Tag: sermon

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Lent is a season to do things!

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

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

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

Luke 13:18–29

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MATTHEW 25:31-46

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MATTHEW 15:21-28

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

St. Ignatius writes:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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The best seats at the wedding banquet

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

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

Luke 14:1–11

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Luke 19:37–44

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

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

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

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Women Disciples

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“          ‘Seeing they may not see,

            And hearing they may not understand.’

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

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

(Luke 7:36–8:18)

The following is a hymn from Holy Week:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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All in it together

At that time, standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. This is the disciple who is bearing witness to these things, and who has written these things; and we know that his testimony is true. But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

JOHN 19:25-27; 21:24-25

There was a small cruise ship sailing in the Caribbean. A hurricane pushed it way off course. The ship blew up on a reef next to an island. Everyone got off alive. But there was no electricity to work the radio. There was no way to get a message to the outside world that their boat had not sunk in the hurricane. No one was looking for them in that location because it was so far away from where they should have been.

There were about fifty people. They had some food and water. For now. A few of the people understood what a predicament they were in. They needed to get rescued soon or they would all die of dehydration.

There were trees on the island. The people had some tools to cut the trees down and make a raft. But it would take a huge amount of work and effort to do it. They couldn’t get off the island unless everyone worked together.

Most of the people did not understand how unlikely it was that they would be found and rescued. Only four people did understand that they needed to get off the island as fast as possible Before their supplies ran out. No one would listen. Four people could not save everyone alone. The trees and other materials were too heavy. They could not even make a raft that was just big enough for the four of them let alone for the whole group.

In the “group of four” There was a football coach. This was a person who took no nonsense. He started to complain to the other three about the lazy and complacent majority. “You see!” he said. “It’s all because no one knows how to do an honest day’s work anymore… They are going to die here. Good! It is God’s righteous judgment that they perish.”

The football coach might have had a point, but that did not help anyone get off the island. His angry words did not convince anyone of anything. And if God’s “righteous judgment” doomed the larger group from getting off the island, it would simultaneously prevent him from getting off the island. No one could make it out alive Unless everyone worked together to get everyone out alive.

Another person in the group of four was a professor;  a rather bookish type who was used to everything being rational and logical. He started to ask, “Why did this happen to us? Why did God allow us to be stranded on this island? How is God good if He allows this?”

Those might be valid questions. Our society gives us a set of expectations About what God should be. And life hurts. So the questions are understandable. But they are very impractical questions. They are not questions that help anyone get off an island. Plus, you could just as easily ask the question, “Why should God intervene for you?” Laws of nature are laws of nature. Hurricanes happen. Death happens. It is just science. More importantly, proclaiming the unrighteousness of God or even proclaiming that God probably does not exist (and how could you possibly verify that, Mr. Scientist?) does not help anyone to do anything useful or selfless or virtuous. Objecting to the irrationality of God Only serves to make you feel smarter like you have figured it out. But it does not help anyone.

The third person in the “group of four” felt sorry for the large group. This was a very social person who got along with people. He didn’t like making the group angry. He asked, “isn’t there any way we can help everyone without making any demands of the lazy ones?” He wanted to shelter the majority of the group from the consequences of their actions.

“You see,” he explained, “They may seem lazy, But they just want to enjoy the sunshine. Plus they are not used to hard labour. These are fairly well-off people, How do you think they could afford to be on a cruise? Hard work would be a shock to their system. These people are sheltered too. They have never had to deal with the harsher realities of life. It’s not fair for them to have to be confronted with a life-and-death situation. Can’t we save them from dying on the island, while also saving them from the discomfort of having to do the work needed to get off the island?”

But facts are stubborn things. Compassion is wonderful. The football coach needed to learn compassion. If the atheist had compassion he would probably stop speculating about the existence of God, and begin to do something useful for the people on whom he had compassion. But there is a difference between empathy and feeling sorry for someone. Feeling sorry for someone makes me feel virtuous, but it may not help them become virtuous. And it still did not change the fact that they were are all going to die together unless everyone worked together.

The group of four concluded that it was necessary for the complacent people to get  hungry and thirsty before they would be motivated to listen. So the four of them saved their breath and waited.

The fourth person decided to prepare everything he could to for the work of making the raft. He did this in anticipation, and in the hope that everyone would eventually decide to cooperate. He made plans. He collected whatever they would use to cut the trees. He prepared storage containers so they could bring supplies on the raft.

Focussing on what he could do now, and having the courage to hope stubbornly that everyone would do the right thing eventually, gave him the moral authority to lead and direct the work of the whole group when they decided to cooperate.

A few days passed. Someone in the larger group got seriously dehydrated and looked like she would die. That got everyone’s attention. Everyone banded together and gave the person an extra portion of water. They carried her in under the shade of a tree to revive. Now the people all started to cooperate. They got to work with the tools and the plans that had been prepared. They made their raft. They got off the island. They almost died at sea. Because no one ever promised that this would work. But it was the only thing that could work. Eventually they were rescued; half dead, but still alive.

The majority that had been lazy, sheltered and privileged had now matured. Because of the crisis, they came out skinnioer but tougher; shaken but also more responsible. Strangers became brothers.

In today’s gospel reading Mary and the Apostle John, were standing at the cross watching their beloved master and teacher die in horrible agony. Disfigured. Discredited. Discarded. The precious one is despised. The royal priest, whose prayers and whose power have protected the city of Jerusalem, has now been marched out of his city like a criminal and a slave. But John and Mary stand there.

St. Ambrose of Milan tells us that the reason Mary was staring at her dying son was not because she was horrified at the brutality of his death. We might have stood and stared, transfixed by the horror. But that was not why Mary was standing there. She was marveling at the miracle of salvation that was unfolding before her eyes. She understood that the disciples would have to reckon with their cowardice. She knew that each person in the world would one day have to look at the horrible truth of how ugly and horrific their own sin is. Jesus on the cross constitutes a just accusation against all of us. And yet, she does not stare in pity or fear. She stands in wonder at the goodness of God.

While Mary prays for us, she also knows that when we see that horror of sin, and our conscience is pricked, that will be for our salvation. As a mother, she knows that the child must be allowed to be confronted with the consequences of their actions in order to mature. Trying to save someone from the gospel truth about the evil of their sin, about how their sin is leading towards death, is to try to save them from Jesus.

Mary was not angry with the ones who killed Jesus And she was not angry with God the Father who sent Jesus. Mary knew, as she stood at the foot of the cross, that while we may never understand why evil exists, the cross reveals to us that the real tragedy of evil is that it is inside us. And yet God has come to destroy evil and death.

