The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew. (1:1-25)

Today is the annual Sunday when deacons all around the world have to struggle to repeat many long, strange and complicated names. It is the Sunday before the feast of Nativity, the Sunday of the genealogy. The Church makes sure to give us this Sunday before the feast as a necessary reminder. Jesus Christ is part of a larger story. He did not appear as an alien from the sky. No! He is part of a story that was being told for many centuries before His birth. He is related to His people. He has the bloodline of His mother Mary. He also has the lineage by law, from the man whom everyone considered to be His earthly father, Joseph. Of course we know that in fact, Christ had no human father, nevertheless, according to the Jewish understanding, Joseph was His father, and treated as such.

As we dig through this great list of names we recognize a list of who’s who of the Old Testament. The history of Israel is unveiled in the names of these people. We recognize that many of them are great figures, yet some of them were not so great. Many were virtuous, and some were less than virtuous. Some of them had moments of great treachery as well as highlights in their life where they showed tremendous faith in the Lord. We are reminded that the history of Israel is imperfect in the earthly sense. Yet we are comforted that God does not need man made perfection in order to do His work and fulfill His will and His plans.

Each of us is part of a family as well. You will agree that our families are not perfect. No family is perfect because it contains human beings who are created in the image and likeness of God but are nevertheless subject to the passions and sinful inclinations. So no matter how wonderful your family might be, they are not perfect. We shouldn’t idolize them or disparage them. God made each of us a part of our family according to His will for our lives and according to His plan for our salvation. Not a single detail has escaped the Lord’s watchful eye. If this is true for each of us, how much more is it true for the details that surround the people of Israel and the lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Every detail mattered and God used them all because He always planned to have His Son Jesus Christ save the whole universe. The people listed above were often far from perfect. Yet, God found a way to weave their lives and the details of those lives into a redemptive story and by doing so, He redeems them as well. And in the course of hearing their names and learning the Old Testament stories about them, we come to understand that without the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh, we and they would be without hope because of the multitude of our sins and failings. We are truly a collective mess apart from the great grace of the living God.

St. John of Kronstadt said “Why, and for what reason, was there such condescension [shown] on the part of the Creator toward His transgressing creatures – toward humanity which, through an act of its own will had fallen away from God, its Creator? It was by reason of a supreme, inexpressible mercy toward His creation on the part of the Master, Who could not bear to see the entire race of mankind – which, He, in creating, had endowed with wondrous gifts – enslaved by the devil and thus destined for eternal suffering and torment.”

The great grace of God is shown in a most powerful way in the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ. This incarnation did not begin on December 25^th, on Christmas day. No. The incarnation began on March 25^th when the Virgin Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit. Until now we still have those who do not accept the teachings of the Church on conception, pregnancy and the great sin of abortion. This is not a women’s right issue as the world would have you believe. It is an issue of human rights for those who have no voice whatsoever, for the fetus in the womb, including the 50% that are female. But it’s not just an issue of human rights.

This is an issue of right versus wrong. You are free to hold whatever position you like, but you are not free to do so while claiming to also be a practicing, believing, faithful Orthodox Christian. The two are incompatible. Be bold in standing against the world and those who want to have fellowship with darkness. Young people, teens, young adults, be bold in standing up for Christian teaching. You are meant to be a light to the world. If you won’t be bold in your faith, who will be? And when at times you meet those who are difficult or stubborn, walk away from such discussions because wolves do not honor what is sacred, and they have no problem tearing it apart.

Even if we had not known the incarnation of Christ, this teaching would be true but how much more sanctified and powerful is this truth once we have understood that our Lord Jesus Christ also partook of this aspect of our lives? He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in his humanity and He developed as a fetus within the womb. The hymns tells us that the womb of Mary became more spacious than the heavens, because this womb held God. All of this to save us from our sins…Emmanuel, God with us!

We have put on Christ who first put on our humanity. This humanity that he put on was from a lineage full of various kinds of people. Some good, and some not so good. But now that we have received Christ we have to choose which side of the story we would like to be on. On whose side will we stand? Who will we serve? As we draw near to the feast of Nativity, let us be like Joshua the son of Nun and say “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!”

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (14:16-24)

The Lord Jesus Christ taught this parable about the great banquet. He speaks of a man who planned a large banquet and invited many guests. Yet those who were invited began to make many excuses for why it was not a convenient time for them to come to the banquet. This inspired the man to send his servants out yet again and to invite others until finally the banquet was full.

Who is this man that invited the people to a great banquet? We can say that this is God or His Son Jesus Christ who send out His servants with invitations. Who are the servants? They are the holy apostles first sent out by Jesus Christ. Today we would say that they are those who were appointed by the apostles such as the bishops, priests and deacons, and perhaps others…

What is this banquet? Is this a reference to heaven above? Yes. But is it only a reference to the afterlife that awaits godly people? No. Our eternal life cannot be disconnected from our lives here and now. They are connected. Moreover, our spiritual life cannot be disconnected from our physical life. They are both connected. So the banquet is certainly a reference to the heavenly kingdom but it not merely the heavenly kingdom. The banquet is also here and now. Our Lord Jesus says “the kingdom of God is within you.”

