiven.” All the horror and guilt she carried, and the fear of God’s wrath came gushing out. It is as if the slightest bit of hope caused a fracture in a dam, and suddenly all the waters that had accumulated burst forth because of the smallest bit of hope.

This is the model of the Orthodox Christian life. Our tears burst forth most forcefully when our greatest sorrow and pain, our fear and humiliation, collide with hope and joy. We become more eager and act with more urgency at that moment. That is the “sweet-spot” of the Christian life.

This is what Jesus means when he says to his host, “the one who is forgiven much loves much.” Notice that he says, “your sins are forgiven” after she washes his feet. The same is seen in the resurrection. The women came with myrrh to the tomb before they found out that he had risen. Before they knew that the stone was rolled away, they came anyway. It wasn’t until they had already left their houses, and were already walking on the road that they asked each other how they were going to accomplish their task. Who would roll away the stone? They began their journey first. A tiny hope of being allowed to give a gift to their Lord was enough to motivate them to get up early and do this.

When the sinful woman washes Jesus’ feet, he does not rob her of her urgency and longing immediately. He allows her urgency to work its healing power within her. Sorrow and shock at our sinfulness is a gift. It moves us. It can only move us to change because we have hope. Otherwise it would paralyze us. But we need it.

In our reading it says that Jesus continued his ministry and three more women are mentioned: Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Susannah. It explains who Mary Magdalene and Joanna are, but not Susannah. This is probably because it was expected that anyone reading this passage would know who she was. What does it say about the place of women in the church, that one of them is assumed to be that well known?

But we may also ask why it is that these women are mentioned in this specific place of the gospel? Why now, especially since it comes between the story of the woman who washed Jesus’ feet and the parable of the sower?

The text says that the women provided for Jesus. Joanna was the wife of a man who worked for a king, so she had access to money. So in this sense, the women are the sowers. They saw that Jesus was their only hope, and so they used what they had in order to allow that hope to come to more people. They responded to His love by giving a sacrifice.

The women do not know what seeds will bear fruit. They don’t know if it will work. Some seeds will not grow. Jesus mentions three types of seeds that did not grow, and only one group that did. We do not know what God will do with our gifts. We give it for our own sake, like myrrh on his feet. Urgent repentance does not buy our salvation. It is a result of the collision between our sorrow over our sins and the hope we have that there is redemption.

Giving is not something we do in order to accomplish specific projects. Urgent giving is the result of our hope that God will teach us compassion and holiness. Giving is an enactment of the life and the mode of being that we know God is able to create within us. We need to give thanks. We need to give alms. The more we have, the harder it is to give. But how great a gift it is for us to arise early in the morning and walk together with the myrrh bearing women, only to find that Christ is risen, and that the kernel of wheat which fell into the ground has sprouted and bears fruit!