sermon – St. Vincent's Orthodox Church

February 1, 2026

The True Bridegroom

The following is the homily from Isaac and Rebecca Michayluk’s wedding.

The only thing I remember from the sermon at my wedding was when the priest said that we were a cross-cultural couple (my wife and I are from different countries). He told us we would develop our own traditions, for example, how we celebrate Christmas or how we would say grace. We were going to form our own family with our own values and vision. That is actually what it means to be “one flesh:” one flesh is one family unit

That priest pointed out that our key value was being Christians. We had decided to get married young and in the church because that was consistent with our faith. He said observed that this set us apart from our peers at that time like it does today for you.

Rebecca and Isaac, you are also a cross-cultural marriage. You have two equally beautiful and dignified cultures to celebrate and be proud of. Two of them. And a third one as well, which will be your own special hybrid. You have also invited God to come to your wedding. You have put him first You have asked for his blessing here in the Church.

It is common to give lots of advice in the wedding homily, but you will get plenty of that at the reception later. Apparently, you already got a bunch of marriage advice at the bridal shower, too. Some say, “Don’t go to bed angry.” I heard that one person said do go to bed angry because you don’t think straight when you’re tired.” I like that.

I’m not going to give you advice about when to go to bed or how much chocolate you should give her on Valentine’s Day because everyone has either done that or will do it later tonight. Plus, we spent several hours doing marriage prep. I think I know better than anyone how much work you have already put into this marriage and how mindful and dedicated you are. Keep doing that! And anyway, whether you make sure not to go to bed angry or make sure that you are angry when you go to bed, God must perform miracles every day for any marriage to survive. The miracle God performs is that he comes to abide with us. God comes to abide in us as well.

In the wedding service’s prayers we just read, we asked God to fill your house with wheat, wine and oil. I don’t know if you thought about it, but that’s what we say at Great Vespers before great feasts when we have Artoklasia and bless the artos bread. We ask God to bless this wheat, wine and oil, multiply it and give it also to the poor. In the marriage service, we remember that marriage has a purpose: to equip you for every good work. Marriage is given to you so that you can bless others. We observed we are given marriage and procreation so that we can educate children in faith and the fear of God. God abides in us and with us so that as spouses we can do every good work, bless others and educate children. That is what a wedding is about.

Considering that, I want to remind everyone about the greatest wedding that ever was, which all other weddings should imitate. Which one is that? The following is a hymn is from Holy Week, when we are remembering death and resurrection of Christ, as he married his bride, the Church. We sing:

Behold, the Bridegroom cometh at midnight, and blessed is the servant whom he shall find awake. But he whom he shall find neglectful is verily unworthy. Behold, therefore, oh my soul. Beware lest thou fallest into deep slumber and the door of the kingdom be closed against thee. But be thou wakeful, crying out, “Holy, holy, holy art thou, O God.”

We also sing:

I behold thy bridal chamber richly adorned, O my saviour. But I have no wedding garment to worthily enter. Make radiant the garment of my soul, O giver of life, and save me.

Here is the church’s marriage advice:

Don’t fall into deep slumber. That means don’t be careless, take each other for granted or neglect your calling to serve your community.

Be wakeful. Actively look for opportunities and duties. Embrace and collect commitments to your community and family. God dwells with you in your duty and commitments. His yoke is easy. But he gives you a yoke. Lean into it.

Get a radiant garment. I don’t want the reason you go to your prayer corner to be that “we should do this.” I want you to pray because you cannot be the spouse, parent, or community member others need you to be unless you have the heart of prayer: wakefulness, peacefulness, humility, and God-centredness. That is a wedding garment.

I remember the priest at our wedding talking about a multi-cultural marriage and how we should continue to put God first, making him the main feature of the mini-culture we would create from two. I hope you remember that, but even more, I hope you think of your wedding every time we have bridegroom matins in Holy Week. I hope you will pray that Jesus will make your marriage like the bridal chamber where God is saving the world through the self-sacrifice and holiness of Jesus Christ, our true Bridegroom.

September 24, 2025

Love to the End

If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.

If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.

For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 1:6-2:6; 4:7-5:5)

When we say, “Love is perfected,” we mean that love has reached its goal. There is one word for “perfected,” and it is the same word Jesus said when he died: “it is finished.” That takes three words in English, but one word in Greek: tetelestai means it is “finished”. Tetelomenē is the love that is perfected and has reached its goal. It is “love to the end.” That is literally what it means. “Love to the end. To the goal.” “It is finished,” says Jesus as he dies for us to take away our sins and give us eternal life. This is the “perfected” love John is talking about.

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear. Imperfect love, however, does not drive out fear. The torment of a guilty conscience, or a love that holds back, makes us angry and resentful, killing our peace. If you are agitated and angry, it is because you are afraid, and if you have fear, it is because you do not have that perfectly obedient and perfectly trusting love that comes from God. If we love God and love each other, we have boldness at the judgment; fearlessness. Perfect love abandons everything and throws itself into the arms of God.

