The day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night

Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

1 Thessalonians 5:1-8

Nov 6/ 19 2009 24^th Thursday after Pentecost

The Apostle exhorts regarding the judgment, a theme that is mentioned every day in Orthodox services, and refers to darkness as sin and being in the light as the calling of all Christians.

 

2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night

 

This must be important, because the church talks about it every week (Tuesday matins has a canon of repentance that mentions the judgment many times) and during the whole of Great Lent. Monastics, who are our model, consider it critical that we consider the judgment every day, and even every moment.

 

The “day of the Lord” means the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the final judgment. “As a thief in the night” means that it will come upon the unwatchful as a thief at night, who is concealed and not noticed by his victims until their goods have been plundered.

 

Here, “night” does not mean when the sun has gone down and there is darkness, but rather, moral depravity, which causes foolishness and stupidity, and makes a person unable to see the truth of things.

 

A “thief in the day’ would be easily discovered; therefore the Apostle to the Gentiles then tells his flock that:

 

4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

 

The careful reader of scripture immediately asks the question of himself, how is it that a man can be a “child of the day” and not in darkness. This does not just happen by fiat from God, as if we have some sort of birthright, like a “trust fund” baby.

 

We are children of God, and children emulate their parents. If God is light, then we must be light, that is, follow the commandments. Becoming morally good in all things leads to superior intelligence, and the ability to see and understand the truth in all things, as the light of morality illumines our way. Those in the dark are not living moral lives. Their darkness is sin. Sin always darkens and causes confusion. Virtue, that is, light, always leads to understanding.

 

We are in-between creatures, with light and darkness within us. This is why we have confusion, uncertainty, lack of understanding. We gain understanding as we gain perfection. Make no mistake about it, Christianity is the pursuit of perfection. It is not a code of ethics, or a system.

 

The Apostle then shows how completely being a “child of the light” is associated with moral perfection, when he exhorts his flock:

 

6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

 

Here, “sleep” does not mean physical repose, but rather describes the activity of the mind. If the mind is not focused on God, and the doing of the commandments and the attainment of perfection, then it is asleep, whether we are lying on our bed or in the midst of the activities of life. The fight to the death (either the death of sin, or our death from sin) is fought in the mind, as all sin originates in the mind.

 

The Apostle then describes all sin, and reminds his flock that it occurs in the night (whenever a person is not walking in the light of the knowledge of God and His commandments):

 

7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night

 

Sleep occurs in the mind, and is an example of all sins of the mind and the general state of vice that leads to all sins; some sins also are executed with the body also, such as drunkenness. St John Chrysostom teaches that drunkenness:

 

“Is not that from wine only, but that also which comes of all vices. For riches and the desire of wealth is a drunkenness of the soul, and so carnal lust; and every sin you can name is a drunkenness of the soul.” [1]

 

Finally, the Apostle uses similar imagery as he uses in his letter to the Ephesians when he exhorts:

 

8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

 

The head, where the brain and physical mind resides (the spiritual mind is in the soul), is protected by a helmet. It is protected by the “hope of salvation”, which means that we ever keep before ourselves, in every action, decision, priority and interest the fervent desire for our salvation, which we will attain, with Gods help and our firm desire.

 

If we always have this hope before us, how could we ever sin? We sin when it is no longer uppermost in or mind, when the mind sleeps, and is in darkness. The mind with the “hope of salvation” is always in the light.

 

A breastplate protects from blows of an enemy. If it is of “faith and love” then we must expect that in keeping the faith and loving God and our neighbor, we will receive blows. The immature Christian expects that if he does good, he will be treated well, but the perfect does good only because it is good, expecting nothing in return – to be in the light of Christ is enough.

 

When we read the Apostle’s words we must surely feel our distinct inadequacy. These are heavenly tings he is speaking of, and we are still earthly. Let us not despair – our hope of salvation is surely not in vain. May God help us in all things. 

 

 

     1 Thessalonians 5:1-8 1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. 4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. 7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. 8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

 

Priest Seraphim Holland 2009.     St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, McKinney, Texas

 

This article is at: http://www.orthodox.net/journal/2009-11-19_thief-in-the-night+children-of-light-and-the-children-of-the-day+1thessalonians5-1-8.doc

& on the blog

 

New Journal entries, homilies, etc. are on our BLOG: http://www.orthodox.net/redeemingthetime

 

Journal Archive: http://www.orthodox.net/journal

 

Blog posts & local parish news are posted to our email list. Go to here: http://groups.google.com/group/saint-nicholas-orthodox-church to join.

 

Use this for any edifying reason, but please give credit, and include the URL of the article. This content belongs to the author. We would love to hear from you with comments! (seraphim@orthodox.net)

 

In the name of the Father, and the son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. Today is the 23^rd Sunday after Pentecost and on this day we read about the Gadarene demoniac. [1]

 

Why are we told this story? Why are we told any of the stories in the Scriptures? Of course, they are all for our salvation, and they all tell us something necessary.

 

In this story we see the power of God, and how by a word He can cast out demons. We see the ultimate powerlessness of the demons. We see how fearful they are of our savior, and we see how incredibly evil they are toward man and even unto beasts. We also see something that should make us fear, so that we do not become like these people – we see the brutishness, the swinishness of unbelievers. It is amazing how these people reacted to a great miracle in their midst. And there is another lesson here, a terrible lesson, a necessary lesson in free will. God created us so that we would know Him, but He has not forced us to follow His commandments. Some choose to follow His commandments, and some choose to ask Him to leave. He will indeed leave those who ask Him to leave …

 

So listen carefully to the words of this story, and see what God wants you to know. Listening carefully is not something that is easy to come by, especially in our society. We are not a very verbal society anymore. We value more the written word, and when we see and hear things, they are images that flash by the screen so rapidly or change so quickly on the radio. There is so much inundation of information upon us that we do not know how to listen to things that are holy – this is just more common information to us. Well, the most important information that you can get the entire week is what you hear in the liturgy today, and what you heard in the vigil last night. This is the time when you should pay more attention than any other time in your life, during the Divine Liturgy, and when the Holy Scriptures are being read, and when they are being discussed.

 

The story begins “And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes.” [2] When we read the context, we can see this is right after the Lord had preached about the sower, then they got into a ship. When they crossed over, during that time, there was a storm, and the apostles were terrified even though He was in the  ship with them There was another time when He came walking across the water in a storm; that was a difference occurrence. He is asleep in the ship, and the apostles, despite the fact that the God-man was with them, were terrified, and they said “Master, Master, we perish.” [3] And He rebuked them because of their unbelief. How can you think you are perishing when Christ is right with you?