It is also a reference to what we are doing when we come together as “church.” We don’t come together merely for fellowship or to sing a few songs. We come together to worship the living God. We begin every liturgy with the words “Blessed is the Kingdom.” This signifies that a change is happening. That we have left the world and are entering a new place, a new state of being, a new land. We are entering the kingdom of God. This is one of the reasons why we must build churches and why the churches must be ornate with iconography and beauty not bare white walls because the church is manifesting the kingdom and it’s realities to the world around it. The walls of the church declare an often hidden reality, God and His saints are with us in this place. This place filled with the mercy of God and His grace, becomes a part of the kingdom because Christ has conquered it with His love.

Likewise, each of us becomes personally a participant in this kingdom. We are told in the parable that the man had his servants invite people personally! We are a group who are in communion with one another, but we first participate personally. Before we become a community, we are individuals. We are invited as individuals and we are called to accept or reject the invitation.

The first time that someone is invited is when they first encounter the gospel teachings of Our Lord Jesus Christ. They feel called to change their way of life, to repent, to come to Him. For others this might happen later after they have been in the church for sometime, such as children who are baptized at a young age but have not internalized and accepted their relationship with the Lord. They may come to a moment where they metaphorically stop arguing with God. Where they “lay down their arms and surrender.” Where they cease to fight against God and His ways, and finally allow Christ to declare His victory and conquer their hearts and their lives.

In the passage we find that many who were invited never took the invitation seriously. Our Lord is telling us something about reality isn’t He? He is telling us that although people are personally invited, some of them have other priorities in their lives. They have somehow lost focus on what is most important. We could and we must say that some of you are here physically but the heart and mind are elsewhere. No warmth or love for Christ or His Church or His kingdom. It’s nearly the same being too busy to accept the invitation. But to accept the invitation is to give your heart and your attention to Christ as much as it is possible. In our own lives we might say, I’ll take my relationship with Christ more seriously but first I want to get married. Or we say, I will focus on Christ but first I want to have a successful career. Or we say “I am serious about Christ but I am unwilling to give up my sinful ideas and desires and habits.” But brothers and sisters, we need Christ and not vice-versa. He desires us to sit at table with Him and the saints and what is necessary for us is to accept the invitation with joy and gratitude. We never deserved the invite in the first place, it came only by grace.

Our response is one of joy, gratitude and heartfelt desire to run towards Christ and His kingdom daily. But we can’t run towards Christ while we are weighed down with all of the others stuff. We would be just like the folks in this passage. One has to tend his field and the other has to take care of his oxen and another has to focus on his wife.

St. Cyril of Alexandria says of them: “By senselessly giving themselves up to these earthly matters, they cannot see things spiritual. Conquered by the love of the flesh, they are far from holiness. They are covetous and greedy after wealth. They seek things that are below but make no account in the slightest degree of the hopes that are stored up with God. It would be far better to gain the joys of paradise instead of earthly fields and temporary furrows.” Commentary on Luke, Homily 104.

Let us not be like those men in the parable, who put other things before Christ. The first sign of this is how we approach and desire and focus ourselves for the earthly feast of the Divine Liturgy. This is our entrance into the kingdom. I leave you with another quote from St. Cyril who says, “Come, for look, all things are ready.” God the Father has prepared in Christ gifts for the inhabitants of the earth. Through Christ, he bestowed the forgiveness of sins, cleansing away of all defilement, communion of the Holy Spirit, glorious adoption as children, and the kingdom of heaven.” May we enter and receive this feast with the saints and holy ones of God!

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians. (2:14-22) and The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (13:10-17)

In today’s epistle reading St. Paul tells the church at Ephesus that Christ is our peace. Those are important words for us. I would like us to meditate upon what that means for our lives. Christ is our peace. The first way in which Christ is our peace is that He himself has broken down the wall that existed between us and God. What was this wall made of and when was this wall built?
It was built first by Adam and Eve when they transgressed and fell in the garden. It was a wall of rebellion (which is sin) against God and His commandments. Due this rebellion, other walls were also built to fortify this wall, such as walls of shame. In this way we reinforce our decisions not to honor and obey and live with God and we further isolate ourselves until we feel that we are completely estranged from everything and everyone that we love, or rather, that loves us. In truth when we live in this kind of rebelliousness we don’t sense that others love us. We only sense that everyone is out to get us. That is a dysfunctional state of being but it is all the more dysfunctional when we apply this to our relationship with God almighty.
But the apostle Paul tells us that these walls have been broken down by Jesus Christ. How did he break them down? He broke them down by offering Himself, His broken body and His shed blood for us and for the life of the world. St. Sophrony of Essex would say that Jesus Christ justified God before man and that He justified man before God. How so?
Christ justified God before man in that He became man and lived with us and sacrificially gave His life for us in order to prove exactly how much God loved mankind. And then Christ justified man before God because by becoming man Himself, the Lord Jesus lived a perfect human life worthy of all praise and honor before God. In doing this He justifies man by showing God that man is indeed worth saving because man can live righteously, in holiness and love for everyone. In Christ we see the potential of man.
So these two sides of the coin work together to demonstrate that Jesus Christ is our peace. We were at war within ourselves, at war because of our sins, at war due to the outward laws and ordinances of the Jewish Mosaic laws and at war with God (or that was how it seemed). But because of His love which is clearly demonstrated for us, no one can open their mouth against the love of God. They try often and appear foolish because God’s love is clearly seen in all of creation and especially in the work of our salvation through the selfless offering of Our Lord Jesus Christ upon the wood of the cross.
St. Paul tells us that Christ “preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near for through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.” This is firstly a reference to the difference between the Jews and the gentiles, but we read deeper and see it as a reference to those who had some type of relationship with the living God and those who had no relationship whatsoever with the truth of the living God.
The apostle tells us that both groups of people now have equal access to the Holy Spirit because of Our Lord Jesus Christ. We can live in, through and with the Holy Spirit. In fact, we MUST! Whatever you are chasing in life is merely an idol if it doesn’t somehow honor and glorify and bring Christ to the center of our lives.