I want to read a part of a poem By St. Ephrem the Syrian. And it is about Jonah when he preached repentance to Nineveh. For anyone who doesn’t know this is a story from the Bible when God sends a messenger, a prophet, to an evil city. The prophet tells the people of the city that unless they change their ways, God will destroy them all. But the message works. They all focus. They all work together. And they all change.

And this poem takes some artistic license in imagining what it is like when a whole group of people work together for their common salvation. St. Ephrem is purposely using words that allude to the church, as Jesus describes it.

The young men laid restraint upon their eyes,
That they might not gaze on women;
Women laid aside their ornaments,
That those who looked on them might not stumble.
For they all were persuaded of this.
That the ruin was a common one;
If they became a stumbling-block to others,
They themselves would not escape.
The beautiful would not disturb
The penitence of the men of the city;
For they knew that on their behalf
The repentant were mourning.
They thus both healed and were healed,
The one by the other, through repentance.
No one caused his neighbour to sin,
For every man was persecuting unrighteousness;
Every one drew on his companion
To prayer and supplication.
The whole city became one body,
Every one was watching every one,
Lest one should sin against his kinsman.
Each one instructed his neighbour.
That he might be clear from his fellow-member.
No man there offered up petitions,
That he might alone be saved;
They were alike as fellow-members,
For each prayed the one for the other.
All the city had been summoned
To destruction, as though it were one body.
Nor were the sober among them able
To live apart from sinners;
For as members they were bound together,
The good and the evil equally.
Their righteous men were offering prayers
For sinners, that they might be saved;
And sinners again were intreating
For the righteous, that they might be heard.
The just among them prayed
For the unrighteous, that they might be saved;
And the unjust, on the other hand, made supplication
That the prayer of the just might be accepted.

Bonus material from St. Ambrose, Epistle LXIII (63)

108. Mothers, wean your children, love them, but pray for them that they may long live above this earth, not on the earth but above it, for there is nothing long-lived on this earth, and that which lasts long is but short and very frail. Warn them rather to take up the Cross of the Lord than to love this life.

109. Mary, the mother of the Lord stood by her Son’s Cross; no one has taught me this but the holy Evangelist St. John. Others have related how the earth was shaken at the Lord’s passion, the sky was covered with darkness, the sun withdrew itself; that the thief was after a faithful confession received into paradise. John tells us what the others have not told, how the Lord fixed on the Cross called to His mother, esteeming it of more worth that, victorious over His sufferings, He rendered her the offices of piety, than that he gave her a heavenly kingdom. For if it be according to religion to grant pardon to the thief, it is a mark of much greater piety that a mother is honoured with such affection by her Son. “Behold,” He says, “thy Son”. … “Behold thy mother.” Christ testified from the Cross, and divided the offices of piety between the mother and the disciple. The Lord made not only a public but also a private testament, and John signed this testament of His, a witness worthy of so great a Testator. A good testament not of money but of eternal life, which was written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, Who says: “My tongue is the pen of a quickly writing scribe.”

110. Nor was Mary below what was becoming the mother of Christ. When the apostles fled, she stood at the Cross, and with pious eyes beheld her Son’s wounds, for she did not look for the death of her Offspring, but the salvation of the world. Or perchance, because that “royal hall” [i.e. Mary is a throne room of the King Jesus] knew that the redemption of the world would be through the death of her Son, she thought that by her death also she might add something to the public weal. But Jesus did not need a helper for the redemption of all, Who saved all without a helper. Wherefore also He says: “I am become like a man without help, free among the dead.” He received indeed the affection of His mother, but sought not another’s help.

Imitate her, holy mothers, who in her only dearly beloved Son set forth so great an example of maternal virtue; for neither have you sweeter children, nor did the Virgin seek the consolation of being able to bear another son.

From Methodius, “Concerning Free Will.”

Orthodoxus. The old man of Ithaca, according to the legend of the Greeks, when he wished to hear the song of the Sirens, on account of the charm of their voluptuous voice, sailed to Sicily in bonds, and stopped up the ears of his companions; not that he grudged them the hearing, or desired to load himself with bonds, but because the consequence of those singers’ music to those who heard it was death. For such, in the opinion of the Greeks, are the charms of the Sirens. Now I am not within hearing of any such song as this; nor have I any desire to hear the Sirens who chant men’s dirges, and whose silence is more profitable to men than their voice; but I pray to enjoy the pleasure of a divine voice, which, though it be often beard, I long to hear again; not that I am overcome with the charm of a voluptuous voice, but I am being taught divine mysteries, and expect as the result, not death but eternal salvation. For the singers are not the deadly Sirens of the Greeks, but a divine choir of prophets, with whom there is no need to stop the ears of one’s companions, nor to load one’s-self with bonds, in fear of the penalty of hearing. For, in the one case, the hearer, with the entrance of the voice, ceases to live; in the other, the more he hears, the better life will he enjoy, being led onwards by a divine Spirit. Let everyone come, then, and hear the divine song without any fear. There are not with us the Sirens from the shore of Sicily, nor the bonds of Ulysses, nor the wax poured melting into men’s ears; but a loosening of all bonds, and liberty to listen to everyone that approaches. For it is worthy of us to hear such a song as this; and to hear such singers as these, seems to me to be a thing to be prayed for. But if one wishes to hear the choir of the apostles as well, he will find the same harmony of song. For the others sang beforehand the divine plan in a mystical manner; but these sing an interpretation of what has been mystically announced by the former. Oh, concordant harmony, composed by the Divine Spirit! Oh, the comeliness of those who sing of the mysteries of God? Oh. that I also may join in these songs in my prayer. Let us then also sing the like song, and raise the hymn to the Holy Father, glorifying in the Spirit Jesus, who is in His bosom.

Shun not, man, a spiritual hymn, nor be ill-disposed to listen to it. Death belongs not to it; a story of salvation is our song. Already I seem to taste better enjoyments, as I discourse on such subjects as these; and especially when there is before me such a flowering meadow, that is to say, our assembly of those who unite in singing and hearing the divine mysteries.

From Methodius “Fragments from the Homily on the Cross and Passion of Christ

” Some think that God also, whom they measure with the measure of their own feelings, judges the same thing that wicked and foolish men judge to be subjects of praise and blame, and that He uses the opinions of men as His rule and measure, not taking into account the fact that, by reason of the ignorance that is in them, every creature falls short of the beauty of God. For He draws all things to life by His Word, from their universal substance and nature. For whether He would have good, He Himself is the Very Good, and remains in Himself; or, whether the beautiful is pleasing to Him, since He Himself is the Only Beautiful, He beholds Himself, holding in no estimation the things which move the admiration of men. That, verily, is to be accounted as in reality the most beautiful and praiseworthy, which God Himself esteems to be beautiful, even though it be contemned and despised by all else — not that which men fancy to be beautiful.