 

So they came over to the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gadarenes, and “there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs.” [4] No clothes – the man had no shame, the man had no virtue. He was not clothed in virtue. We know that clothing can often signify virtue. Recall the wedding garment. One is given to everyone who enters the wedding feast, and it signifies baptism for us, and the life lived in Christ. And the man who did not have a wedding garment, who had cast it aside, was cast out with the unbelievers, because he acted like an unbeliever. Even if he appeared in the assembly of believers, by his actions he showed who he really was, and what he was like.

 

This demonized man had no virtue, he was not clothed in virtue, nor in the waters of baptism, which allow us to live in virtue. Also, having no clothes is a sign of having no reason. They are intelligent creatures, but they are not reasonable, or rational. Their hatred is as high as the mountains; they are filled to the brim with irrational hatred every moment of their existence.

 

This man dwelt in the tombs. Part of the reason, the fathers say, that demoniacs dwelt in the tombs is that the devil wanted to plant a fable in the heart if man that from the dead came demons, and that graveyards were noxious and evil places, and people were afraid of them. The devil does not really want you to know how the demons come about and how they perform their activities. He wants this to be steeped in folklore. He does not want you to know that if a man does not follow Christ, he opens himself up to the demons, so he plants these kinds of fables in the heart of man, and you can see them in every culture, in every tradition. This demonology often has a grain of truth in it, but generally it is quite false, because it does not get to the root of why demons besiege us.

 

Also, those who are without virtue, those who are without reason, those who do not follow Christ are already dead. They may as well be in a graveyard. The demons are the most dead of all creatures, and tombs symbolize evil places, fetid places, dark places full of wickedness. This indeed was an apt place for such a man to dwell, and of course, he could not be allowed to dwell in the city because of his uncontrollable actions, and people were afraid of him. So he was an outcast. He was outside the city, outside of salvation, outside of the church.

 

Our Lord rebuked him, and then he asked his name. He did not need to ask his name. Our Lord knows everything. He answered “Legion”, many, many demons. Men can sink very low.

 

Now, why did he have devils? This is a question that is very difficult to answer. Different people might have devils for different reasons. St. Mary Magdalene had seven devils. [5] This was not because of unrighteousness. In her case, the devil, who thinks he is so intelligent, was fooled, and he thought that she was to be the bearer of Christ, so he inhabited her, against her will with demons, in order to make her fall into fornication (she never did, by the way). And she suffered grievously from these demons. Our Lord cast these demons out of her, and she followed him till the end of her days. She was part of the entourage that took care of all of the physical necessities of our Lord and His disciples throughout His ministry, and she was given the grace to become “equal to the apostles”. [6]

 

This man may not have been demonized because of his unrighteousness either. We don’t know. It could have been because of the judgment that God was passing on that area. These people were not following the law. They kept swine, which was unlawful to do, because they were Jews, and they were more concerned with profit than following the law of God.

 

The fathers also think that this man was demonized as an example of how terrible the demons can be, and how great the mercy of God can be. Now, be careful how you judge. Don’t judge according to your own wisdom, according to the external circumstances, according only to what you read in the scriptures, without consulting the wisdom of the church. The Psalmist says”Thy judgments are a vast abyss.” [7] We cannot understand why certain things happen to people, why some people are sick, why some are demonized, why some people die early, why the wicked wax old and fat. It is hard to understand these things, but God knows. We must only trust.

 

So this man may have been demonized because of the evil of the people, and not because of his own unrighteousness. As we can see later on, once he had the demons expelled from him, he had great love for our Savior, and great obedience.

 

So, when this man saw Jesus, “he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not. [8]

 

Of course, the man’s voice was being used by the demons. It is amazing how foolish the demons are. Can you see how they indeed have nothing in common with our Lord? Such impudence!, to say ‘what have I to do with you’, and such cowardice - ‘Don’t torment me’. And such knowledge! They KNOW! They know exactly  what is going to happen to them. They are trying to forestall the inevitable.  They know that  they will be cast into the abyss. They know that they will be tormented, and they ARE NOT GOING TO CHANGE. That is where their fear comes in. In the  midst of their impudence, in the midst of their braggadocio, they are terrified, because they see the God-man standing before them.

 

Some people are also like the demons. They KNOW Who He is,  and they know something of the commandments of God, BUT THEY DON’T WANT TO CHANGE. Because of this, they are afraid. This is not the fear of God that brings forth wisdom [9], but the fear of  a man who does wrong and does not want to change.

 

“And there was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them.  Then went the devils out of the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choked.” [10]

 

Our Lord allowed  this to happen as an example, to show how truly evil AND powerless the demons are. They cannot even control swine. They enraged and frightened the swine so much that they ended up in the abyss, where they had begged not to be anyway. Now, if  you can see how truly evil the demons are from this example, set forth for our edification, then how can  you want any part with them?

 

Am I saying this to Christians? Yes indeed! Because, we often have  concourse with the demons, whenever we give ourselves over to our sins, whenever  we give ourselves over to the nakedness of this man, the nakedness of virtue, and fulfill in ourselves our own desires and not the commandments of God. Then we are becoming like unto the demons. The word Devil, “Diabolos” means “Slanderer”. He  is a liar. I tell my children that ‘whenever you lie, you are acting like a demon’. How can you want to act like such an evil creature, and such a smelly and fetid creature, dark and black?

 

We see that there were many demons - there were enough to inhabit a whole herd of swine. And we see the judgment against  these people, because Christ, shall we say, ‘killed two birds with one stone’. He not only healed the man, but He also showed these people where they were erring, because they were keeping swine against the Jewish law. So, He took away their profit. He took away that which was causing them to sin. They should have considered this to be a favor, in that He saved them from their wretchedness, but what happened?

 

“When they that fed them saw what was done, they fled, and went and told it in the city and in the country.” [11] They fled! I can think of another occurrence where someone saw their sin, but she  did not flee! She ran to the city and she said, “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” [12] I am referring to St. Photini, the Samaritan women at the well. Our Lord showed he that he  knew of her sins. He knew that she had previously had five husbands, and that the man she was living with was not her husband, and He showed how  much He knew. She reacted with love. She reacted by becoming apostle by proclaiming that the Messiah was among them!

 

But these swine herders – their profit had been removed from them. Their livelihood in the trafficking in illicit goods was removed from them, so they fled, and went to tell their  superiors about this tragedy that had befallen their commerce. These people saw the power of God, and they were afraid! They were afraid because of their sins, and because of their stubbornness, because they DON’T WANT TO CHANGE. They saw that the God-man, Jesus Christ requires  change in a man. This is a fundamental principle of Christianity. As you are enlightened with the knowledge of God, you  must act in accordance with that knowledge!