So basically, if you want to say you love others, you must keep the commandments of God. Your love for others is flawed and misguided if you are not obedient to God’s commandments. It is a false love. It is not how Jesus loves.

In this passage, St. John says that if you do not obey Jesus’commandments, you have no communion with him. You are not his partner. You are not part of his Church if you do not follow his commandments. Those words are like a sharp dagger. Do not think that just because St. John always talks about love, he never talks about the fearsome justice of God. This is very serious. St. John the Theologian is an Apostle and a spiritual father. He is not a teddy bear. He is the Apostle who lay on Jesus’ chest at the supper, the one who refers to himself as “the disciple Jesus loved.” But he preaches about the fearsome God, not a tame God.

It doesn’t matter how much you think you love others, how much compassion you think you feel for others; if you are not obedient to the people God has put in authority over you, you do not love in the fullest sense. St. John says if you do not obey God, your love is not “perfected.” And God calls you to obey those in authority over you.

This perfected love is love that “has reached its goal.’ Obeying God is the fullest expression of love. Obeying God and those he has given authority over you was the point all along. God loves his people, and he creates order and harmony for his people. Your one-on-one experience is part of the plan of God for his people. First and foremost, his commandment is that you observe the loving, life-giving order. Serve others in an ordered, chaste, humble manner. Love your neighbour by getting along with all your neighbours. That is God’s love for you, and that is how you show God’s love to the world. That is the true heart of love. You are not one with Christ, who died and “finished” and perfected our salvation, if you do not obey him. He is the author and perfecter of our faith. There’s that word again. He perfects our faith. Without obedience, there is no perfect love nor perfect faith.

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore, you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. For this reason, you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honour to whom honour.

Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbour; therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:1-10)

All Christians must also submit to the church’s authorities, children must obey parents, wives must submit to their husbands, and servants must obey their masters. I take this not as a law that justifies slavery, but rather, employees should obey their employers and do an honest day’s work. Young people must respect elders. We must all fear God.

We modern Western Christians, even when we become Orthodox, love our sentimentality, individualism and our customized experience of Christianity. When we tell ourselves that we are loving and empathetic, many of us do love others and do have empathy. Yet, sometimes we show love and empathy because we want to be accepted by the people we have say we love. Sometimes, we get angry on behalf of others, and our actual motivation is to be accepted by them or to be seen as compassionate. Often, our righteous anger is merely a way of pretending to be compassionate and loving. It is often born out of our fear of being judged by the world. But that is not actually love. It is not God’s love.

If we do not have a love that goes all the way to obedience, love that goes “to the end” and pushes through to humility, it is not the perfected love. If we do not have that love, we become (secretly) afraid of the last judgment. We think, “Well, at least I have helped the poor and needy and lonely. At least, I advocated for the people that the world tells me are victims. Perhaps it will make up for my lack of obedience and my ambivalence towards the difficult words of Christ.” Keep serving, but serve Jesus’ way.

Showing charitable empathy and compassion is a wonderful thing. The man who came to Jesus and said he obeyed all the ten commandments was told, “You lack one thing. Go sell everything you have and give the money to the poor.” He was only lacking one thing. Only one thing. We should infer that he had all the other necessarythings. Compassion for the poor was not the only thing necessary; it was the one thing that he lacked.

But for you, it might be the other way around. You can give everything to the poor, but if you have contempt for the commandments of God, you do not have communion with Christ. There is no communion with Christ or with your fellow man unless you have the kind of love that expresses itself in righteousness and obedience. Jesus assumed all of humanity. If you do not love him the way he said, you do not love humanity. He said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” That is the full and truest kind of love. And it is not sensational, it doesn’t get anyone’s attention, and you cannot self-congratulate quite as much because it doesn’t feel euphoric. You can “remain” in that perfect love, however, by continuing to obey God when your flesh is kicking and screaming. You must remain, stay faithful. If you remain in him, you have consistency and steadfastness in obedience. Then you “love to the end” and without exception.

One of the clearest signs of a false love is when you cannot get along at home, at work or in the other places where you feel most at home and therefore take the most liberties. Sometimes that place where we feel most at home is even in our church community. In private, or in a space where you are familiar with people and feel safe, your fear often manifests as anger and judgment. We are not polite at home in the same way we are with strangers. We do not self-censor with people who are familiar the same way we do with strangers. We do not always care how we make our spouse feel, or our children.

If we are compassionate towards one person or one group of people but angry and hateful towards those who are closest to us, that is because we do not have the fullness of love, perfected love. Real love casts out fear, but false love hides our fear. And when we are afraid, we get angry, hate and lash out. In those familiar safe places, the truth about our ability to love comes out whether we like it or not. What do you actually love?