We chase so many things because we think that they will bring us peace. We chase wealth and power and identity and freedom and autonomy as well as relationships and experiences and affirmation and attention and love. Yet these things cannot give us life apart from the giver of life Himself. We can’t take a top down approach with peace. Peace starts from the foundation which is built on Christ who is the cornerstone of the foundation. Everything is then built upon this foundation so that the whole temple will be solid, and strong. So that it will last forever, because you are meant to live forever with Christ.

Stop pretending to be like the rest of the world when you are not, you are citizens of Christ. You are no longer strangers, so stop estranging yourselves from God through sinful and impure living. And the chief of those sins is to put anything in the place of God. To seek real peace part from Christ. St. Paul give us great encouragement and hope by telling us that we are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. What an honor and a blessing! Although we don’t deserve any of it, the Lord made you a member of His family on the day that you were baptized and chrismated. And we have this as a promise and yet also as potential. God will not revoke the promise, but He also will not force us to live up to our potential. It is given to those who have faith, to those who are faithful.

One of the modern elders of Greece, Elder Aimilianos says that God waits to see if we will be focused on lower earthly things or if we will direct our gaze to what is above, to the spiritual and heavenly things, because this is what God desires to share with us, but He can’t share those things with us when we are fixated on things that are much lower hanging fruit, to what is earthly. If you have your mind and your eyes set on the things that are below you, how will you ever rise to what God has promised from above?

We are truly comforted by these teachings. God isn’t out to get us, and He is not angry with us. You can see His tenderness even in today’s gospel passage and the healing of the woman on the Sabbath. He loves us and desires that we should be with Him, healed and full of life. That is the definition of peace. He knows that we struggle in this life yet He says to each of us, “In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world!” AMEN.

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (12:16-21)

In today’s reading the Lord gives a simple parable about the subject of treasure. Namely, what do we consider to be our treasure and how do we use or misuse our treasure. He tells us about a rich man whose crops flourished. They flourished to such a degree that in fact he ran out of space in his barns and storehouses. So upon seeing all of his abundance and the situation that was caused by this over abundance of crops, he asks “What shall I do?” On the surface, he did what any logical person would do. He decided to pull down the barns and build even bigger barns to store all of his wealth, meaning, his grains and produce. Now as he was contemplated all of this, he finished his daydream by thinking about the result of building new larger barns. He thought about how he would say these words “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.”

Now at this point in the parable we are told that God spoke to the man saying ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” I think that this message is very clear for us. And it is a two sided message. The first and plain reading is that we focus too much of our attention to our financial wellbeing without thinking about the “well-being” of the things of God. We worry too much about caring for our needs, and not nearly enough in caring for the needs of the things of God. But what are the things of God? Namely, the care of the poor and the care of the church. After all doesn’t our Lord Jesus tell us that the one who serves the poor serves Him? And doesn’t St. Paul also tell us that the Church is the body of Christ and the house of God?

When one is rich towards God, he starts from a point of view of gratitude towards God for all things. He looks at his treasures and his bank account and he doesn’t worry about his wealth, he worries instead about how he can show love and gratitude to God for all of the gifts that He has poured out on us, although we are unworthy of these gifts. He thinks about how he can glorify God with a small portion of his treasures. And he trusts that God receives these through the church and uses them to bless the lives of countless others.

My brothers and sisters, you know that we are raising funds to build a simple but beautiful church and now you can see the skeleton of that church. Do you think that this is simply a building? No! It will be a hospital for the many wounded who enter. It will be a refuge for those who feel unsafe. It will be a shelter and a home for those who feel homeless and without a family. It will be a lighthouse for those who are wandering in the darkness. You and your children and your grandchildren for generations will come here to take blessings and to commune with God. It becomes all of those things by the grace of God and by the love offerings and offerings of thanksgiving that we provide according to our ability. And Our Lord mentions these things not for His benefit but for our benefit.

St. Cyril of Alexandria says “How carefully and with what great skill he brings the lives of the holy apostles to spiritual excellence. And with them he benefits us too, because he desires all humankind to be saved and to choose the wise and more excellent life.” In desiring that we choose the excellent way, the Lord wants to free us of worldliness. He wants to free us of greed and orient our hearts to what is lasting, to what has eternal value.

Now I told you that there is also another meaning to this text. Specifically, that one who is rich towards God is focused on righteousness. He is not so focused on the condition of his bank account as much as he is focused on the condition of his soul because his soul will live forever. St. Cyril again writes, “It is true that a person’s life is not from one’s possessions or because of having an overabundance. He who is rich toward God is very blessed and has glorious hope. Who is he? Evidently, one who does not love wealth but rather loves virtue, and to whom few things are sufficient…. It is one whose hand is open to the needs of the poor, comforting the sorrows of those in poverty according to his means and the utmost of his power. He gathers in the storehouses that are above and lays up treasures in heaven. Such a one shall find the interest of his virtue and the reward of his right and blameless life.”