 

“Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.” [13]

 

Now he  had his clothing on, and his reason had returned to him and he was doing what any man should do when  he sees what great things God has done for him – he sits at His feet, drinking in every word, adoring Him, with thanksgiving . He was beginning the Christian life. I tell you, this man could have fallen back into the abyss, where  he had come from.

 

In another place in St. Luke’s gospel, our Lord describes what happens to an unrepentant man, even a man who has demons taken out of him: “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out.  And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished.  Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.” [14]

 

So this man had to embark upon the life of virtue now. Now that he had removed from him  this impediment that made it so difficult for his to believe and to act virtuously, he OWED Christ obedience, and  he gave it freely, as we can see in the Gospel. He desired very greatly to follow Him, but our Lord, for reasons known only to Him,  refused him, and asked  him to be an apostle in that area by proclaiming what great  things God had done for him, and indeed he did that.

 

What should have happened with these people? How should they have reacted? How did the Samaritans react when St. Photini told them about Christ? Like the Gadarenes, they came out to investigate, but the similarity ends there. It says,

 

“So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his own word.” [15] And, in another place,  there was one out of ten lepers who gave thanks to God: “And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. [16]

 

That is what should have happened when these people saw that their sinful trade had been destroyed, and God had judged that they  should not do such a thing, but He had not destroyed them. He had only destroyed that which was CAUSING their own destruction!

 

“They also which saw it told them by what means he that was possessed of the devils was healed.” [17]

 

So the swine herders went to their masters and they told them what happened. These men were very afraid then, and this was an evil, wicked kind of fear. This was the fear of a person who does not want to see the light, does not want to  have his deeds exposed, does not want to have his life changed. They did not focus so much on the grace and the power of God, as on the fact that He was getting into their business. He was requiring of them something. He was intervening in their  lives, and they wanted Him out. They wanted Him to LEAVE THEM ALONE!

 

“Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart from them; for they were taken with great fear:” [18]

 

Tragic! Absolutely tragic! They had the God-man among them, and He had showed them what was wrong  with their life, in a quite gentle way, and they wanted nothing of Him. They did not want Him around. 

 

Evil hates the light. Evil  does not want to be around the light, partly because it does not understand it.   St. John talks about this: “In him”, that is, in Christ, “ was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” [19] There are those who just don’t understand, and I tell you, most people who do not understand do not WANT to understand, because if you understand, you must go to the next step, and you must ACT IN ACCORDANCE WITH YOUR UNDERSTANDING! People don’t want to do that. Even people  who call themselves Christians don’t want to do that. And all of us, to some extent, in some way, try to cover up knowledge, so we don’t have to act in accordance with that knowledge.

 

This is part of the reason why  confession is so important. It is so easy to hide within ourselves our sins, but it is much more difficult when we are required to tell them to someone else, especially if that person questions, and asks, and even challenges. At least, if we have enough shame so that we will not tell lies then, God will show us what is truly wrong with us.

 

It also says about those who do and do not want to follow Christ,

 

“He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.” [20]  

 

That is  exactly how these people acted. They wanted the light to go away, so they could hide. They thought they could hide. They thought  if He would go away, they could continue their trade, they could  get more swine, and they could go on with life as it was before. They should listen more carefully to what their Messiah has said: “Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.” [21]

 

There is no hiding from the knowledge of God. You can delay it for some period of time, but eventually, all things will be made known [22], all things will be made  manifest. All sins will be made known, and those sins that have been unconfessed, those sins that have been hidden and hoarded will cause great pain, and will gnaw at us in the next life if we do not repent.

 

Now we come to the most terrible section of this reading. It is very short, and very bitter. ”And he went up into the ship, and returned back again.” [23]

 

He offered them salvation, and they denied Him. So He said, “All right, I will leave’. And God will leave, and the Holy Spirit will leave from us, when we do not prepare a place for Him, and repent of our  sins, so as to keep that place clean, and garnished. If you don’t want Him, He will leave.

 

But notice, how merciful He is, in still  giving those Gadarene “swine” and chance for their salvation, because it says: “Now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him: but Jesus sent him away, saying, Return to thine own house, and show how great things God hath done unto thee. And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him.” [24]

 

So he was giving  these people another chance. This man might have gained some converts over time. Some of these people’s hardened hearts might have softened and they might have some to an understanding of what the Lord had done for them, and they might have become Christians.

 

God help us to learn from this example, to not act like swine, to not push God away when He shows us something that is wrong with us, whether it be when we are reading in the scriptures, or we are hearing in the services something that touches  our heart, or where God most often tells us what is wrong with us.

 

This is through our relationships with others, and especially our relationship with our confessor. This is a tough relationship to have. You know, I have a confessor too. This is not an easy relationship to have, to bare yourself and to show what is wrong with you. We always want to show the good side of ourselves. It is also not easy to take instruction. When he tells me to do something, I don’t always like what he tells me, but if I don’t do it, then I will be acting  upon my own wisdom, and I will fall, and I will probably, most likely perish. I will certainly perish if I disobey him constantly, but even the smallest disobedience can lead to a greater disobedience. and I can fall farther and farther, and the same principle applies to every Christian, even to a Patriarch. We must be obedient to what God is telling us, and God speaks through simple, sinful men.

 

God help us to truly follow Christ, and to not be  like these Gadarene swine keepers, but when we see something wrong with us, we would cleave to Christ, and we would be healed. Amen.

 

Bibliography:

Drops From the Living Water - Pp. 168-171

The One Thing Needful - Pp. 143-146

Old Believer Sermon for the 23^rd Sunday after Pentecost (unpublished)

Commentary on the Gospel of St. Luke, St. Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria, Pp.  190-194

 

Priest Seraphim Holland 1996.     St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, McKinney, Texas

 

This and other Orthodox materials are available in from:

 

This homily is at:

http://www.orthodox.net/sermons/pentecost-sunday-23_1996-10-28+the-gadarene-demoniac_luke8-26-39.html

&

http://www.orthodox.net/sermons/pentecost-sunday-23_1996-10-28+the-gadarene-demoniac_luke8-26-39.doc

 

 

New sermons, commentaries, etc  are posted on our BLOG: http://www/.orthodox.net/redeemingthetime

Archive of commentaries: http://www.orthodox.net/scripture

Archive of homilies: http://www.orthodox.net/sermons

 

To receive regular mailings of sermons, and scriptural and services commentary and other things throughout the church year, read our blog “Redeeming the Time” (http://www.orthodox.net/redeemingthetime). You may also subscribe to the RSS Feed or receive its postings by email.

 

Our parish Email list ( http://groups.google.com/group/saint-nicholas-orthodox-church) also has all the latest postings from our website and blog; everyone is welcome to join.