Does the word “obedience” sound like a prison to you? If so, you have not learned to love. What does God say that you should be doing in your home? In your marriage? Towards your parents or siblings? What is God calling you to say or do in relation to your children? For example, paying attention to them, or perhaps confronting them if needed, being present, putting down the devices, and daring to call them out from behind theirs. What form of self-control or obedience is God calling you to in the home, at work or in your community? This is the place where God wants to make you perfect in love.

Start to “love one another as God loved us” at home, or where you feel most athome. Perhaps this is the lunch room at work, or wherever you have the opportunity to let your hair down. Perhaps you are in the habit of speaking some unpolished truths about your co-workers or your boss. Start to “love one another as God loved us” there. Then you will no longer fear the judgment day. You will no longer be angry and hateful.

You will no longer want to censor God and his Church if you have the fully obedient love of Christ. You will no longer have a secret faith that is almost the same as the Church you belong to. You will no longer be defensive or controlling if you obey the people God has called you to obey. When you are submissive to the people God has called you to be submissive to, fear goes away, and then anger goes away.

The people outside your inner circle will still be there. They will still need your love. The poor, the needy, the lonely, the outsiders will still be there, and you can still serve them. But now it will be less a matter of dulling your own guilty conscience with a self-congratulatory love. Now it will be a love that points towards Christ because you will not only have empathy, you will also have holiness! And that is Jesus’ love; real love. It is the fullness of love.

The whole truth of love is that it is not only meek and compassionate, but also holy. Jesus’ love is empathy, shedding tears for the ones who suffer, and holiness at the same time. When Jesus reached the tomb of his friend, Lazarus, he wept. He explained to Lazarus’ sister that he, Jesus, is the resurrection and the life. Jesus is both the resurrection and the life. If he were just the resurrection, he could raise Lazarus. But he is also the life, meaning he is the life we lead, the lifestyle. Jesus is the way we walk and the way we live. He helps us and reforms us. That is his perfect love. Compassion is holiness, and calling the world to holiness is how we shine the light of the gospel in the darkness of sin and death.

Is your love for the vulnerable both a compassionate love anda love of holiness and obedience? Go home, and go to work, go to where you are most at home and look at your ability to love people compassionately there, in that place. Do you have peace? Do you act in a way that brings peace to the people closest to you? Do you have enough courage to obey? That is real courage. Go there and look at yourself honestly, repent and you will have the answer as to whether you have perfect love.

Now when Jesus came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him as He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?”

Jesus answered, “I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things: The baptism of John—where was it from? From heaven or from men?”

Theuy reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all count John as a prophet.”

So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.”

Jesus said, “Then I will not tell you by what authority I do these things. But tell me what you think: a man had two sons, and he went to the first son and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’ The son answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went. Then the man went to the second son and said the same thing. And the second son answered, ‘Yes, sir. I will go.’ but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?”

They said to Him, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him.” (Matthew 21:23-32)

Most of the time when we read this, we read the version that does not have the parable about the two sons. But this version helps us see what Jesus was saying more clearly. Let’s consider the context of this conversation that Jesus is having. Jesus is in Jerusalem, teaching big crowds of people. He had just come into Jerusalem a day or two before, at the head of a great crowd who were shouting, “Hosannah, son of David. Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord.” He was making a scene. Jesus was criticizing the Jewish authorities who were standing nearby, listening to him. He was defying them more or less to their face. And they asked him, “What authority do you have to do this? Who do you think you are?”

What they are actually saying is, “Are you claiming to be some kind of messiah freedom fighter who is going to start a popular uprising?” They are daring him to admit to being a revolutionary in front of the crowd, because then they can have him arrested. On the other hand, if Jesus chickens out and does not proclaim himself king, so they think, then they have discredited him in front of the crowd. They believed they had cornered Jesus.

Instead, Jesus cornered them. He put them on the spot and said, “What do you think of John the Baptist? Was he a prophet from God or not?”

This confrontation between Jesus and the authorities in Jerusalem took place after John the Baptist had died at the hands of the friends of these religious leaders. The whole crowd there thought of John the Baptist as a martyr. And Jesus was calling the crowds attention to these people’s association with the murders of John the Baptist. He was also pointing out to the authorities, “I can see how scared you are! You don’t have the guts to say what you really think. You were relieved when they killed John the Baptist, but you are too scared to say it.” If they denounced John the Baptist, the crowds would turn on them and blame them for his death.

These same religious leaders had been angry with Jesus because he associated with sinners like tax collectors and harlots – the very people John the Baptist had preached to before Jesus’ ministry. But Jesus says, “John the Baptist convinced tax collectors and harlots to repent of their sins. But you didn’t repent of your sins.”

Now this is the most important point, and it is surprising. The religious leaders were not very religious, actually. They were disobedient. Jesus said as much. Jesus told his followers that the religious leaders pretended to be pious, but they disobeyed God by cheating and lying. They swore dishonest vows in the name of God! They did not keep the laws, even though they judged others. The only difference was that the leaders devised clever ways of making it look like they were obedient.