So St. Cyril actually connects the two. He tells us that when we care for the poor we are actually caring for our own souls. We can also say that the reverse is also true. When we focus only on ourselves, somehow we are not caring for but mutilating our own souls. The treasures we have are temporary possessions but if they are not properly and wisely used, they take possession of us. St. Leo of Rome tells us that as Christians we should always be focused on preparing for the end of our earthly life. He writes, “This should be the careful consideration of wise people, that since the days of this life are short and the time uncertain, death should never be unexpected for those who are to die. Those who know that they are mortal should not come to an unprepared end.” Sermon 90.4.1.

What is so important about this idea is that it is a common idea found among the ancient desert fathers as well. That we should always be preparing for our death. It seems from the outside like a strange and dark sentiment, but in fact, it is a spiritual boost and it allows us to focus on reality as it is. No matter who we are, king or queen, emperor or president, billionaire or philanthropist, doctor, lawyer, engineer, priest, builder, farmer, athlete, soldier, stay at home mom, or even a rich landowner, this is still our reality. May we love God and the things of God and keep these things in proper order in our lives so that we will not hear this dreadful word “Fool!” but will instead hear the Lord say to us “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.”

Source: Sermons

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (10:25-37)

“Who is my neighbor?” This is the question of the lawyer who stood up to put Jesus to the test. But my brothers and sisters, it is a fearful thing to try to test the Lord because you cannot test the tester of hearts and minds. This is what the lawyer encountered when he asked this question “who is my neighbor?” The Lord saw through the question to the motives behind that question. He found that those motives were not necessarily pure. It seems that the lawyer had blind spots in his life and in his understanding of what it means to walk in holiness and righteousness. The Lord out of His love for mankind, teaches the man so that he will not live in blindness but will have the light of truth.

The lawyer’s original question is a very good one. “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Wow! It is breathtaking in it’s simplicity and scope. And Our Lord Jesus Christ does not shame the man or reprimand the man for asking such a question. We would be good to ask such questions in our own hearts. If we started every day with this type of mindset, all would be right in our lives. Even if the whole world was falling apart around us, we would be in paradise because our focus would be on pleasing God and dwelling with Him. Some of the saints note that we begin to find God and dwell with Him in the moment that we search for Him prayerfully and with our whole heart.

So the answer to the question of the lawyer regarding how to be saved was “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” St. Ephraim the Syrian writes, “What is the greatest and first commandment of the law? He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God, and your neighbor as yourself.” … All this teaching is held high through the two commandments, as though by means of two wings, that is, through the love of God and of humanity.” Commentary on Tatian’s Diatessaron 16.23.

As I mentioned to the intro to Orthodoxy class last week, prayer is the ultimate fulfillment of this first commandment. We love God with our everything, with all of our focus and energy, in prayer. And in fact the pinnacle of prayer is the divine liturgy that we are participating in together at this very moment. How is this so? Because we complete our prayer by participating in the Holy Spirit and receiving the Body and Blood of Christ. It is a fulfillment of this commandment to love God and in fact it is turned on it’s head as God dwells with us and loves us. So when we understand the liturgy in this way, it takes on new power and meaning. We begin to think of ways that we can make every liturgy more precious and powerful in our lives. Some ideas that come to my mind are to come a little bit early and attend some of the matins (orthros) service. Coming in late to the liturgy isn’t a very good way to have a prayerful experience. If we would not be late to a doctors appointment or to the school or to the movies, we should likewise consider that the liturgy is an appointment with God.

Likewise, we have a rule regarding receiving communion. Of course only Orthodox Christians may receive communion as is the teaching from the earliest times of the Church. But being an Orthodox Christian is not the only requirement for coming to receive the holy gifts. The Church teaches us that we should be here in time to hear the reading of the Holy Gospel, and that this is the bare minimum prerequisite for receiving the divine gifts. If you haven’t made it a priority to arrive before the reading of the Holy Gospel, then we have to work on our priorities because these priorities are a sign of the bigger picture. If you happen to arrive later, after the gospel, then you can certainly pray with us, but you shouldn’t receive the gifts in an unworthy manner. St. Paul says that when some of the Christians at Corinth received the gifts unworthily they profaned the body and blood of Christ and some of them became sick and some even fell asleep. The gifts are a fearful and wonderful treasure and a two-edged sword. They are life and sanctification to those who partake humbly and faithfully, but condemnation to those who approach without preparation and without repentance. So take care to remember these things.

Now back to the question of the lawyer “And Who is my neighbor?” The Lord gives him a simple answer really. Your neighbor is every person you encounter. Most especially those whom you label as “other” or “different”. We just went through another election and thank God that the election cycle is over. We would do well not to participate in divisive rhetoric online. Not to listen to it or to join in. These things are destructive to the fabric of society. Sharing your every opinion online is for undisciplined children. But we are called to be children of the Most High. He expects us to be like angels in the world, working for peace. And let’s also be careful with our conversations even here in the church. They can also tear apart the body of Christ. No one is your enemy, everyone is your neighbor, everyone requires love. We were alienated from God for a time, yet He did not consider us His enemies. He came to us and dwelt with us and poured out His life for us to redeem us. We are called to help redeem one another and lift one another up to Christ so that He might heal them and us.