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Freedom from pride

MARK 10:32-45

At that time, Jesus took his twelve disciples, and he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and deliver him to the Gentiles; and they will mock him, and spit upon him, and scourge him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise.” And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him, and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant of James and John. And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Two brothers are taking their families camping in the woods. They stop to set up camp. They both want to be the camping boss.

“You’re starting the fire wrong. See it’s not working, let me show you how.”

“I know how to do this, I’ve been camping more than you have.”

“Well then why isn’t the fire going already.”

“We need to set the tent up over there.”

“No, you never set a tent up in that kind of a place. Everyone knows that.”

“When I was in the army we learned that you always have to do it like this.”

“Well we’re not in the army now, General!”

Each one wants to be the big boss man. After they ruin their families’ vacation the two brothers decide to try to talk things out. (Full disclosure: their wives decided that they would talk it out). Both brothers are thinking the exact same thing. They both say, “you never listen to me.”

What they both feel is, “I want to be heard. I want to be respected. I’m not a little boy anymore. Υou need to relate to me as an adult. I want to be recognized for my accomplishments. I want to feel loved.”

They both want the other brother to feel loved as well. As it stands now, the brothers are sacrificing every real need that they have to that one perceived need which is the need to win. They would both rather win, rather push the other one down, than build the other up. Who is going to blink or back down?

In this stalemate no one is winning. Both of these brothers have become slaves to their pride. They each have a rope around their necks. Pride is holding the other end of the rope. When pride says, “stick out your chest,” they must do it. If they don’t, pride will make them feel as if they are going to die inside. When we are enslaved by our pride it is very easy for someone to grab hold of that rope and yank itand make us do things we didn’t think we would ever do, such as destroy our relationships and make a scene over a campfire.

What is it that you are attached to so much that when it is threatened you become a slave to your passion?

In today’s gospel the Apostles James and John come to Jesus to ask him if they may sit at his right and left side when Jesus comes in his kingdom. Basically they want to be as powerful and as important as you can possibly get.

Jesus asks them, “can you drink the cup that I drink?” What cup is that? It is the cup that Jesus spoke of in the garden of gethsemane saying, “take this cup from me.” It refers to his death. Jesus asks the disciples, “can you be baptized with the same baptism with which I am baptized?” That is, the baptism in which Jesus enters into the depths of hades. It sounds like Jesus is simply asking them to swear a solemn oath of allegiance. But the question is actually pedagogical. These apostles will run away from Jesus when Jesus goes to “drink of that cup,” as he suffers and dies. So no, they cannot drink of it yet. But in this passage, James and John are eager, and they say, “yes, we can do that.”

Then Jesus says, “you will indeed drink the cup that I drink … but to sit at my right or my left hand is not mine to give.” We now know that they did die as martyrs later on, when they have reached maturity in their apostolic ministry. But they have not matured yet, at the time of today’s gospel.

Why did Jesus say that he is unable to grant the places of honour to the apostles James and John? There are three issues going on here. First of all, there is no right or left-hand place beside Jesus. Jesus sits alone upon the throne. Jesus is the lamb who is slain. He is the only lamb of God.

It is in our DNA to fall down before Jesus Christ and worship him as our Lord as our God as our Saviour. It is a fundamental part of how the universe works and of how we work. Whatever passion and desire we have become enslaved to it will undermine the “one thing needful” which is to serve Jesus Christ.

Second of all, Jesus has already told the apostles earlier that they will all sit on thrones in the kingdom (just not as his equals). When James and John are making this request they are not just saying that they want to be near Jesus. They actually wanted to be greater than the rest of the disciples. As long as the brothers are fighting they are losing the very brother from whom they want respect. They are destroying the very relationship that would be the place where respect and love would happen.

Third of all, notice, when Jesus says, “it is not mine to give,” he does not go on to say, “but my Father has decided who will sit there.” He does not say whose it is to give. Ruling with Jesus means dying with him, which is our choice and he cannot make it for us.

Jesus has given us a way out of this mess. Jesus says, “whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of man [himself!!] also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The word “ransom” is interesting. Usually when we hear the word ransom we think of hostages or kidnapping. What Jesus is talking about is buying a slave. In our analogy the rutheless master controlling each brother is pride. How can they be free?

They can be free by becoming the servant of another master. When they are freed from the false master of pride, they are free to become the servant of the real master who is Himself the full essence of love. They are free to follow Him who created us, who holds us together in an inseparable bond of shared humanity.

In our gospel reading today the disciples want to be equal to Jesus. But a disciple will never not be a disciple. Jesus does not ransom us so that we have no master. Jesus ransoms us for true freedom, which is the freedom to be His servants and disciples. We will never have any higher place, never any higher calling than to sit at Jesus’ feet. In the heavenly kingdom we will still be disciples forever.

The master teaches us by revealing himself to be present in the person of our neighbour. We honour our teacher who is coming to us disguised as a needy brother. The master teaches us  by calling us to do what he does. We are Jesus’ apprentices. When we forgive we are growing into our true selves. When we cooperate and let the other person win the argument, we are becoming true man together with him who is also true God. When I build up my brother he starts to behave like a king with nobility of character  and magnanimity. And even if he does not I have my peace.

We proclaim our belief that Jesus can restore all people to the kingship which is the inheritance of the servant. The best way to achieve the restored relationships that we long for is to follow Jesus, showing those around us that our hope is not in pride but in love.

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Proskomedi (part 1)

How does the Holy Spirit speak to us? How does the Holy Spirit help us to make decisions? How do we know who has authority to discern the guidance of the Holy Spirit for the Church? These are the questions we are going to learn about today and in the next few Sundays.

In order to learn about this we are going to study the Proskomedi. The Proskomedi is a service of preparation that is celebrated by the priest before Divine Liturgy. When it is finished, the wine and the bread are ready to be carried into the church for the Eucharist. The priest celebrates this service on a table in the altar that stands off to the side.

The table is called the Prothesis. “Prothesis” means the act of bringing something forth. The Proskomedi service is a picture of how the Holy Spirit works in our lives. We are going to study the text of the Proskomedi for a few reasons. First of all, learning about the prayers of the church teaches us to think like the Church. Second of all, the Proskomedi teaches us what the words “authority” and the “inspiration” of the Holy Spirit mean.