They were disobedient, and yet they hated sinners. They were disobedient, and therefore, they had no love for God. They said they obeyed the Father, but they actually hated the Father. That’s why they also hated the children of the Father. They even hated the Only-begotten Son of the Father. Disobedience breeds hatred.

Jesus did not condemn the Pharisees for their strict adherence to the law. He condemned them for their pretense. They did not lack love because they were too righteous. They lacked love because they only pretended to fear God, but actually, they were just as much sinners as the others. They hated Jesus because they hated sincerity.

So Jesus tells them this story that we don’t hear very much in Church: the parable of the two sons.

“A man had two sons, and he went to the first son and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’ The son answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went. Then the man went to the second son and said the same thing. And the second son answered, ‘Yes, sir. I will go.’ but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said to Him, “The first.”

The one who was obedient (better late than never) had true love for his father. At least he came to his senses and loved his father by obeying him. That is true love.

Listen to Jesus’ words carefully. Jesus never said that what the Pharisees demanded that people do was wrong. He said that they were indifferent to the people for whom the commandments were too heavy. They did not love the people they were supposed to lead and care for. But he did not condemn the law. On the contrary, Jesus told his followers to be more righteous than the Pharisees. He condemned the pretense.

What did the father do in the parable? He did not beat the disobedient son for disobeying. He was patient and went to the second son, giving the first one time to rethink.

The Pharisees were disobedient, and therefore, they were afraid. Because of their fear, they were unable to love the repentant sinners. The fearful and disobedient Pharisees had no fatherly patience with sinners who wanted to change. The Pharisees did not have the light of God. They were children of darkness and were cast out into the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Go home and be polite and respectful. Submit when you should submit. Obey when you should obey. Serve when you should serve. Lead with dignity and honour when you should lead. Teach and set an example. Take responsibility.

Spread the life-giving love of God at work. Show gestures of reverence in the holy space of the Church in front of the icons. And then let your mouth be filled with the same reverence for the Church, its leaders and members, when you are downstairs drinking coffee.

“Let our mouths be filled with Thy praise, O Lord, that we may sing of Thy Glory. For Thou hast made us worthy to partake of Thy holy, divine and life-creating mysteries. Keep us in Thy holiness, that all the day we may meditate upon Thy righteousness.”

December 3, 2024December 3, 2024

Begging To Be Saved

Ethiopian icon of Jesus healing the blind man.

At that time, as Jesus drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging; and hearing a multitude going by, he inquired what this meant. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” And he cried, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus stopped, and commanded him to be brought to him; and when he came near, he asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me receive my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed him, glorifying God; and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.
Luke 18:35-43

In today’s gospel a “multitude” of people are following Jesus through the streets. Being a part of a large movement must have been intoxicating. This whole group of people all agree that Jesus is the one they have been waiting for. Each person might have been thinking, “I get to be a part of the ones who get it!” There must have been a feeling of us, us-ness permeating the group. “We happy few.” Except they were not few. They were gathering steam.

When someone interrupts that moment of joy and wants to do something else, it is really annoying and distracting. It’s like if a young couple are on a date, and really enjoying each other’s company, and then a teacher from their school comes by their table at the restaurant and wants to strike up a conversation. “Oh my gosh! Are you two dating? That’s so cute. What’s good on the menu? What are you having? Brent – make sure to pay. I don’t care what anyone says, it’s always romantic if the guy pays. So what are you doing after dinner? Any plans? My husband and I are celebrating our twentieth wedding anniversary. I remember when I was your age, and we had just met. That seems like yesterday.”

This is a nightmare scenario! The young couple both want to go back to the flow of their conversation. The vibes. Today’s crowd was experiencing something kind of similar. They were in the moment.

Along comes this blind man. That’s not all he was. He was also a beggar, which meant he probably had dirty clothes, probably smelled. He was probably one of those beggars who hassles you every time you walk by. Every time it’s like he thinks you are a bad person when you don’t give him money. It doesn’t matter if you gave him money yesterday. You have probably seen films when a rich person from a more afluent country goes to a poorer country. And all the kids on the street swarm around them asking for money. I know what it is like to be harassed by beggars. It really tears at your heart. We say to ourselves, “I really do care! I promise I do care. But I can’t give you money every day.”

That is the kind of man who wants to talk to Jesus today. This is the guy who doesn’t know or doesn’t care what the vibe is. He is not part of the movement. They assume he doesn’t even care about the movement. He just wants his healing.

Here’s the irony: the very reason there was a crowd surrounding Jesus was that he healed people such as blind beggars. That is what made Jesus famous and beloved. Jesus cared. Jesus had the solution. That is why the crowd was there to begin with. That very crowd, by the way, abandoned Jesus when he was arrested and killed.

Jesus is willing to allow the feeling of us-ness to subside for a moment. Jesus is the one who goes after the lost sheep.

Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me receive my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight;

And then Jesus adds something that no one was thinking about; maybe even the blind man himself was not thinking about this. Jesus says, “your faith has made you well.”