There is no other. Each person is our brother and sister. Each person is precious in God’s sight. Christ died for each person. I want to conclude with this quote from St. Jerome who writes, “Everyone is our neighbor, and we should not harm anyone. If, on the contrary, we understand our fellow human beings to be only our brother and relatives, is it then permissible to do evil to strangers? God forbid such a belief! We are neighbors, all people to all people, for we have one Father.” Homily on Psalm 14 (15).

May we live seeing every one as our family, that God may accept us as His children indeed!

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (8:41-56)

Whenever we read or hear the Scriptures and especially the Holy Gospels we are encountering a sacred text that has many levels. It is not simply a surface reading but often something much deeper. One of the beautiful aspects of Orthodox Christianity is an acknowledgement that the Bible is so powerful and so rich with meaning that often we can dig a bit deeper into a text and examine it. The Bible is our book. In fact, the Church wrote the New Testament. The New Testament did not bring the Church into existence, rather, the Church gave birth to the New Testament. This might seem like some sort of a controversial statement but please hear me out.

The earliest book in the New Testament was probably one of the epistles of St. Paul. He began writing near the year 50 or 60 ad. If we assume that the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified somewhere between 29 and 33 ad then we are left with somewhere between 20-30 years when there was not only no New Testament, but not even the first book of the New Testament. This suggests rather strongly that the Church survived and grew even without the New Testament. The Church had an intact structure and authority that was living and breathing and full of vitality within the men who were appointed by Christ to be apostles to the ends of the earth. The authority did not reside in the book (since the book didn’t exist). The authority rested on the Apostles and those who were appointed by them, such as the bishops and presbyters.

It is the Apostles of Christ that gave us the gospels and the epistles and all that is contained within the New Testament. So far from denying the importance and need for the New Testament, we affirm it with a hearty affirmation. The New Testament belongs to the Church. The Church gave birth to her through the work of the Holy Spirit. And this brings me back to my initial point, when we read the Scriptures and especially the gospels, we are encountering something sacred and deep. The Church fathers were well acquainted with these texts, they lived and breathed them and they had such a familiarity with them that they could sometimes drill down and see things by the grace of God that might not be immediately clear to us as casual readers.

Such is the case in today’s gospel reading. Many of the fathers tell us that the woman with an issue of blood is a symbol of the gentiles or the nations. While the girl who is dead is a symbol of the synagogue. This is further reinforced by the face that the girl’s father is the leader of the synagogue. St. Ambrose tells us that “The assembly of the nations is like the woman who spent all her money on physicians. The assembly of nations also lost all the gifts of nature and squandered the inheritance of life.” Yet he recognizes that she also came with a humble faith to be healed by the master. He writes

“The shy woman touched the hem, the faithful approached, the pious believed, the wise knew she was healed. The holy people of the nations that believed in God were so ashamed of their sin that they abandoned it. Brought faith, they believed.”

Yet another interesting commentary from St. Cyril of Alexandria tells us that the woman chose to remain hidden because she was considered unclean according to the Mosaic purity laws and that there was a punishment that would be brought against her for touching something or someone who was holy. He says “For this reason the woman was careful to remain concealed, for fear that having transgressed the law she should have to bear the punishment which it imposed. When she touched, she was healed immediately and without delay.” This should comfort us. Why? Because God is showing himself to be gracious and merciful. Not so concerned with the letter of the law but with the healing of His children.

Sometimes we put many different rules and regulations for ourselves and we think that if we perform all of these religious acts in a particular manner then we will win God’s mercy. It is false. God is not governed by our acts of piety. He is not manipulated by us. Sometimes we perform these religious routines to make ourselves feel better but we should be careful because this does not equate to a living relationship with Christ.

God desires to know us and commune with us in truth and He does this when He can enter deep into our hearts. When the heart is soft. When we are open to receiving Him. When we cry out to Him truly, then it means that we are open to welcoming Christ into our dwelling. We make a place for Him to dwell. The beauty of our faith is that the relationship that we’ve cultivated with Christ remains with us into eternity. It doesn’t end the day that we close our eyes. The soul is indelibly marked by the depth of this relationship to Christ. And Christ is eternally faithful to His promises to His children. So this is why we pursue this relationship with zeal on a daily basis.

Whatever we gain will be treasure that will remain with us forever. But often we find ourselves like the sick woman with the issue of blood. She focused all of her wealth on finding a cure for what was ailing her. Yet we do the same without even knowing it. We work hard and we acquire wealth and we spend our time in many pursuits, but perhaps we do so in a misguided way or with misguided intentions. We might feel that our earthly treasures will help us down the road. We might feel that these treasures will give us health and security, that they will take away our emotional pains or help us with our deepest longings. Yet the Lord offers a gentle rebuke in today’s gospel.