 

All rights reserved.  Please use this material in any edifying reason. We ask that you contact St. Nicholas if you wish to distribute it in any way.  We grant permission to post this text, if completely intact only, including this paragraph and the URL of the text, to any electronic mailing list, church bulletin, web page or blog.

 

 

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen. Today is the twenty second Sunday after Pentecost [1], and also is the day we celebrate the memory of St. Hilarion the Great. We wish many years to our beloved Archbishop Hilarion, who is down under now.

 

This day is appointed the reading of the parable of the Rich man, and Lazarus. [2] This parable is only given in St. Luke. We should understand that sometimes the Evangelists spoke about the same things, sometimes, they didn’t. Part of the reason why this was done was because they were individual human beings, and they gave their own imprint to the gospel they wrote.

 

Also, we can see better see the marvelous agreement of the gospels, because we can see how they were written in different styles, and with a different temperament, but when they speak of the same stories, they agree. They only have a little bit different perspective, since, two people can look at the same event, and both can have a true perspective. They just see different things in the event. This should make us want to read more, knowing that every gospel is different. Each story rendered is different. Sometimes all four gospels may give the same story, other times only three, or two, or one.

 

This should make us want to read more, and I admonish you — READ. Read the Gospels. Read what is necessary for your salvation, all the Holy Scriptures: the Gospels, the Epistles, the Old Testament and the Psalter. Read all these things for your salvation. You should so this every day. At least read the daily readings.

 

This parable, like all parables, has a literal and an allegorical meaning. Out Lord spoke in parables in order to convey a deeper meaning to those who wish to look into it, to those who are willing to struggle and try to learn. Those who just see the surface meaning lose out on the benefit that our Lord has intended for them.

 

This parable is particularly rich in meanings, MANY meanings. It speaks of the Jews and the Gentiles, Lazarus being the Gentiles, and the Rich man being the Jews. He makes several comparisons, and basically says that the Gentiles are at the threshold of salvation – they were laying at the gate of the rich man.

 

We also learn about the righteous and the unrighteous, how we are to act and how we are not to act. We see the endurance of Lazarus and the greediness and lack of compassion of the rich man. We learn something about how you are to act if you are rich, and something about how you are to act if you are poor.

 

Also, we learn something about what it will be like in the next life, especially for the damned. When I read what the rich man says, I am terrified. We see how it will be in the next life, both for the rich and the poor, that is, those who are rich in God, otherwise known as poor in spirit. We just read about that didn’t we? [3] We also learn something about rewards and punishments in this parable.

 

Oh, yes, indeed, we will be rewarded or punished, depending on how we live our life. This is true!

 

It is only recently, in the past few hundred years, that this heresy has come about that tries to remove responsibility from a man. Oh yes, we have plenty of responsibility. Our Lord tells us on every page of the Gospels how we are to act, how we are to live, and if we do not try to live in that way, yes, we will be judged. We can see something of this judgment in this parable. Lastly, at the end of this parable, we hear about the word of God and it must be listened to. If we don’t listen to that, we cannot be expected to be convinced by any other means, even if a man would rise from the dead.

 

The Parable begins “There was a certain rich man” [4] . A certain rich man – he doesn’t even have a name. But wouldn’t that be the way it would be? The scripture says about such a man, who is rich only in things in the temporal world, but poor in virtue, “Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.” [5] And the Lord says also, “a froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person.” [6] And then our Lord says, when He is speaking of the Judgment, “I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.” [7].

 

Isn’t that what happened to the rich man? He saw Abraham and he knew he was thrust out, and he was a man with out a name anymore. He was a man that God knew not. “His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street.” [8], so says the Prophet Job. God help us, that we would not be like that, that we would have a name when eternity dawns. This man had no name anymore.

 

And he was “was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day.” [9]

 

There are two meanings here. The Jews were clothed with the law, and God’s grace toward them, and it is not a sin to be clothed with purple and fine linen, and to fare sumptuously on the teaching of God, but it is a sin to be luxurious, or to not appreciate what God has given us, like the rich man. He had plenty enough to spare, and as we see later on in the parable he KNEW Lazarus. After all, when he was in hell, he certainly could call him by name, but he never bothered while he was on the earth to even cast a glance at him.

 

”And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus [10]” , it says. Ah, this man HAS a name. God knows him. God knows him WELL. Lazarus also represents the Gentiles, and they indeed were beggars at the time, because they were as yet outside of the kingdom. The kingdom had not been revealed to them yet, and they were beggars. “Their remembrance is unto generation and generation”, that is the man who follows Christ, and he will have a name. That’s why Lazarus was named, and the rich man, the rich man who people would fawn over in this life, was nameless, faceless, without an identity anymore in the next life.

 

And it says that Lazarus “was laid at his gate, full of sores.” [11] Again there are two meanings. This gate — the Gentiles are laying by the gate, about to enter into the kingdom of heaven, right at the threshold of salvation. Harlots and tax collectors are entering into the Kingdom [12], and the Pharisees and the Sadduces didn’t know it, because they were too arrogant to see. They thought that their purple and fine linen would last into the next age, and indeed, it would not.

 

And we also have another meaning to think about here. Who is laid at our gate? Is there a beggar at our gate, whether he be a beggar for clothing, a beggar for money, or a beggar for salvation, a beggar for comfort, a beggar for consolation? Who is laid at our gate? We had better know. The rich man was without excuse, concerning this man Lazarus, because he knew him. He saw him at his gate every day, and he ignored him.

 

Also, these sores, what are they? They are sins. Lazarus was blessed, but he certainly was a sinner like you and I. The rich man was wretched, and he also was a sinner, but Lazarus’ sins were on the outside of his skin. His sores were there, so the dogs came and licked them, and comforted him. The rich man’s sins were internal. They were not out to be purged, to be cauterized, and so he died in his sins. Confess your sins, while you can, so that you need not confess them when there is no forgiveness.

 

And so, when it says that “the dogs came and licked his sores” [13] , what are we to understand by this? Do you see how alone the man was? He had no comfort. The DOGS came to lick his sores. No one else came, ONLY the dogs. He had to endure much, didn’t he? Do you see the greatness of his soul? The scripture does not come right out and say how great a man he was, but can you see, can you infer? Look at what he endured – coldness, nakedness, hunger, paralysis, loneliness, dejection, and also to see the warmth of the house of the rich man, and to see all the foodstuffs being brought in, and not to have anything to eat! And not to be warm. He endured much indeed, and the scriptures show that he did not complain one whit.