Faith? Who said anything about faith? What did religion have to do with this? Was this pushy begger a man of great spirituality? Maybe someone in the crowd rolled their eyes and thought themselves, “Jesus, I know you want to think the best of people, but let’s move on now so the blind man go back to his lofty contemplation.”

Was Jesus primary mission to cure blind people and leppers? Can you sum up Jesus’ ministry correctly by saying he was a miracle worker? Can you sum up Jesus’ ministry by saying he preached a gospel of compassion for poor people and outcasts? Jesus was empathetic, but is that an adequate and full description of Jesus?

Absolutely not! Jesus Christ is our Lord and God and Saviour! Jesus is the one who created the heavens and the earth so that he could dwell among men. He became man so we could become divine. He who clothes himself with light as with a garment clothed himself with us. He transformed our very nature. He came to give us eternal life and participation in the energies and uncreated light of God’s holiness!

The crowd in today’s gospel is like a group of people who have come to the palace of a king and are sitting around talking and laughing in the lobby. Meanwhile the blind man is being invited into the throne room to meet with the King of Kings.

They resent him from coming into their lobby. They don’t care if they happen to hurt his feelings or offend him. What if he never goes in to the throne room? Do they themselves even realize there isa throne room? They don’t mind if he is left out. It’s better than ruining the vibe they have out in the lobby of the palace of the king.

How dare we ever reduce Jesus to being empathetic; our pal! How dare we ever reduce the true faith to a membership card we keep in the back of our wallet. How dare we ever reduce Jesus to being the one who never makes anyone feel uncomfortable. How dare we ever become so bewitched by the feeling of us-ness that we lose any sense of urgency for sinners into become saints! What are we doing?

Church is where people find the one who created them. In Church, people are freed from the pain, the sins and the passions that would destroy them for all eternity. Church is the place where someone who is stuck in the hopeless and dark night of sin, breaks out of the spiral that leads them into death and hell. This is serious! That is what Church is about. That is what the Christian community is about. It is about the lost sheep not being devoured by the noetic wolf. It’s about life or death!

It amazes me that Christians can pontificate so fervently against the degradation and rot of society around us. We say, “We don’t believe in that. We don’t accept what they would teach our children.”

That is not wrong and yet some of those same people lack a single-minded dedication to the mission of rescuing people from that degraded society!

The disciples were part of the crowd who wanted Jesus to just walk past the blind man. The disciple actually did that several times; shooing away people who they felt had no business bothering Jesus. But those men, the disciples, became the great apostles and pillars of the church. The disciples who were annoyed with our blind man eventually gave their lives for the sake of finding the lost sheep; for proclaiming that message that is the only hope people can ever have. The disciples spent decades in poverty and persecution. They left behind families and friends. They gave up everything for the joy of seeing even one person changed and transformed by uniting their life to Christ.

Nothing can ever be more important than facilitating the journey of a person from spiritual death into the arms of their heavenly Father. Nothing. If you do not know the joy of watching someone grow into the stature of Jesus Christ you have missed out on the joy for which God created the world. You have missed out on a fundamental aspect of what God created you for. Think about the joy of Pascha. The hymns that say, “Shine, shine, oh new Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord has shone upon thee. Dance and be glad, and rejoice o thou pure virgin at the rising of thy son.” He has trampled down death by death!

You are a Christian when nothing matters more in your life than the lost sheep being saved from the wolf. You are a Christian when that is what makes you tick. May Jesus give you a sense of crisis and desperation that motivates you and pushes you forcefully to go pull the stinky pushy blind man to Jesus as if your life depended on it because it does! May you be the one who finds the sinful woman that you find disgusting and off-putting; the sinful woman you don’t think will ever change. May you be the one who runs over to her, takes her by her hand and leads her to Jesus so that she can find that saving moment of washing his feet with her tears.

Are you that person? Become that person because then you will not just be in the group of Jesus’ followers; you will be a partner with Jesus as he saves the world.

The gospel reading end with this:

And immediately he received his sight and followed him, glorifying God; and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

October 22, 2024

Longing to Follow Christ

At that time, a man said to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

He said to another man, “Follow me.”

But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”

Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

After this, the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.

When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If someone son of peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.

When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town … Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”

He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.

All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

(Luke 9:57–10:24)

What event was so great that the prophets and kings longed to see it? In Jesus’ day, Jews remembered the glorious ancient Israelite kingdom that existed between about 1050 to 600 BC. In Jesus’ time, people might have said, “If only our nation could be as prosperous as back then! If only our nation still had prophets who heard the voice of God and guided us! If only we had God’s presence in our temple and lived in unity and peace!”

Jesus disagreed. He essentially said, “Back then, they also longed for the same peace and unity you long for. That is because it was something not even they had. What they longed for is happening here and now! They longed for what you see me doing. I am what they longed for. What I am doing now is the real kingdom. The ancient prophets spoke the words of the Holy Spirit. I am the Son of God. You hear the voice of the Holy Spirit more clearly than ever when you hear me teach!”