The healing and the wellness and the good that we seek isn’t found in acquiring things but in mending the severed bond with our Creator. We are healed in our soul once we give up on every other possibility or distraction or alternative to Christ. If you have an alternative to Christ in your heart then that is your idol. But true healing begins once we smash the idols in our life and really fall before His feet and ask Him to help us. Christ alone is our true healing. He is our resurrection, as He demonstrates in today’s passage. He gives healing to one and life to another because He is the giver of life. He is the source of life and we have no other. Again quoting St. Cyril of Alexandria, he writes, “O the power of a word and the might of commands that nothing can resist! O the life producing touch of the hand that abolishes death and corruption!” May this same Lord also abolish the death and corruption that is in us and bring us to fullness of life.

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Second Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians. (6:16-7:1) and the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (8:26-39)

We begin today’s readings with St. Paul’s words to the church at Corinth. He reminds them of the extreme honor and glory bestowed upon each of them as children of God. He says to them “Brethren, we are the temple of the living God.”

I found that this was an amazing juxtaposition to the gospel reading appointed for today. In this reading we hear about the Lord Jesus Christ travelling to the country of the Gadarenes, to visit a man whom we are told “had demons.” Meaning that he was demon possessed. Now as I looked at these two readings it became clear that the Church is trying to teach us something very valuable. She is trying to give us a glimpse into a hidden spiritual reality, something that we cannot see with our eyes. She tells us that every man, woman and child is a spiritual vessel. Each of us is like a container. Each of us is like a house with inhabitants. Either we are inhabited by the Holy Spirit or else we are open to being inhabited by other spirits, fallen spirits, demons.

Either the Holy Spirit is energized and active in our lives, or we are susceptible to the spiritual activity that does not build up and purify and edify us. When the Holy Spirit is active in our lives, it doesn’t mean that everything will be perfect. Saints and holy people can suffer tremendously. However, those who have the Holy Spirit dwelling richly within them are like fire to the adversaries. The Holy Spirit is not a material but a spiritual fire.

As Christians we should be convinced that the spiritual battle is great. Actually everything you see around you is part of a spiritual battle. The battle is fought in and for hearts and minds. The territory that is trying to be conquered is the life and soul of man. Each and every day that the Lord wakes you up to a new day, He does so with an intention. His intention is that we should fight this spiritual battle with renewed strength. We should wake up every day and prepare to go to war in the way that a soldier does when he is deployed. One day you will rest from your labors, but until that day, you struggle to make sure that your heart is not turned away from the living God.

St. Paul writes about this spiritual warfare in the epistle to the Ephesians when he says.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.” Eph 6:10-18 

So this is truly our task my friends. We are called to take up our armor every day. There are no off days during warfare. We have every advantage and edge in this battle if we have been baptized and Chrismated and regularly receive the gifts offered to us by the Church of God. She loves us like a tender mother and she prepares us to face the challenges and difficulties of the world by strengthening us and equipping us for the battle. She gives us what we were never even worthy to receive.

St, Theophan the recluse writing about the great grace that we’ve received said,

“In order that you may move your will more easily to this one desire, in everything—to please (God and to work for His glory alone—remind yourself’ often, that He has granted you many favours in the past and has shown you His love. He has created you out of nothing in His own likeness and image, and has made all other creatures your servants; He has delivered you from your slavery to the devil, sending down not one of the angels but His Only-begotten Son to redeem you, not at the price of corruptible gold and silver, but by His priceless blood and His most painful and degrading death. Having done all this He protects you, every hour and every moment, from your enemies; He fights your battles by His divine grace; in His immaculate Mysteries He prepares the Body and Blood of His beloved Son for your food and protection. All this is a sign of God’s great favour and love for you; a favour so great that it is inconceivable how the great Lord of hosts could grant such favours to our nothingness and worthlessness.”

Let us rejoice in this and embrace it. Don’t take it for granted because whether we struggle actively or become lazy, the enemy never even sleeps. May God grant us courage and grace to receive the spoils of spiritual victory with the saints.

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (8:5-15)

The God who created the whole universe loves us. He loves us so much that He sent His only begotten Son to us, to live among us, to speak with us, to teach us, to suffer with us and to die with us. This son and Lord Jesus Christ often taught us in stories or parables. These parables are not given to entertain the people. They are not given to make the people fearful. They are given to us out of love for us. Our Lord is trying to reach each of us. The parables that were spoken 2000 years ago are not meant to sit in a book unread, gathering dust on your shelves. The word of the Lord is meant to enter deep into your hearts to bring you back to life. Glory to God for sharing His love with us through these beautiful words.

Today we hear the familiar story of the sower who went out to sow his seed. He is a good farmer. He casts the seed everywhere. He desires that everyone should have this seed and that this seed should one day bear fruit. He is a good farmer. His seed is also good. But there is one more component to the equation. What makes the difference between whether the seed will bear fruit or fail to produce? The difference boils down to the quality of the soil. And that is where each of us comes in. The Lord in speaking this parable reminds us that we have a part to play in our own salvation. St. Paul writes about this in Philippians 2:12 when he says “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” St. Paul would never say such a thing if your salvation was guaranteed. Why would he write such things to a Christian community unless he knew that they needed to hear and be reminded of it?

The meaning is reinforced in this parable of our Lord Jesus Christ. He speaks of the seed that fell on rocky ground. This rocky ground is a symbol of those who receive the word with joy and believe for a short while but then in times of temptation and trouble, they fall away because they have no roots. Most of us who are here in this room will not fall into the category of the first soil that is mentioned, the seed that fell among the path. Because we have believe and we are here. So it leaves us with only three possibilities, either the soil of our hearts is rocky, or covered in thorns or it is good soil that is able to bring forth fruitfully.