Authority comes from the Latin word “augment.” In Roman law, authority was idea that you can only make new laws if they are a continuation of previous laws. You cannot make anything new. Christians took this concept and applied it to the doctrine of the Church. Like St. Paul and St. Vincent teaches us: we only repeat what we have heard.

The Proskomedi tells us about Christian authority and what makes for authoritative teaching. The Proskomedi teaches us who has authority. It does this by showing us what the original authority is and how it continues and reaches us.

The word Proskomedi means sacrifice. It is a Bloodless sacrifice. In ancient times and in the Old Testament, food offerings and whole-burnt offerings fell into this category of bloodless sacrifices. These were not animal sacrifices of blood or atonement. They were offerings from the people without blood. The Proskomedi is the sacrifice that we make, offering what we have to God. We offer our work to God by giving the product of our work.

The first prayer of the Proskomedi is, “God be gracious to me, a sinner.” That might sound like a generic introductory phrase. But in fact, this prayer captures the essence of all of our prayers. We are sinners who need God.

Today we read about Zacchaeus who was a sinner. Zacchaeus was basically like the mafia. He was an extortionist. Being a tax collector meant not only that he took people’s money but he had the power to put you in jail whenever he wanted if he didn’t get the money he wanted.

We read today how Zacchaeus turned his life around. Zacchaeus was numbered among the seventy apostles who Jesus sent out to heal and preach the gospel. Zacchaeus became an apostle and a bishop!

Zacchaeus is a good example of how God works in our lives. The “original” from which all authority derives is Jesus Christ. Jesus comes to Zacchaeus and sees him hiding in a tree. And Jesus says to him “come down, I am going to eat at your house.” Where did Jesus get the authority to tell him what to do? Where did Jesus get the authority to just say “I am going to your house?”

On the one hand Jesus got that authority because he is the creator of Heaven and Earth and is the Son of God. But more importantly Jesus has that authority because he created Heaven and Earth in order to die on the cross for us. Jesus has the authority to call Zacchaeus to repentance because Jesus is eternally the righteous one who died for Zacchaeus. Jesus leaves his Father’s house to come to save Zacchaeus. By his death, Jesus is showing Zacchaeus what Zacchaeus should do. “Go to the lost sheep,” he tells Zacchaeus. “Boldly go to sinners and enter their houses when everyone else thinks they are unclean, just like I have entered your house. Love the sinners. Believe in the power of God to heal the sinners.” That is what Jesus is calling Zacchaeus to do. Because Jesus is the one who does it first, he has the authority to cause Zacchaeus to do it. He is the original, Zacchaeus is the continuation.

Zacchaeus is there in Jerusalem at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit comes. He sees the power of the Holy Spirit to convert thousands of people. Zacchaeus receives the authority and the gift of preaching the gospel, the gift of guiding the Church as a bishop. He takes what he and all the apostles saw, what they together learned from Jesus. He takes what Peter, the leader of the apostles has said. He takes the guidance of the twelve chief apostles. Working within that framework he goes out to continue his own ministry as an apostle and a bishop.

The Holy Spirit moves in the Church. The Church received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Each person received their individual gift and calling of the Holy Spirit in the context of the whole Church. No one did it alone. No one is independent of the rest. No one speaks on their own authority. Not even Jesus speaks on his own authority, but rather he speaks what the Father has spoken to Him.

So when we continue to learn about the Proskomedi we continue to see how the life and death of Jesus has power and authority that spreads out from one person to the next, in the context of the Church, in the fulness of all the people in the Church who are called to various tasks and positions of leadership, and it continues down to each person in their place.

Each of you has the authority to spread the Gospel. Primarily you do this  by living the Christian life. In the same way that Jesus’ authority comes from what he does and he invites you to be righteous with him. He has authority because he knows how. He has authority because he has experienced suffering for righteousness’ sake.

Authority and inspiration in the Church come from the life of obedience and worship and discipleship. And it is spread from you to others who see it in you. It comes through you to your children and grandchildren, to you nieces and nephews and other children in your life; to your godsons and goddaughters, to enquirers and catechumens. Your life in Christ is a conduit for the Holy Spirit to reach others. But only in the context of the wider Church.

Your authority is not to enforce canons. Canons are provided to bishops as a help for them to guide us. Your authority is not to decide how the Bishops should lead the Church. Your authority is not over priests and deacons. You do not have the right to make the bigger decisions about how the worship is done in the church. Each person in their own place and their own calling. Each person has their own type of authority and inspiration.

Each person only has as much authority and inspiration as the Holy Spirit has given them in the context of the Church. Authority and inspiration are given us first and foremost in order for us to obey Jesus, and to have a life of righteousness that they invite others to join.

St. Paul talks about this authority when he speaks about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. He says that the body is one, and the head cannot say to the foot, “I don’t need you.” The leaders of the church must not disdain or ignore the people who follow them.

Our bishops need us to learn from them and to follow them. The church does not function well if we do not all follow their leadership. They need us to pray for them. They need us to do the work of serving and running the day-to-day tasks of the church. They need us to listen to them so that others can be saved: to provide a good example of cooperation and obedience to others.

The foot (that is us) cannot say to the head, “I don’t need you as my head” or “I can also be a head.” We have one head. The bishops do not need our guidance. One person is the father. All the others are children. The Head cannot say to the foot, “I do not need you.” But the head is still the head and not the foot.

I once heard Bishop John tell a group of people, “As the bishop, I need you to have a job. But you need me in order to be a church. Without me you are just a club. You might be a great club, but you are not a church without me.”

The Holy Spirit comes to each person through the whole of the Church. He comes to us through the teachings of the Church which come to us through our teachers. He comes to us through the scriptures when they are taught and explained to us by those whom the Holy Spirit has called to teach us. The Holy Spirit does not come to you by going around the Church, but through the Church, through the fulness of the life of the Church.

The inspiration of the Holy Spirit is not just a radio frequency that anyone can tune into without respect to training or ordination. The Holy Spirit guides us by providing us with people who have studied and are recognized by our bishops as being qualified.

So let’s read one of the first prayers of the Proskomedi:

Make ready, O Bethlehem for Eden has been opened for all. Prepare, O Ephratha, for the tree of life has blossomed forth in the cave from the Virgin. For her womb has become a spiritual Paradise in which is planted the divine plant, whereof eating we shall live and not die as Adam. Christ shall be born, raising the image that fell of Old.