The ancient kings and prophets were not the “good old days,” according to Jesus. But what was happening in Jesus’ day that was so glorious? Jesus said, “I am essentially homeless. I wander around from village to village, teaching, healing; at the mercy of others’ hospitality.”

People began to say they wanted to follow Jesus. They, too, wanted to be utterly dependent on God because they saw something divine and holy in Jesus that they could not explain.

Some who followed Jesus lost heart and quit, but some continued. Jesus sent seventy faithful followers out to wander around from village to village. Like Jesus, they were to teach and heal. They did what they had seen Jesus do.

Off they went. They taught and healed people with divine power. Like Jesus, they paid a price for it. Just like in the case of Jesus, some people reject the message of the seventy and run them out of town. These disciples made that sacrifice. They answered that call. They trusted God so completely that they put themselves in a position of dependence on God to provide for them in unusual ways.

Suddenly, strangers would welcome them into their homes. God would miraculously orchestrate events such that the disciples received everything they needed. The disciples would tell people, “The Kingdom of God has come near this place.” The Kingdom of God that they were referring to was their own faith in God. The Kingdom of God is their way of living for God. What people hope and long for, peace, hope and salvation, can be found when you leave everything behind to serve God’s people. That is what the kings and prophets longed for. They longed to see people living fully – by giving fully.”

When they disciples met up with Jesus again, he said, “Satan has fallen.” That is to say, the one who entices us into sin, the one who brings death and sickness and hatred, has no power over you now. Jesus’ new way of living, this new path of trusting God, is the salvation of humanity. Sin is being defeated.

Jesus says, “Nothing can hurt you. Not even snakes and scorpions can hurt you because you have my life and follow my way.”

And then!

“At that time, Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.

All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

Jesus says that the full truth of God is only accessible to humans when they do what these disciples did, which is what Jesus had done first. Because earlier, when he was going to send them out, he said, “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

If people reject Jesus when he says, “You must leave everything for the service of God,” they have rejected God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. If they reject the teaching of Jesus to “love your enemies,” they have rejected God himself. If they reject Jesus when he says, “You must have greater righteousness than the most religious people (the Pharisees),” then they have rejected the God who appointed the ancient kings and spoke through the ancient prophets.

The apostles’ preaching is the voice of God. We live in the Kingdom of Heaven when we do what they teach. They teach us to become one with Jesus by leaving everything else behind.

October 17, 2024

Seeds of Martyrdom

Jesus who sows the seeds: from the parable in Luke 8

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 some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns grew with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew, and yielded a hundredfold.” And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but for others they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, that they may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those 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 fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. And as for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience.” As he said these things, he cried out “He who has ears to hear, let him hear. (LUKE 8:5-15)

A seed wants to grow because of all the energy inside God plants a seed inside us that wants and strives to become holy. The seed is the word. The Word is Jesus Christ. God’s word is buried in the earth through his death. And he grows up inside us because we were buried with Christ and we rose with him. Jesus’ love and holiness grow within us, striving to produce what is holy in our thoughts and intentions. Striving to make our desires holy, to make our attitudes holy, to make our preoccupation holiness and love. The seed of the Word of God strives to make our choices, identities and our actions holy.

The seed is Jesus’ love that we see in his death on the cross. The seed is the power we see in his resurrection. The seed of Jesus the crucified and risen one pushes and strains to make our goals holy, to make our jobs places where we are holy, to make our friendships holy and lifegiving, to make our marriages holy, to make our families holy. This is the “fruit” that Jesus speaks about.

What threatens the growth of the seed? The first recipient of the seed is a Christian. But Jesus says that, “The Devil takes the word away from their hearts.” When we do not allow our longing to be sanctified, we lose our child-like faith and become distracted.

But the second group of recipients do keep the word in their hearts. They receive it with joy but do not allow the word to become their identity. Jesus is not “who they have decided to be.” He is someone who has done good things for them. They recognize that Jesus is full of love, but they have not decided to only define who they are, exclusively, by the holiness of Jesus Christ.

So they fall prey to temptation. They become of two minds. “I love Jesus,” they say, “but I have the right to do this other thing. I love Jesus but I desire what is pleasurable.”

Desire wins. We think about what we desire. We are very familiar with it in our minds, if not in our actions. We see it in our minds’ eyes. We dream of it. It feels natural. If we have not spent time imagining Jesus’ holiness to the point where it is familiar, if the holiness of Jesus has not become a home in our minds where our thoughts can settle and live, then the desires for sin that arise within us fit our identity like a hand in a glove. It just fits, so we follow that path.

The last seed in the parable dies. These are Christians who has preserved within themselves the child-like awe of knowing Jesus. They have given up their identity to Jesus. Whatever opinions and “fight” they had inside, they put it down and leave it behind to follow Jesus. They are not easily distracted by temptations because the temptations don’t fit them anymore. It’s like a glove that is too big; it falls off easily.