 

 “The beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom.”This beggar, he died, and to the world, it was a non-event. Someone had to grab him, because after all, he would start to smell, and throw him somewhere, into some potter’s field. No one came to pray for him. No one cared. No one knew him. The rich man might have noticed after two or three weeks, “Oh the beggar is not there anymore. I don’t have to step over him anymore. That’s good”. His death was of no consequence. It did not cause a ripple in the life of that time.

 

But he did NOT die alone, and his death was a matter of great rejoicing in the heavens, because the angels escorted him into Abraham’s bosom. What does it say about those that die who are righteous, and the appearances, both in this world, and the REAL appearances in the next? Solomon says,

 

“But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure is taken for misery, and their going from us to be utter destruction: but they are in peace. For though they be punished in the sight of men, yet is their hope full of immortality. And having been a little chastised”…

 

Lazarus’ wounds were a little bit of chastisement mind you. Don’t look at the appearances, look at the truth! And

 

“they shall be greatly rewarded: for God proved them, and found them worthy for himself. As gold in the furnace hath he tried them, and received them as a burnt offering. And in the time of their visitation they shall shine, and run to and fro like sparks among the stubble.” [14]

 

 

So it is with the righteous when they die. The world sees a false picture, but we know the truth.

 

What is Abraham’s bosom? Of course, it is salvation. And our Lord made that comment because part of the reason he said this parable was in order to show the Jews their foolishness. And they got the message. This is one of the reasons they hated him so much, because they saw what He was saying in this parable – that they were unbelievers, and of course, the bosom of Abraham would be understood by the Jews to be salvation. After all, He said to them in another place, “I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom” [15], the Jews, those who did not understand, those who did not WANT to live according to what they had learned, “shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth”. [16]

 

The East and West represents the Jews and the Gentiles, the Greek, and everyone else. Salvation was being made manifest for everyone, and it was before the eyes of these proud Jews, and they DIDN’T SEE IT.

 

Then it mentions the rich man in this parable. ”The rich man also died, and was buried.” [17] . Period.

 

He died alone, brothers and sisters. Oh, I am sure there was a great fanfare. I am sure there was a GREAT funeral for him, and there were orations about him, and he was buried with great pomp and circumstance. And there were probably paid mourners who were weeping, and playing their horns, as the Jews were wont to do to show how much they loved him. And yet, so many of those people that were saying those things were rejoicing, because after all, he probably was hated by his servants. There were probably people who owed him money and thought, ”Now this is wonderful. Now that he has died, I don’t owe him anymore. I am sure glad he died before me”. And there was probably someone who said “Ah ha! I can take what he had, and add it to my larder, because he is gone now, and I can appropriate his goods.”

 

David says, “Their graves shall be their houses, unto eternity”. This is not the mansion [18] that our Lord speaks of. That’s the house that I want to live in. “Their graves shall be their houses, unto eternity”. The Lord will say to him, “Your feasting is finished, your name is blotted out of the book of life. And I DON’T know you.” And that is what happened to the rich man.

 

“And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.” [19]

 

Oh yes, there are actual torments, and these torments are, shall we say, the “would-ofs” the “could-ofs” and the “should-ofs”. We will know what we should have done when we die. May it be that we will rejoice, because God will say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant”. He is far off. He sees Abraham afar off, in brightness. He is in murk, and he sees the light afar off. He is far removed. And He sees Lazarus. Notice that Lazarus does not see him. Lazarus was in bliss. He did not see him. Those in the light have trouble seeing into the darkness, don’t they? But the people in the dark can see into the light. Lazarus was unencumbered by the knowledge of the Rich man’s situation.

 

Don’t let the Devil trick you now. I think one of the tricks that he has, especially for people that are converts, living in an unorthodox country, and where we have family, perhaps children, our spouse, brothers, sisters, parents that are not of the Orthodox faith or are even far away from anything even remotely resembling Christianity is this. We worry and we fret about them, and wonder, what will it be like when we die.

 

I have had this temptation, wondering how can I be happy if I know that my father or mother is not in heaven. Well, in heaven, you will have understanding, because all things will be revealed. You will be at peace. You will understand then. You don’t understand now, but you will understand then. Now we cannot fully understand. So don’t let the Devil trick you. Save your soul, because if you don’t save your soul, how can you help anyone to save theirs? And pray also for your mother and your father, your sister and your brother.

 

And the rich man, or we know him as the poorest wretch don’t we? says, “send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.” [20]

 

He who denied even a crumb to Lazarus is denied even a drop of water for his tongue. What a state he is in now!

 

Instead of music, he hears groaning.

Instead of the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, he is in darkness.

Instead of drinking and carousing, and eating to his fill, he has thirst, and hunger, burning thirst. Instead of gaiety he has despair.

This is the state of the man!

 

The Words of the Law were in his mouth. He was a Jew! I am sure that he went to synagogue, and that he said some prayers, and gave some alms for appearances sake, but the things he said, that he didn’t believe, they burn him now! That’s what is burning his tongue, you know. That is why his tongue is so hot, and parched, because he didn’t do what he said. He said he believed something, but he didn’t really, because he did not act like it.

 

The Lord says some things about these people, who are knowledgeable, but do not do His commandments,

 

”Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid” [21].

 

These wise men, so called, are those who trust in their riches, and their gaiety, and their feasting, and have not compassion, and their wisdom, and their prudence is hid in HADES, and their name is FORGOTTEN. The Lord says to us on every page of the scripture, “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? [22] And the rich man is exactly like this kind of person: “He that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.” [23] And that house was forgotten.

 

And Abraham said to him, “Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. [24]

 

Abraham said to him, SON! Ah, this is a person who was in the church, this is one of those tares that grew up. Oh yes, there will out and out pagans in hell, and idol worshippers, and yet, there will also be those who call themselves Christians, those who call themselves good Jews. Abraham recognized, “Yes, you are one of us, and I call you Son, but that doesn’t do you any good now, because the place of torment is reserved for those who do not do the commandments, whether they are sons, or aliens” .

 

And He says that “ that thou in thy lifetime receivedst THY good things”.

 

In English, we really cannot see this distinction, but in the Slavonic, and Greek, this word “receivest” has a connotation of “receive because of what you have done”. What does it say in the other scriptures today, in the usual reading for venerable fathers, men who fasted and prayed, and became great Saints? St. Paul says “He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.” [25] He reaped what he sowed, because he sowed nothing. So he had nothing. He was naked in the next life, and without comfort.

 

And likewise, Lazarus received evil things in this world, evil in appearances! But our Lord has something to say about that in the other Gospel as well, because He says,

 

“Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled”, not NOW, but in the kingdom you will be filled! Be patient!. “Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.” [26], and run to and fro, like sparks among the stubble.