This prayer is not just from the Proskomedi, it is also a hymn that we sing at Christmas. On the Prothesis table where we celebrate the Proskomedi we have the Christmas icon. Christ coming to us when we celebrate the Proskomedi. Soon we will receive the body of Christ.

We say that Eden is opened. The creation of the world and the garden of Eden was part of the story line in which Jesus would become man. That is the whole point of creation and human existence is for us to become like Jesus. The Tree of life is the cross. It is beginning to come to us when we prepare of the Divine Liturgy.

The prayer mentions the “Divine plant.” This recalls when Jesus says, “I am the vine you are the branches.” Jesus says “remain in me” Jesus’ love, self-sacrifice, total dedication to God are what we are called to make our lives about. They are the climax of creation.

The life we are created to live in Christ, that is the continuation from the original which is Jesus Christ. All authority and all inspiration from the Holy Spirit shows us how to be part of that. Authority brings about the continuation of the life of Jesus Christ in the life of every Christian. That authority begins in the altar where the Bishop serves together with his priests that he has ordained.

We come to the Proskomedi asking for help as sinners. When the Holy Spirit guides the Church by giving the gift of leadership to our bishops, and the gifts of teaching to our teachers, when the Holy Spirit speaks to us through them about how to live a life in Christ, that is the help we are given. Authority is the voice of the church calling us to a life in Christ, telling us how, guiding us. The hymn above says that we shall live and not die as Adam. Christ shall be born, raising the image that fell of old.

Next time we will talk about how the Proskomedi explains to us what the life in Christ is. What is it that the Church teaches us to do? How does it guide us? How does the work of the Holy Spirit become our own life? That is what we will discuss in the next part of this series.

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Praying with Jesus

At that time, Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was many furlongs distant from the land, beaten by the waves; for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. But immediately he spoke to them, saying “Take heart, it is I; have no fear.” And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, bid me come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus; but when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “O man of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they entered the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” And when they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret.

MATTHEW 14:22-34

The disciples were rowing in the storm in today’s gospel. They were cold, wet and tired. It was also pitch dark. When you are in a boat on the stormy seas there is no break from the waves. You can’t press pause.

The wind was blowing against them, otherwise they would have used the sail. And this sounds like the worst-case scenario, but it was not. When it is stormy, the best thing is to have the front of the boat point straight into the waves. What is dangerous is when the waves come from the side. The storm that Jesus left them in was difficult but not deadly.

This is the second time that Jesus is with the disciples in the storm. The last time there was a storm, Jesus was with them in the boat. This time he is on land, and they are rowing alone. He is training them for their work as apostles once he ascends into heaven.

Many interpret this story as “Jesus comes to us in our storm to comfort us.” That is part of the point.

But when Jesus comes to the disciples it is not comforting at first. The disciples think that they are seeing a ghost. You don’t look outside when you’re rowing and working so hard. You can’t see someone walking on the water in that darkness. But suddenly Jesus is right up next to them.

Peter says, Lord, if it is you, tell me come to you.” Peter did not say, “let me walk on the water too.” Rather, Peter says, “let me come to you, Jesus.” Peter did not say, “I am coming.” He waits to hear the voice of Jesus. He waits for a command.

Jesus says, “come.”

Peter is full of love but also eager to the point of recklessness. Jesus affirms his love because Jesus always receives us when we run to him. Jesus also allows Peter to learn how to be more sober.

By allowing Peter to first walk out onto the water, and then sink, Jesus is saying to Peter, “Yes, you want to come to me. That is a desire which will always be fulfilled. But no, you are not invincible in your faith. Take your weakness seriously. Be careful not to get caught up in ecstasy.”

Powerful and intense feelings are deceptive. An intense feeling is not a substitute for sober, mature thought. Feelings are like little children. They are precious and command our attention. They are hard to ignore. They become our darlings.

But feelings have to grow up. Feelings cannot always dominate our conversations. Every child has to learn not to interrupt. Every child has to learn that mom and dad cannot always read them books; cannot always give them a hug. Mom and dad have to correct them. Mom and dad need to expect them to work.

Affection walks hand-in-hand with steady direction. That is how our feelings must be managed. When we allow our feelings to be the boss, especially in our faith, then our world is ruled by a child. A child who is in charge of the house becomes the worst of tyrants.

Love the feelings. Be open to the feelings. But let your inner adult be the boss. That is the best thing for your feelings.

The disciples were on the sea, in the storm. They were almost home when Jesus came to them. The thing that had brought the disciples so close to their goal was not a feeling of ecstasy but hard work.

When Jesus comes to deliver them from the storm He waits until the “fourth watch.” That is something like 4 or 5 in the morning. The night was almost over. They got to their destination immediately after he came to them. Hard work and faithfulness and the mature sobriety brought them most of the way. When Jesus comes to the disciples, He does not calm the storm immediately. The storm is still raging when Peter gets out of the boat. That is why Peter starts to be afraid. Sometimes just as we are about to be delivered the storm gets much worse. That is almost a part of the proof that deliverance is at hand.

Jesus calmed the waters but he did not give them wind from behind to fill their sails either. They still had to row the rest of the way. But because they had been working so hard against the storm, the rest of the work was easy by comparison.

When Peter’s faith starts to fail, when he loses sight of who it is that he is walking towards, when it is less a matter of love and more a matter of being seduced by feelings of wonder, then he sinks. Jesus steps in and supplies what is lacking. At the ordination of a priest or deacon, the bishop prays that God will supply was is lacking.

This means something wonderful and unexpected: we too can be part of supplying the faith that is lacking in others. How is that?

The reason Jesus was not in the boat with them that night was that he withdrew to pray. Perhaps he was praying for them as they rowed. Think about that for a moment. Jesus, our Lord and God and saviour, prays. We pray to him. He prays to his Father.

When we pray, we are praying not only to Jesus but with Jesus. What else are we doing with Jesus? We come to church to serve and to make sacrifices with Jesus. Jesus is not only he who was offered. Jesus is he who offers. He is both the lamb who was slain and the High Priest.

We too make offerings together with Jesus. In the Divine Liturgy we say, “thine own of thine own, we offer unto thee in behalf of all and for all. We do this in behalf of all. We supply what is lacking in their faith by offering up spiritual sacrifices for our own sins and for the ignorance of the people.

Just showing up, just participating is an expression of divine faith. We have come to walk on the water by coming here to church. Even if we do not have an ecstatic feeling of faith, even if we struggle to even know why we are here we are still working together with Jesus to save the world. Faithfulness, showing up and working hard may bring a feeling of closeness to Jesus. But it always is a closeness to Jesus, even if we do not feel it.