What can we as Christians do to prepare the soil of our hearts to receive the seed, to receive the word of God? And what is the word of God? Some think the word of God is a reference to the Bible. But in actuality the word of God is really a reference to Jesus Christ Himself. He is the word.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4In him was life,^a and the life was the light of men….He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11He came to his own,^b and his own people^c did not receive him. 12But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 14And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son^d from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

So it’s clear that Jesus is the word. And what must I do to prepare the soil of my heart to receive Him fully? What does a farmer do? In the beginning he tills the soil. He breaks up the clumps and the hard earth. Likewise, we do this through our own repentance. We take time daily to reflect and ask God to forgive us of all our sins. When we really do this we make the soil soft and ready to receive the word. Those of you that are Orthodox Christians should make plans to come to confession every so often. His Eminence Metropolitan Saba asks that we confess about 2-4 times a year. It’s not much but it is the difference between thriving spiritual life and just going through the motions. The sins you are covering and failing to confess, are the sins that are your master and they keep you from growing deeper roots in Christ. Confession is a bit painful. It brings up our shame. But confession releases us from the bondage of the shame and the courageous act of humility breaks open the heart so that the grace of the Holy Spirit can enter and effect powerful change within us. This is how we break up the hardened soil of the heart. This allows the Word of God to dwell deeply within us.

So we’ve spoken briefly of repentance, confession. Let’s continue talking about how we nourish the soil of our hearts with the sacrament of Eucharist or Holy Communion. For an Orthodox Christian, one of the ultimate spiritual weapons in our warfare is Holy Communion. We believe that the Holy Spirit transforms the offering of bread and wine into something much more. Into the very body and blood of Jesus Christ. The bread and wine continue to have the properties of bread and wine. Yet the are changed in a spiritual manner into the mystical body and blood of Christ. When all else fails as a Christian, the sacrament of the eucharist won’t fail us if we approach with a humble and faithful heart.

Listen to the words of St. Cyril of Alexandria,

“If the poison of pride is swelling up in you, turn to the Eucharist; and that Bread, Which is your God humbling and disguising Himself, will teach you humility. If the fever of selfish greed rages in you, feed on this Bread; and you will learn generosity. If the cold wind of coveting withers you, hasten to the Bread of Angels; and charity will come to blossom in your heart. If you feel the itch of intemperance, nourish yourself with the Flesh and Blood of Christ, Who practiced heroic self-control during His earthly life; and you will become temperate. If you are lazy and sluggish about spiritual things, strengthen yourself with this heavenly Food; and you will grow fervent. Lastly, if you feel scorched by the fever of impurity, go to the banquet of the Angels; and the spotless Flesh of Christ will make you pure and chaste.”

In essence, St. Cyril says that the sacrament will give you whatever you are lacking in your spiritual struggle. So don’t neglect this part of your walk with Christ.

This my friends, is our path if we want the Lord to consider that we are good rather than bad soil. This is our path if we want to find a place to keep the word of God in our hearts. This is our path if we want to travel the narrow path that leads to life everlasting. AMEN.

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (7:11-16)

Today we see something very interesting. I’ve read and heard this gospel passage countless times over the years and yet only yesterday did I notice a feature of this passage that was always right in front of my eyes. Our Lord Jesus Christ was traveling and went to a city called Nain. We are told that He was accompanied by His disciples and a great crowd.

At this exact time as they are entering the city, near the gate, they encounter another large crowd that had gathered. Although it was right in front of me I never noticed that it was an encounter between two large crowds at that very moment. It gives us the sense that something big is happening, that society itself is about to be changed. There are two large tribes here and each is symbolic.

It seems to me that this is indicative of the church vs the world. The church is the disciples and those who follow after Christ wherever He leads them, and what is it the world is doing? They are mourning the death of one of their own. The focus of the one group was the man who laid lifeless in the casket. The focus of the other group was the man who offered the power of God in His words and deeds.

This is indicative of the societies around us. Some live their lives from day to day while following Christ with hope. Some live their lives day to day with no hope but an overwhelming sense of dread at the coming of death. In fact St. Paul speaks about this is in the letter to the Romans. He writes “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” The fear of death affects us and causes us to sin. Father John Romanides writes “The power of death in the universe has brought with it the will for self-preservation, fear, and anxiety, which in turn are the root causes of self-assertion, egoism, hatred, envy and the like.” He continues saying “Man does not die because he is guilty for the sin of Adam. He becomes a sinner because he is yoked to the power of the devil through death and its consequences.”

As I said, some live their lives day to day with no hope but an overwhelming sense of dread at the coming of death. But some live their lives from day to day while following Christ with hope. It is for us as Christians, who have living faith in God belong to the second group rather than the first.

At this very moment in history, in a small town in Judea, these two groups met symbolically. Life and death collided. They could not share the same space together. It was a small skirmish before the final battle and a foretaste of things to come. When death encountered life, death was vanquished. When this man encountered Our Lord Jesus Christ, the death that was in him departed as darkness is dispersed by light. Christ gave this man life, precisely because Christ is our life and the life of the world. He gave life to man who was just dust at the beginning. He again gave this man life before he would be turned back into dust. In giving him life, He also offered new life to his mother who was a suffering widow. In offering resurrection to the man, He offered resurrection to all of those who mourned without consolation. He offered hope to the hopeless. He changed many lives that day, not simply one or two.