 

So Lazarus had evil things and the rich man had those things that he thought were good things. And he made a trade, like Esau made. [27] He traded a pot of lentils for is birthright, is what he did. He made the choice. He decided what he wanted, and we indeed can make that choice also, brothers and sisters. We can decide, when we want our good things? Do we want them now, or do we want them in the kingdom? You can have good things now, according to your abilities, you can have everything you want. But you will have nothing in the Kingdom if you only pursue temporal happiness now. Lazarus punishment was only for a moment, only for a short time. He suffered grievously for only a short period, and then he had eternal life.

 

And Abraham then says to the rich man, to explain to him why he has no help, no comfort, no chance: “between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.” [28]

 

Oh yes, hell is permanent and real! And I tell you, the gulf was made by the rich man. He dug his own pit, and jumped into it, and he has no recourse after jumping into that pit. And see what he understood? The rich man knew what he had done! The rich man repented, he wanted to make amends. He was not a man with absolutely no good feelings whatsoever.

 

He said, “I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. [29]

 

His memory is all preserved! He remembers his brothers. He remembers how they act. He knows Lazarus. He knows Abraham, and yet he had never met the man! He never met him at all, because he never cared about the things he said, did he?

 

The senses in the next life are finer and stronger. We see and we understand more, we calculate more quickly in the next life, when we are unencumbered by the flesh. Indeed, even those in Hell have finer senses, so that they can more exquisitely feel their pain.

 

Do you see how terrifying this is? All their passions are still preserved, but there is no fulfillment for their passions. His thirst for liquor will never be fulfilled, his thirst for women, for song, all of it will go unfulfilled and will GNAW at him, and hurt him, and cut him, for eternity! “Their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”^[30], it says in the scripture. And that is the worm, brothers and sisters! Our passions are the worm! They will eat at us, unless we exorcise them now, so that we will be unencumbered by them. And in the next life, every knee shall bend [31], and all things shall be made known. Those in Hades, they will know, they will see Father Abraham, and this will make their pain even more real and more exquisite.

 

And Abraham says to him, “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them”(the word of God). “And he said, Nay, father Abraham…”.He knew his brothers because he was one of them. “… but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.”. [32] And the Jews certainly heard this, and it angered them, and just increased their foment, and their desire to put him to death.

 

Why is it some men will not be “persuaded”, whether by the Word of God, or even obvious miracles? Certainly most people here in America would say they “believe” in God, and even call themselves Christians, and yet so many are not really “persuaded” to live as Christians. Why is this so?

 

It is because they do not understand that the Christian life is a moral life, with moral change and amendment a necessity.

 

The rich man, like so many in this life, said he believed, but did not change. He was not compassionate. His wallowing in luxury dulled his senses, and he perished in worldly splendor. Lazarus, the blessed one, endured with patience and was saved. May God help us to endure all things, and to change ourselves to be like Him, to love, to be patient, eventually to see Him in paradise.

 

Amen

Luke 16:19-31

 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: {20} And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, {21} And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. {22} And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; {23} And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. {24} And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. {25} But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. {26} And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. {27} Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house: {28} For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. {29} Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. {30} And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. {31} And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one

 rose from the dead.

 

Priest Seraphim Holland   St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, McKinney, Texas

 

This and other Orthodox materials are available in from:

 

This homily is at:

http://www.orthodox.net/sermons/pentecost-sunday-22_1996+the-rich-man-and-lazarus_luke16-19-31.html

&

http://www.orthodox.net/sermons/pentecost-sunday-22_1996+the-rich-man-and-lazarus_luke16-19-31.doc

 

New sermons, commentaries, etc  are posted on our BLOG: http://www/.orthodox.net/redeemingthetime

Archive of commentaries: http://www.orthodox.net/scripture

Archive of homilies: http://www.orthodox.net/sermons

 

To receive regular mailings of sermons, and scriptural and services commentary and other things throughout the church year, read our blog “Redeeming the Time” (http://www.orthodox.net/redeemingthetime). You may also subscribe to the RSS Feed or receive its postings by email.

 

Our parish Email list ( http://groups.google.com/group/saint-nicholas-orthodox-church) also has all the latest postings from our website and blog; everyone is welcome to join.

 

All rights reserved.  Please use this material in any edifying reason. We ask that you contact St. Nicholas if you wish to distribute it in any way.  We grant permission to post this text, if completely intact only, including this paragraph and the URL of the text, to any electronic mailing list, church bulletin, web page or blog.

 

 

This Sunday - Nov 1 2009 ns is the 21st Sunday after Pentecost.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen. Today is the Twenty First Sunday after Pentecost[1], and it is also the day that we remember the Holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council. This council established permanently what the church had always known concerning the holy icons.

 

Today, we read the parable of the Sower, which is a very familiar parable, known even to people that are not Christians. Many of these parables are really part and parcel of our culture. People even use biblical terminology and don’t even know that they are using it.

 

How do these parables affect us? There is an inner meaning and an outer meaning to these parables. Why did our Lord speak in parables? Why did He say things with a hidden meaning? The Fathers explain to us that when you look into something deeply and carefully, when it takes effort to look into it, then you develop more of an understanding. If something is handed to you and there is no effort involved in learning it, then you develop very little understanding.

 

We can see this principle even in secular life. Look at how young people can barely even read and write now, because of this television age that we are in. Information is given to them so freely it takes very little effort to find it out.

 

Also the parables are given because God does not those who are not worthy to be told things that they will be judged for. A man must do some investigation if he is to learn the deep meaning of these things, and God will judge us for what we know. God will also judge us for what we don’t know, if we CHOOSE to not know things. God will judge us the same if we know something and don’t do it or we choose to be ignorant in the ways of piety. If we are willfully ignorant, and this occurs whenever we do not try to seek out the knowledge of God’s commandments and exercise them in our life, God will then judge us in the Judgment, even if we try to say we do not know something.

 

 

What is the inner and outer meaning of this parable? There is a lot of explanation given for this parable, even in the very text of scripture itself. It is very rare in scripture where our Lord actually explains the deeper meaning of some dark saying of His. The Apostles came to Him, and they must have also come to Him many other times, and they said, we don’t understand this at all. He explained this to them, because it’s meaning is so important.

 

“A sower went out to sow his seed”.

 

Who is the sower? None other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Be careful when you read scripture — every word has meaning. The Sower went OUT to sow his seed”. He did not go “out” from the farmhouse and start to work — this “going out” is the incarnation of the Son of God. The seed is the word of God, those words that He spoke.

 

As he sowed, some seed fell by various places, the wayside, the rock, among the thorns and on good ground. It “fell”; it was not thrown. It fell everywhere equally, and these places, are the souls of men. The preexisting one, Jesus Christ, thought it not robbery to be equal to us, and became a man. And He sowed his teaching to the entire universe, equally and freely to all men. It is available to everyone.