And Jesus supplies what is lacking (often by allowing us to struggle, since he knows that we mature in that way). Jesus is with us so that we will become one with him in his prayer and in his ministry to the world.

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Are you ambivalent?

At that time, as Jesus was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, he saw two boats by the lake; but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had ceased speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a great shoal of fish; and as their nets were breaking, they beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he was astonished, and all who were with him, at the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

Luke 5:1-11

John Chrysostom commented on this story and he said that this was the second time that Peter was called by Jesus. Why did he say that?

In the gospel of John, Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist, and the next day he meets Andrew, Peter and other disciples. But in this gospel story from Luke,

A few chapters earlier it says that John the Baptist was put into prison. Today’s story takes place after John the Baptist was put into prison.

John Chrysostom points out that Jesus is using Peter’s boat to sit and teach the crowd. Jesus already knew Peter in today’s story. Jesus had healed Peter’s mother-in-law just a few days earlier (in Luke 4). John Chrysostom also points out that when Jesus met Peter the first time, Peter’s name was Simon, but Jesus gave him the nickname Peter. But in today’s story, Peter is already called Peter. This is the second time Jesus calls Peter to come and follow him.

Why did Jesus need to call Peter two times? Didn’t Peter follow him the first time? I think it was a very difficult thing for the disciples to leave everything and follow Jesus. I think they needed time. I think some of them started to follow him but needed to go home and take care of some business, and then came back. I don’t think it was a simple thing for them to leave all their obligations and wander around from village to village with Jesus.

Perhaps one of the biggest hinderances for Peter was that his mother-in-law was sick and he was obligated to care for her. James and John had a father called Zebedee. Someone needed to care for him.

What has always bothered me about this story is that it appears that Jesus just doesn’t care. One person comes to Jesus and says, “let me bury my father and then I will follow you.” And Jesus says, “let the dead bury the dead.” It sounds like Jesus doesn’t care. In fact, nothing could be farther from the truth. Jesus does care.

What the disciples were experiencing when they first encountered Jesus was ambivalence. When we are ambivalent we want two different things. Although we know we cannot have both we want both. We stand there like deer in the headlights and we cannot choose.

Ambivalence is our inability to accept the truth about which problem in life is the biggest problem in life. There are many problems. Many challenges that we need to grapple with in life. For example, I need to eat. That’s a problem I have to solve. I need to get a job and work and buy food. I need shelter.

What about the problem of the government? The problem of social issues? Those people over there are doing bad things. That government is doing bad things. That religious group over there is doing and teaching the wrong thing.

Another problem that we need to solve in life is fitting in. Humans are social animals. God made us that way. e need to fit in. We need to be part of the team, part of the tribe. We need friends.

These are not non-issues. These are critical issues for our health. What happens when we are surrounded by people who are alienated and disgusted by our faith and our worldview and by our values? Or what if we are surrounded by Christian people who hate the sobriety and solemnity of our Orthodox faith? What if we have friends who think that the most important part of church Is entertainment and the fueling of an emotional addiction? What if these friends of ours can barely contain or hide their utter dismay at the way our Orthodox faith does not even try to cater to those passions? What if we have friends who think that religious people are reactionary and dangerous?

These are legitimate problems and concerns. Our pain and our anxiety are legitimate.Jesus does not dismiss our problems. Jesus knows more about them than we do.

In today’s gospel Peter has an empty boat which Jesus uses to preach from. All the people thronged around Jesus and he was about to fall into the water. So he gets into Peter’s empty boat. Peter has time to row Jesus out into the water because Peter had not caught any fish the whole night before. Peter does not have any fish to take to the market. Peter has nothing better to do this day because he has not caught any fish.

John Chrysostom points out that when Jesus came to Peter and James and John  they were mending their nets. And John Chrysostom says that this shows how poor these fishermen were. When the nets were breaking and wearing out they did not have enough money to buy new ones so they had to patch them up by hand. So not only have they caught nothing this day, their nets are also old and worn out they can barely manage even when the do catch fish.

When we suffer from our ambivalence we find that whatever it is that we allow to compete with our dedication to Jesus, whatever that is, is itself always going to fail, regardless. If we do not allow our minds and our hearts to follow Jesus completely then our sin and our bitterness and our anger and our resentment are always going to undermine whatever we were hoping to accomplish. Unless God founds the city, the builders build in vain, say the scriptures.

Unless the highest truth in our minds is Christ, unless the truth we speak loudest about is Jesus, unless the first person to whom we belong is Jesus, all other things will fail to some degree or another.

For example, we allow our minds to be colonized by the foreign invaders called news anchors and pundits. We allow them to come in and occupy our living rooms all evening. We allow politics to sit on the throne of our hearts. When that happens, we find that although we try to care about the salvation of the world we cannot muster any power of imagination to imagine that people would actually meet Jesus and believe. We begin to struggle to imagine how Jesus could change their lives. The evidence for the fact that we lose our imagination is how utterly committed we become to a message of condemnation and alarm. There is nothing imaginative or hopeful in condemnation. We have no joy left over, no hope for what the power of the Most High could mean for our neighbours. Because the rage of politics has ensnared us like a net, it has caught us. Rage and judgment and righteous indignation cripple our ability to hope and to imagine a world where the Saul who persecutes us can become Paul, the great apostle. We say, “those people are hopeless.” All our mental energy, all of our attention, all of our urgency is already devoured by the sea monster of political rage. We do not preach a message of hope but of doom. The solution we truly believe in is not Jesus, but policy and action.

People who can only express despair and dismay over the political situation in the world have nothing to offer a visitor to the church. There is no good news to be told, only judgment. The vitriol becomes toxic because political rage has no ability to see the power of God which is expressed in quiet humility and patience.

Some of us have a different problem. In our circle of friends, we self-censor and avoid bringing any attention to our faith. We try to pass as “normal. ” But when a friend of ours is in obvious pain, or has suffered a great loss, when someone needs us to believe for them, to hope for them, we find that we have sanitized our language from all mention of God so much that although we long to be able to tell the suffering person, “I will pray for you,” and although we long to actually sit and pray with them, we find that we cannot. We have almost forgotten how.

Whatever feeling of belonging we may have purchased is quickly lost because we become strangers to our true selves.

Not only are we failing to make the world a better place because of our rage, and not only are we failing to find true friendship and true companionship by pretending to be someone we are not, the net of our faith also becomes old and worn out. We are not catching fish and our nets are broken.

Then Jesus says, “let your nets down.”