In this beautiful act we are reminded that Christ’s love never leaves us. We can never get lost or separated from His love for us. St. Paul writes “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8.

Nothing can separate us from His love my brothers and sisters. If Christ had to descend Himself to recover us from Hades, He would do it. In fact, He did do it!

All of these miracles were small glimpses into the truth of the person of Jesus Christ, the life of the world and the resurrection of all men. It is given to each of us to believe in this Lord Jesus and to live lives that witness to the truth of His resurrection and also our own personal resurrections. Each of us has been at times like this dead man. Perhaps we were alive in body but dead in our souls, dead in our ability to seek after God and to love others. Yet through His grace you have all been healed. In your baptism the old man was buried and the new man was born to new life. This is our inheritance as children of God.

I leave you with a beautiful quote from St. Nikolai of Zicha, who said “It is not fitting to call those dead for whom Christ, in His love, suffered and died. They are alive in the living Lord. We shall all know this clearly when the Lord visits the graveyard of this world for the last time, and the trumpets sound. A mother’s love cannot separate her dead children from those living. Still less can Christ’s love.” 

May we enter into this love! AMEN.

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Mark. (8:34-9:1)

This reading is given to us on the Sunday after the feast of the cross, which we celebrated yesterday. The Church wants us to linger on this feast a bit longer. Not to rush away from it. For in the mystery of the cross is the crucifixion and the crucifixion is our whole life as a Christian. The cross that was certain death for Our Lord Jesus Christ, has become our guarantee of life and a guarantee that God loves us immeasurably. So the Church lingers here and reminds us with the words of our Lord, that we must each carry our cross. “The Lord said, “If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for My sake and the Gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul?”

St. Innocent of Alaska speaking about carrying the cross said this,

“When you bear your cross, “It is then that you will feel an indescribable delight, a wonderful inner peace and joy such as you have never experienced before, and at the same time you will feel an influx of spiritual strength; prayer will become easier and your faith stronger.”

But someone might ask, “what does it mean to carry your cross?” So let me try to explain. To carry the cross means to do the thing that is difficult to do in your life because it is well pleasing to God. Typically this is something that is painful and feels like a kind of death. If it were something easy it would not be called a cross, it would be called a luxury or a pleasure. But to fail to carry it requires you to break the commandments and to fall into sin. So this is part of the equation in carrying your crosses, a complete obedience to Christ. If we are successful in carrying our crosses then it will indeed be suffering, but it will bring us to purification and sanctification and it will give life to us and to those all around us.

What are examples of carrying one’s cross? An example of carrying a cross might be a difficult marriage that you choose to stay in so as not to fall into sin. Please note that I said difficult, but I did not say abusive. Carrying the cross might be caring for a spouse or a child that is very sick and needs assistance 24-7. Carrying the cross might be dealing with a difficult co-worker or fellow student or even a difficult teacher. Carrying a cross might be learning to live with a sickness or disease that causes you great pain every day. The world might offer solutions, might tell you to call Dr. Kevorkian. But we have to reject those whispers because they are veiled in compassion but underneath the veil it is something from the father of lies.

But mostly, it seems that we carry the cross of our sinfulness and sinful desires. We carry the cross by struggling against these desires and bringing them before Christ daily. One example of this might be the man or woman with same sex attraction. You can acknowledge this desire as real and powerful but you can also accept that following this desire is not good for you, that it damages your soul, that it puts up a great wall between you and God. It might seem like the most painful thing to live with such desires but have no outlet for them. It seems like the unfulfilled desire might even kill you. Now you understand the meaning of carrying the cross. Yet we carry it with faith.

Because we are fleshly people, our desires are often for things of this world, pleasures of life, but the Lord has told us that we could have the whole world, yet we would lose our soul and our life in the process. So if someone can offer you the whole world on a platter, you have to understand that they will not offer it for free. They will certainly exact a toll and it could be that the toll that will be taken is the cost of your precious soul.

So we are forced daily to ask ourselves: “What can a man give in return for his soul?” “What is my soul worth?” “What am I willing to sell out for?” The ultimate sellout is the one who gives away the gifts that he didn’t earn but gained by the grace of God. Don’t be a sellout and don’t be a coward. Christians, you can’t be afraid to struggle. You can’t be afraid of pain. Did Jesus Christ our Lord not struggle? Did He not feel pain? He accepted these things as a pure offering that He offered up to His Father on our behalf. Let us boldly do the same with our struggles.

Say to God, “Lord, you know my life and you know my struggles better than I know myself, help me to be brave and give me strength to carry the cross that you have given me, for I am convinced that you chose this cross for my salvation.”

St. Nikolai Velimirovich once preached, “What does it mean to take up your cross? I means the willing acceptance, at the hand of Providence, of every means of healing, bitter though it may be, that is offered….Suffer it all with patience, cleaving to God in your heart, as Job did.” + St. Nikolai Velimirovich, Homilies, Vol. 1

May we do this and may we come to know true joy and riches that surpass everything we could hope for or possible imagine. AMEN.

Source: Sermons