 

There are four kinds of men described in this parable, and, three of those kinds perished. All of humanity fits into one of these categories, and the majority will perish. This is true in our age, and has been true in every age. The majority of people will not inherit the Kingdom of God, because they are not the good ground. And yet our Lord and Savior still sows His seed, and still gives the opportunity to a man to accept Him and to follow His commandments.

 

Remember the story of the talents and the man with the one talent — our Lord knew that he was not going to use this talent. Remember what a talent is? It is the grace of God, which enables us to do good works, to obey His commandments, and to learn more of Him.

 

The man with the one talent is like the ground by the wayside. The fowls of the air immediately snatch away the word from his heart, and he never really believes at all. We have all known people like that, who really have no belief whatsoever. The wayside is hard, and packed down. No seed can penetrate into it, and it is washed away, or it sits there, prey for the birds of the air.

 

The birds are the demons, which snatch away the word from a man’s heart, but only because a man leaves it out there, unprotected, and does not cherish it. The demons cannot take away the word from your heart if you hold it close to yourself, only if you care nothing for it.

 

So these men by the wayside, they have no part in salvation whatsoever, they never even bothered to believe.

 

Some of the seed fell upon the rock, and when it was spring up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. Have you every been to a glade? This is an area where there is a thin layer of soil over limestone bluffs, and only certain kinds of plants can grow. When there is a drought, everything dies, except for a few very hardy trees. There is a little bit of soil, a very small amount, but there is not enough soil to retain any moisture, which is the essence of Christ. There is just a small amount of knowledge, and not much struggle or desire, and at the merest, smallest trial, such a person falls away, and he perishes.

 

Some people are thorny ground. The thorns spring up with the good wheat, the word of God. These thorns choke out the following of the commandments. They choke out the knowledge of God, because we turn away from God, to our thorns, whatever they are, whether they are riches, cares of this world, sensual pleasures, our pride, our fear, ambition. There are hundreds of ways that a man can turn away from Christ, even though he appears to be a Christian.

 

Remember the parable about the wheat and the tares? These tares are the same as thorns. The tares are growing up right by the wheat, and except to a man who has extreme discretion and knowledge, and of course, the God-man, Jesus Christ, such people are sometimes indistinguishable to true Christians. They go to church, they have families, they may give alms, and they do everything externally just like everybody else, except they don’t have any life within them. Where their treasure is, so their heart is, and their treasure is not Christ, so Christ is not with them. Those people who are amidst the thorns have not Christ, even though they would call themselves Christians.

 

Some of the seed, a small amount of the seed, fell on good ground. And it sprang up and bear fruit. St. Luke says a hundred fold, and St. Matthew also recounts this story and shows that the Lord gave other information. Some sprang up thirty, some sixty and some a hundred fold, because not all the Saints are the same. Not everyone follows the word of God to the same degree, or the same amount.

 

I guess that is good news to me, because I don’t at this moment think that I can become like the Saints. I shouldn’t think this way, because God can change a man, if he only gives himself to Him. However, if none of us lives with the LOFTY righteousness of the Saints, God has a place for us in His mansion, since there are many rooms, if we make an effort to live according to His commandments.

 

I have said this many times before; success is not as important as your effort. If you make an effort, then in the end, paradoxically, you will be successful, because God will receive your repentance, and reward you, for some thirty, some sixty, some one hundred. May it be that we all receive a hundred fold. May we all be like the man who had five talents, and labored and increased it to ten, and then our Lord gave him an infinite amount of grace.

 

Now, how is it that we can be good ground? Isn’t that really what we should try to learn from this parable? What is good ground? Good ground has been tilled carefully, and dug, and the clods of dirt have been broken up, and it has been finely sifted, and fertilizer has been added to it, and it has been watered, and hedged round about so that animals can not get in. It has been guarded, so no one can steal the fruits it will produce. There is effort involved in having good ground. It does not just “happen”.

 

Last year, I tilled a part of my property in order to plant. I did not take care of it this year, and did not plant, and you can not even TELL that it was good ground, and it was VERY good ground after I had finished with it, but I didn’t take care of it, and so, it reverted back.

 

The same thing will happen to us. If we do not take care of the seed that is planted within us, we will revert back to the type of man we previously were, and we will allow the tares to grow in us. They will choke us out. Even if there are not tares to begin with – the seeds of tares fly through the air, don’t they? So do the demons. The tares can come into good ground at any time, and they constantly must be plucked out and uprooted with great care.

 

It is very painful to tear out many tares by the way, especially thorns and thistles, because they are sharp and they cut, and make us bleed. Regardless, we must do this work, and tear out these thorns and thistles if we are to be good ground, if indeed, we have EVEN begun to be good ground!

 

Our Savior says about those on the good ground, “But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.”

 

There are those words, that we have trouble with (I have trouble with them sometimes); “Having heard the word, KEEP it and bring forth fruit with PATIENCE.” Patience is the most difficult word in our language. The Christian life is patience, endurance. He who endures to the end will be saved. We are just beginning you know. And if indeed there is some part of our soul that is good ground, let us make the rest of it good ground, by careful labor, by backbreaking labor. And, while we are cleaning out those parts of our souls, let us at the same time pay attention to the places we have cleared, so the tares do not come in, and choke us.

 

How are we to do this? This is a task beyond our abilities! The Apostle tells us, in a marvelous way. He says,

 

“For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”[2]

 

Marvelous, magnificent words! May they be true in our lives. May we say that we no longer live, but Christ lives in us. May we live by faith, since this is the only way to accomplish our task. And what is our task? It is to know Christ isn’t it? Isn’t that what it said in the other Gospel today?[3] Our Savior was praying to His Heavenly father, shortly before He was going to go to His great passion for our salvation, and He said, “And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”[4]

 

What is knowledge? Knowledge is intimacy. Knowledge is … love. To know God is to love Him, and give everything to Him.

 

We see evidence of this kind of love even in our own relationships. The love of a husband for a wife, or a child for his mother or father, and especially the love of an infant, such perfect love.

 

But just like a child who is not so intimate with his parents after he has done something wrong – he doesn’t show up in the same room for a while, he doesn’t want to talk to them, he hangs his head, he has broken communion with them because of guilt — so it is with us, if we do not follow the Lord’s commandments. Then, we will not be able to cry “Abba, Father”, because we will be hanging our head in shame. Or worse, I say most people don’t do that, because they cannot bear that kind of shame. Instead, they just leave God. They become choked with cares, or lusts or passions, with misplaced priorities, or they become even worse than that, and they wither away, and have no faith whatsoever. That’s what happens to most people.