But life is hard. This person gets scared. It is hard to have time to go to church. It requires saying no to other things. Fear of missing out is a real fear. It is hard to make space for tithing. It is hard to prioritize community and service. It is hard to disappoint other people and explain to them, “no, I can’t do that, I have a commitment with my church.”

Who you have chosen to be Becomes a public statement. It is no longer just private. That is scary.

Jesus speaks about the wheat bringing forth “fruit.” In his language, seeds were included within the category of “fruit.” A seed-fruit has to fall off the stalk and get planted in the ground, j ust like the first seed, the seed of Jesus, the Word of God fell onto the ground. Jesus died. If our faith matures, we will die with Jesus. We will become martyrs.

When the seed of the Word of God inside us matures, we look for any opportunity to be holy. When someone new comes into the church, we look at them and recognize this is what we have desired. This is what we have been praying for and waiting for. We have desired what Jesus desires, which is that all should be saved. All people should be included. We desire that everyone should have community and fellowship.

If we have desired this, we will have taught our children to desire this. They will recognize the opportunity immediately. When the word has matured within us, we look eagerly for the opportunity to serve, to volunteer, to participate, to give and to build.

When we have allowed Jesus to our identity, our choices take on a natural and determined holiness. We get in the habit of holiness. We become urgently concerned to discard anything that doesn’t fit; any sins of thought, word and deed We have to run to confession to get rid of them because they don’t fit with who we have decided to be.

We are not easily offended by people in the church. Because our identity is serving and building the church. We are not choked by our pride. When we are watchful, we see the moment when it comes, the moment for martyrdom.

It’s like the person who watches for the perfect sale at the clothing store. When she sees it’s half-off, she swoops in and pounces, buying three dresses for herself and a sweater for her sister, who isn’t as good at finding sales.

The martyr seeks the right opportunity to use what God has given them. For example, they can sponsor a refugee. They see a need to foster a child. The church needs to get over the hump financially, and this person gives a much bigger gift than they have ever given before.

This is a Christian who recognizes that the desire they have had for giving something deeply personal, the desire to truly sacrifice, can now be fulfilled. The right moment came along.

Such a moment is an opportunity that only God can orchestrate. The person who has allowed Jesus to completely recreate their desires, thoughts, choices, identity and habits: this person will recognize it right away.

God has given us reminders to help us recognize these possibilities. We have reminders surrounding us. Here. We have a great host of examples of people who have answered that call. That is why we have icons. The icons show us people who were just Christians. The moment for martyrdom came, and they were prepared. The moment for service to the Church came along. The moment of great personal sacrifice came, and they had equipped themselves with the word of God in their hearts. God opened a door for them. They walked through it into holiness.

October 11, 2024

Offering the Bread of Life

“Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

The Jews came to the Lord and said, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

“       Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

         “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

         Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

         At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”

         “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

         Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

         Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

         On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”

         Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”

         From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

         “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.

         Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

         Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve?”

(John 6:27–70)

In the Gospel of John, this story comes immediately after the stories of the feeding of the five thousand and Jesus walking on the water. The crowd speaking to Jesus saw the feeding of the five thousand. They did not see him walk on the water, but they were puzzled that he could be on the other side of the lake without a boat. They come to investigate. Jesus tells them, “You are only interested in me because I do practical things for you.”

Jesus knew that he was “suspected” of being the Messiah. They wondered if they should make him a king after he fed the people. His reply to them was “You’re only interested in food,” but it was actually a roundabout way of saying, “You want me to create a new nation. You want me to resolve conflicts and bring peace and the rule of law and prosperity to our people. You want me to rescue the nation. You want me to be the messiah as you have imagined him.

I, however, want to give you something else – something from God. I do want to rescue you, but not in the way you imagine it.”

So they ask, “What should our vision be then? What kind of new nation are you going to create? How does it work?”

Jesus says, “Following me and trusting me is the new law and the new way of living. You must see me as your only hope. Then, you will be part of my new nation – the people of God. Being one with me is the solution to all your problems.”

They ask Jesus for a sign. We could express their question like this: “Can you prove that you truly are the one who is going to save our nation? Is there some kind of divine proof, like when God rescues the Israelites out of Egypt?” Incidentally the feeding of the five thousand happened right around the time of the Passover, according to John. All the miracles, plagues, parting of the Red Sea etc., these were called “signs” in the Old Testament. After the Passover, the people ask Jesus for a “sign.”

Jesus had just multiplied the loaves and fish and fed the five thousand! And they want him to convince them now by another miracle. Jesus says, “You have to make up your mind. At some point, it becomes evident that you don’t want to understand.”

The people talking to Jesus did not want to understand that the only possible explanation for Jesus’ miracles was that he truly was the Son of God. No one else could have done what he did. But if these people recognized his divinity, they would have to allow him to teach them and reshape their expectations.

When do we not want to understand? We love the stories of the lives of the saints. We don’t love the lifestyle of obedience, faithfulness, and prayer that those saints lived. Do we want to understand that the former is dependent on the latter? We pretend that faith is a matter of dogmatic statements and incense.