When Jesus tells Peter to let his net down Peter is sceptical. Peter tells Jesus, “We were fishing all night and we didn’t catch anything.” Basically, Peter is saying, “look, Jesus, no disrespect, but there aren’t any fish to catch. We already tried. But because you told me to, I will try it.” Peter is humouring Jesus. It is safe for Peter to do this because he feels certain he will not lose face. Peter is getting ready to tell Jesus, when there are no fish, “It’s okay, Jesus, don’t feel bad. You’re not a fisherman, Jesus, you couldn’t have known that there were no fish there. (even if we did tell you). Don’t worry about it.” That’s what Peter thought he was going to say.

They let down the net and they catch so many fish that the nets are bursting and breaking. Maybe the nets are ruined now. Maybe this is the last catch of fish that these nets can manage to get to land.

The problem that Peter could not tear himself away from in order to follow Jesus was that he needed to catch fish and make a living. And now Jesus has shown that he is able to solve that problem. Jesus can give him fish. Jesus knows about our worries and concerns. And he does care. He is able to provide. He does provide.

Jesus does care about the things we are worried about too. Jesus does care what happens in our society. But his solution is different than ours. Jesus saves by preaching a righteousness that is greater than the Pharisees. He saves us by showing us a vision of humility, by allowing himself to be crucified.

Jesus does care about our need to belong. And his solution is to tell people, “come follow me.” Jesus creates a community by his obedience to his Father. By serving and loving.

As Orthodox Christians we have something that all our peers need. Jesus knew that he had something everyone needs. That is how he found companionship and community and a sense of belonging.

We will not see how Jesus is providing for us unless we also allow him to solve the one problem which is greater than all our other problems. There is one challenge that is more urgent than all the others and we cannot see how Jesus is filling our nets unless we figure out which problem is the biggest problem.

When Jesus fills Peter’s net with fish, Peter says to Jesus, “depart from me for I am a sinful man.” Peter has many problems and challenges and obligations. But suddenly he understands what his biggest problem is. He realizes what the one thing needful is. Peter’s biggest problem is that he is sinful, not that his mother in law needs help, not that he needs new nets, not that he didn’t catch any fish.

I don’t know about you, but I always imagined that the decision to follow Jesus was always a one-off take-it-or-leave-it moment of crisis. Each person made their mind up once and that was it. That is how the gospel stories sounded to me.

Today’s gospel suggests to us that it was not so simple even for Peter and the other apostles. Maybe that’s why Jesus is always saying, “no one who puts his hand to the plough and then turns back is worthy of me.” Because some believed but struggled. Some wanted to but did not know how. Some people did not think they were worthy.

Followers of Jesus struggle with ambivalence. Jesus does not judge us for our ambivalence. Rather, Jesus is waiting to help us conquer our ambivalence.

Peter’s words reveal his deepest fear and his deepest worry. “You can’t help me, Jesus. I am beyond help. There’s no point.” That is what Peter is saying. “I am going to mess up. I’m going to fail. I’m going to ruin your ministry, Jesus. Run away from me.”

Peter was willing to take a chance on letting Jesus find the fish in the water. But can Jesus find Peter in the deep dark ocean of sin? Can Jesus fish Peter out? Can Jesus take away his sins and make him whole?

Can Jesus heal your pain so that you can feel confident that his grace is sufficient for you? Can Jesus change you? Can Jesus give you peace even when the leaders and politicians have gone astray? Can Jesus make you shine with the light of his love? Can Jesus speak through you to suffering people and save them? That is the biggest question. And the answer is yes.

When Jesus dies for us on the cross he shows us that the only problem that matters is that I am a sinner and the sinful world is perishing. The biggest problem Is that I cannot become who I am created to be unless Jesus calls me to come and follow him.

When Peter realized that his greatest problem was his sinfulness and his lack of hope and faith Jesus gives him a lifeline. Jesus says, “I will make you a fisher of men.”

I know who you are. I am what you need. I am who you need to be. I am carrying the pain you feel. I am the resurrection and the life. Jesus says, “all power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”

Turn the news off.

Walk away.

Go mend the net of your hope and faith in the kingdom of God. So that you can become a fisher of men. Devote your energy and hope and urgency towards the redemption of the people you know.Reserve the throne in your heart for the one who can solve our biggest problem.

In the book of 1 Kings we read this story:

Elijah went …  and found Elisha son of Shaphat. [Elisha] was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah.

“Let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,” he said, “and then I will come with you.” (literally: I will walk behind you)

“Go back,” Elijah replied. “I will not stop you.”

So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.

(1 Kings 19:19-21)

Elisha was called to become the apprentice to the greatest prophet Israel had ever known. He made his acceptance of that calling into a clear public statement of faith, and he dedicated his great choice to God as a sacrifice. He gathered people around the choice he had made. He did not only burn the plowing equipment, he burnt his bridges. Now there was no turning back. Elisha put himself in a position of such vulnerability towards God that he had to see how God provided for his needs since no one else could provide for him. Now he had no other livelihood so only God could help him.

Jesus, let me also slaughter the oxen of my worries, let me burn the yoke of my fears so that I may sacrifice together with you. Help me to put off my ambivalence and make myself dependent on you alone, so that I will always remember what is most urgent. Help me to walk behind you.

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The Wicked Tenants

I’m going to start my sermon today by reading to you from the Old Testament and then I will read you the gospel reading again.

This is from Isaiah 5

“I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit. “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it.” The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines he delighted in. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.

Now let’s read today’s gospel reading.

MATTHEW 21:33-42

The Lord said this parable, “There was a land lord who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country.

When the season of fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants, to get his fruit;

and the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.

Again he sent other servants, more than the first; and they did the same to them.

Afterward he sent his son to them, saying ‘They will respect my son.’

But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’

And they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.

When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?'”

The story of the vineyard and the wicked tenants is a story about the people of Israel and their relationship with God. Israel is a vine. The vine does not yield good fruit. And the consequence is the exile. About 500 years before Jesus was born All of the educated people in Jerusalem Were forced to move to Babylon. All the priests and leaders were taken captive. The temple was destroyed.

The prophesy we read was predicting that this would happen. The vineyard is the promised land of Israel. The hedge represents the city walls or boundaries of the land. The winepress is the altar where the blood of the animals flowed like wine being pressed out of grapes. The tower was the temple. The fruit represents the sacrifices that were brought to the temple.

There is one special difference between the story in Isaiah and Jesus’ story. In Isaiah, Israel is the vine. And the vine fails to give good fruit. Isaiah explains what that means. The rich people in Israel exploited the poor. There was bribery and corruption and immorality. Good deeds would be good fruit. Bad deeds were bad fruit, especially the bad deeds of oppression by people who were pretending to be religious.