We pretend that we can separate theology from our mundane calling to make our spouses feel loved even when they are not acting like someone who deserves to be loved. When someone has hurt our pride and doesn’t give us the recognition we think we deserve, where is our unshakable belief in Christ’s way at that moment? We don’t want to understand that serving and forgiving others is the greatest miracle possible. We want “the divine” brought to us on a platter at a convenient time.

What the people in the gospel story needed was to go from being the people for whom miracles are done, to being the people who follow their God into the desert. At the first Passover, God invited his people to a meal in which they would eat the Passover lamb. They would paint the blood of that lamb on the doorposts of their houses, and wait for their God to deliver them.

Now, Jesus offers the same invitation, even though few of them would have the patience to accept it. In his Passover, the new Passover, the true Pascha, Jesus offers his flesh and blood. We offer our lives together with his. That is the great miracle, the sign that saves the world.

That meal is the place where the people for whom God has done wonders (previously the plagues in Egypt, at this time the healing of the blind and the casting out of demons), become the people who follow God and learn his commandments. Previously the people followed Moses into the desert on their way to the promised land. Jesus invites us to follow him on the road to the cross.

We know about this story, but we are often forgetful. What can we do to rediscover a sense of wonder at this calling? How can we see the difficult road to the cross as a miraculous sign of God’s strength? Can we be dumbfounded at the miracle that God has called us to drive the speed limit? God called me to do the dishes: Oh great wonder! How can we see this narrow path as miraculous, to the point where it pushes all ambivalence away?

The crowd that listened to Jesus expected their Messiah to recreate the ancient nation of Israel. Jesus says, “I am not going to call you into a geographical area to be a nation in the usual sense. I will perform a miraculous intervention in your life, but it will not be what you expect.

I am going to call you to be one with me. That is how you will be the invincible and blessed people of God.”

Jesus says, “How does God save his people? He sends me. I am what God is giving you. I am the bread of life. You can live and prosper if you have me.”

And he goes even further. “You must eat my body and drink my blood!”

Consider for a moment that Jesus teaches about the Eucharist to people who refuse to acknowledge the power of his miracles. God not only teaches us about the holy Mystery of the Eucharist, he also invites us to receive his holy body and blood – even though we do not always acknowledge his divinity with our actions, attitudes and words. Jesus offered his teaching and his miracles to people who were ambivalent about him at best. He allows himself to be received into the house of a sinner. In our case, he accepts being received into the house of our bodies though we are full of sin and faithlessness. This is his extreme humility and self-emptying. And the self-emptying is the proof of his Divinity. His love and patience is his awesome power! That is the sign that Jesus promises his people.

What kind of miracle happens in the Eucharist? Someone baked the bread we use in communion. You gave tithes to buy the wine and to pay for this building. Someone built the iconostasis. The choir showed up to sing. You showed up to pray. These are all divine miracles. The power of God to make humans holy is a miracle. Jesus describes the miracles with these words (go back and read the passage slowly): Come to me. Believe. “Look to me,” which means we rely on him. Be drawn (up) by the Father. We are taught and hear the Father. We eat!

The miracle is that God is working inside of you so that you may offer the sacrifice of the Eucharist. You and I offer these things to God. God sends down His holy spirit upon us and upon the gifts spread forth. The miracle is not only in the presence of Christ in the bread and wine, the healing is not only in your receiving it. The fact that you offer it is also a miracle. When you obey your calling to offer it, that is also healing for you. The miracle is both Jesus’ sacrifice that we partake of, and also your sacrifice. That is what happens when we receive the body and blood of Christ.

This is eternal life. This is theosis. Eternal life is offering your work, time and worship. Eternal life is a clean heart that Christ has created in you. Eternal life is coming back time and time again to that which is your only hope, receiving something that you cannot receive anywhere else: oneness with God and the presence of God within you.

Eternal life is saying “Where else can we go?” Jesus gives us moments of crisis in our life where we have to choose. We need moments when it’s do or die; moments that put you up against the wall and say, “make up your mind.”

Jesus’ teaching about the Eucharist at that moment, in that place, to those people, was just such a “make up your mind” moment. Most of the people left. But the ones who stayed came to the realization – you might say they received the revelation – that they had nowhere else to go!

You are in dire need of a crisis. You need to be put in a position of being forced to choose. You need to find out that Jesus really is your only hope. Whatever challenges God sends you, and whatever makes you suddenly “find religion,” this is for your salvation. That helps you not to be of two minds.

Then you have an easier time believing that the hard work God is calling you to is the only hope you have. Giving is the only hope you have. Faithfulness is the only hope you have. These are the words of eternal life that Jesus gave his disciples. This is what no one beside Jesus can offer us.

November 13, 2023September 23, 2024

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?

September 10, 2023September 23, 2024

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.

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.

March 15, 2023

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.

March 14, 2023

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.