In Jesus’ story the problem is that the tenants don’t give the landlord his portion of the harvest. Jesus changed the story a bit. Jesus has introduced a middleman between the vine and the landlord. This modification of the story is made in order to accuse the priests and the leaders of the people. Jesus adds some nuance to the problem. Jesus does not focus on the fruit being bad fruit. Jesus focuses on how the tenants refuse to give any fruit to the master.

In the story of Isaiah is that the vineyard doesn’t get any rain and foreigners invade it and tear it down. Isaiah was writing about how God allowed Jerusalem to be destroyed in 497 BC. Israel went into exile.

Five hundred years later, in Jesus’ day, the Jews still saw themselves in a kind of exile. Kind of. They lived in Jerusalem. They had a temple. But they did not have their freedom. The Romans were ruling over them. And everyone assumed that God would give them back their old kingdom when they started to produce good fruit again. They believed that when the people pleased God, then God would give them back their kingdom.

But Jesus redefines the problem. Jesus says that the tenants refuse to give the fruit. In other words, the priests are dishonest. The teachers of the people were dishonest.

If I had been one of the Pharisees I would have been offended by what Jesus was saying. How can you hold me responsible, I would have thought. “How can you hold me responsible for the sins of the people? The original story said that the people did not bear fruit. And here I am, a Pharisee, trying really hard to follow all the laws. How am I a tenant who refuses to give fruit to God? It’s not my fault.” That would be my reply.

Jesus says to these leaders and teachers of the people, “You don’t admit that you need help. You want to be seen as leaders and as important people. So you sit at the front in the Synagogue and call yourself a Rabbi but you don’t actually have any wisdom to give them. You don’t actually know how to lead the people in righteousness. And you don’t know how to bring an end to the exile. It’s not working.”

Jesus says to these leaders, “You have created a false religion of extra rules minute details, but no compassion. You don’t care about the people you are supposed to serve. You want the respect that comes with being the tenants of the vineyard. But you don’t actually care about the people you are leading. You make their lives miserable in the name of your religion.”

And then Jesus says to them, “I come to you healing the blind and raising the dead and you can’t admit that I know something you do not. Because of me the adulteress repents of her sins. You never convinced her to stop sinning. You don’t care about her. You are her best customers! And yet you tell me that I am from Satan. You tell me that I am cursed by God.”

“Why can’t you just admit you have no idea how to please God? Why can’t you admit that you are a false leader, a false teacher? Why will you not admit that you are a failed tenant of this vineyard?

So Jesus tells this story about the vineyard. The tenants of the vineyard in Jesus’ story never thought to ask for forgiveness. The tenants did not understand that their landlord was kind. And the leaders of the Jews in Jesus’ time did not know that they could simply ask Jesus for help. They could simply come to Jesus and say, “You have something we don’t have. You have something we don’t even know about. Teach us. Help us.”

There is more evidence of the landlord’s kindness which the tenants did not see. The landlord did not evict the tenants after the first time that they beat his servant. The landlord had every right to kick them out after that first offense. They not stop to ask themselves why the landlord refused to retaliate? Maybe they saw the landlord’s love and patience as weakness.

Then the landlord sent his Son. He gave the tenants the opportunity again to admit that they were wrong. He gave them the chance to stop avoiding the truth.

The truth was that they had nothing to give him. Jesus doesn’t say this, but think of the original story. The fruit from the vine was bad fruit. And they knew it. St. John Chrysostom writes about this story and he says that the tenants of the vineyard were lazy and had not done the work. So they had nothing to give the landlord. And the landlord knows this but he wants the tenants to admit it.

The Father exercises restraint even though he is not obligated to exercise restraint. The Father, or the landlord who is God the Father in this story, is showing the tenants how to exercise restraint. He could have kicked them out after the first attack on his servant. But the Father wants them to have a change of heart.

The tenants do not know how to produce good fruit. They have nothing to give to the father. But the Son who comes to them does know how to produce good fruit. He can show them how. Jesus came to his people performing miracles and turning sinners from their sins. He came to show the leaders how to lead by dying on the cross. He showed them how to lead by his condescension. By becoming a servant.

Jesus came to show them that the way out of the exile is to love and serve the poor. They killed him because they wanted power and privilege and because they didn’t care about correctly interpreting the law. They killed him because they wanted his authority without learning anything about his love and humility. That is what Jesus means when he says that the tenants killed the son of the landlord in order to steal his inheritance.

What about us? In Galatians 5, St. Paul tells us about fruit that we should offer to God. What fruit is that?

the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Think of a person in your life  who is driving you absolutely crazy. It could be someone at work, or at home or somewhere else. Someone who you can’t stand.

St. Paul says that you are invited to produce the fruit of the spirit. You are invited to love that person. You are invited to let the Spirit produce joy in your heart for that person so that you do not become dismayed or enraged. The Holy Spirit gives you joy because you know that God has given us everything we need. The Spirit wants to give you peace and gentleness.

You are in the same position that the tenants of the vineyard were in. You do not have any fruit to give to the servant of God. Now the servant is coming to ask for the Father’s share of the fruit. And you have to decide whether to admit that you don’t have it or whether you will lash out at the servant of God.

In this interpretation, the servant is the person who drives you crazy. Will you react to that person with anger and malice? Will you condemn that person? Will you judge them and talk about them with other people? Will you give them the cold shoulder and exclude them?

When we are faced with difficult people, Jesus is asking us to see that difficult person as the servant of God. And we are asked to admit our own poverty and our own inadequacy.

We say, “Jesus, I have not worked your vineyard. I have not cultivated patience in my life. I have not cultivated empathy and compassion for others. I have not cultivated self-control. I do not have these things to give to your servant. I only have the thorns of sin and passions to give to your servant when he comes to me. Help me Jesus!

Jesus answers us that he is the one who planted the vineyard, and his blood is the wine in the winepress. We only need to offer him our repentance and our humility he will teach us how to cultivate the other fruits of the spirit. The Son himself comes to us in the vineyard, and we are made free simply by confessing to him, “I do not have any grapes to give you.”

When we admit that, the Son himself will show us how to work the land and how to harvest the grapes. The fruits of the spirit are not things that God demands from us. They are virtues that God wants to cultivate within us. If we will only let him.

We let him cultivate the fruit when we say to God, “okay you have put this person in my life who is causing me distress. What do you want me to learn? In what way do you want me to humble myself? Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me.”

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