 

I hope that in our church, if you forgive the expression, we beat the “odds”. I hope that all of us will be good ground, but I know that the only way that this can be possibly true is if we struggle — apart and together. We must pray for one-another, help one-another, and then, in our corner, in our closet, cry out to God each day, asking Him to help us with whatever passions we have, with whatever sins we commit. Even if we have poor attitudes, and we desire to change our attitudes.

 

Do you know that all sin, and even all action proceeds from thought? Everything we do proceeds from thought. We decide to do something, and then we do it, whether it is good or bad. So we must amend our thoughts. That is why the Apostle Paul says,

 

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”[5]

 

Train yourself! So now, if you want to be good ground, you must not add any trash to this ground. You must not add such things as impure thoughts, gossip, judging others. You can surely think of many other things that are within your heart that you do and that are affecting your ground. And if ground is left alone, and just walked over, and not cared for, it becomes the wayside. It becomes hard and the seed can no longer penetrate, and that which is in it dies, or never germinates. So we have a great labor to do, my brothers and sisters. We must continue to care for our ground carefully. And we must have patience.

 

There are two sides to patience. One is that we must be patient with our position in life, with our status, with the amount of money we make, with the difficulties we are encountering. We must not curse God or say that we should have this or we should have that. This is one kind of patience.

 

There is another kind – a very important kind of patience. Allow God to work! It takes time for Him to work. We do not know how much time we have, but the time we have is what God has allotted to us. He is going to use every moment of that time to perfect us. So, if we have trouble with our sins, if there is something that we fall into every day, then EVERY day repent of it, and be patient!

 

Be manly in spirit, and do not be like a child and run away from that sin, or rather, run away from the knowledge of that sin, since it will always be with you until you conquer it. Confront it! Confront it with sword and with shield, and with buckler, and with faith.[6] Eventually, God will deliver you. It will happen. It is guaranteed. If a man struggles to know to know God’s commandments, He will reveal them. This is absolutely certain, because in your struggling, you will be doing His commandments.

 

So, be patient, and cultivate your ground every day, every moment. However, be careful not to judge yourself. This is a hard lesson, that takes us a long time to learn – to not judge ourselves, and look at the sins we are doing and to say we can never do better. In some things we do better, and in some things, God help us and forgive us, we have done worse, but the demons cannot take away from us that we are children of the Most High.

 

We are able to cry “Abba Father”, only if we are struggling to live in Christ. God lives within us. He enlightens us, He helps us, even though we are sinners. So, if He has come to us and has offered us FREELY His grace and mercy, who are we, in our pride and arrogance to say “that is not enough mercy or enough grace. I can’t change”? Every man can change. Everyone can change magnificently if he only allows God to change him, but this takes time, a lot of time.

 

I am sure, you are like me, and are very tired of your sins. They weigh us down, they are like an anchor, and they cut and they hurt. And yet, in some weird and perverted way, they are dear to us. They must be dear to us in some way, but God understands, and will help us if we make an effort, and if we are patient.

 

None of us right now are the wayside because we are at least trying to be Christians. Some of us may be the rock, some may be thorns. God knows, and this will be all revealed in the end. Even if you have very little soil right now, and even if you are choked with thorns and cares, God will help you to become good soil. He will help any man to become good soil. He is no respecter of persons. Any man that desires will be given, freely, God’s mercy. So take God’s mercy and clasp it to your hearts. Hold in to it and cultivate it, and be good soil, and God will save you.

 

Amen.

Luke 8:5-15

 A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. {6} And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. {7} And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. {8} And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. {9} And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be? {10} And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand. {11} Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. {12} Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. {13} They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. {14} And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. {15} But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.

 

Priest Seraphim Holland 2009.     St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, McKinney, Texas

 

This and other Orthodox materials are available in from:

 

This homily is at:

http://www.orthodox.net/sermons/pentecost-sunday-21_1996-10-14+parable-of-the-sower_luke8-5-15-galatians2-16-20.html

&

http://www.orthodox.net/sermons/pentecost-sunday-21_1996-10-14+parable-of-the-sower_luke8-5-15-galatians2-16-20.doc

 

New sermons, commentaries, etc  are posted on our BLOG: http://www/.orthodox.net/redeemingthetime

Archive of commentaries: http://www.orthodox.net/scripture

Archive of homilies: http://www.orthodox.net/sermons

 

To receive regular mailings of sermons, and scriptural and services commentary and other things throughout the church year, read our blog “Redeeming the Time” (http://www.orthodox.net/redeemingthetime). You may also subscribe to the RSS Feed or receive its postings by email.

 

Our parish Email list (http://groups.google.com/group/saint-nicholas-orthodox-church) also has all the latest postings from our website and blog; everyone is welcome to join.

 

All rights reserved.  Please use this material in any edifying reason. We ask that you contact St. Nicholas if you wish to distribute it in any way.  We grant permission to post this text, if completely intact only, including this paragraph and the URL of the text, to any electronic mailing list, church bulletin, web page or blog.

 

 

 

Resurrection of the Son of the Widow of Nain

Being  in the way of Christ

Luke 7:11-16

Day of the Glorification of St Jonah of Manchuria, Sept 20, 1996

Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. Welcome to our visitors today.  It is the twentieth Sunday after Pentecost today, and on this day we read the story  of the widow of Nain, or more correctly, that of her son, who was raised from the dead by our Lord Jesus Christ [1]. 

 

This also is a great day  in our church, because Bishop Jonah of Manchuria has been glorified as a Saint. [2] The main services for him are in San Francisco and Chicago, and we sang  his tropar today, and we number him among the saints. Of course, we knew he was already a Saint, because of the miracle that occurred on the day of his death.

 

We will talk more about this after liturgy, because we will have a Molieban beseeching St. Jonah  for help, and then I want to read his life. It might be a little long, but then, after all, we do not have very long in this life, so we  must spend the time we have fruitfully.  Reading about the saints, those who inspire us to do good and avoid evil,  is one the best ways to spend our time.

 

Our Lord tended to do things in a stepwise fashion. He revealed Himself by degrees. This is a principal in the Christian life. God reveals Himself slowly, as we can  bear Him.

 

“God is the Lord, and hath appeared unto us”, so it  says. This is what the Lord did in His ministry. He revealed Himself bit by bit.  In the beginning, He was  born as a babe, merely a babe in swaddling clothes, and there was nothing spectacular about Him at all, except for those who knew how He was conceived, and that was not well known at the time. Except for those  who saw the star, and only those who were worthy saw the star, and  we know the star was an angel, don’t we, from the Holy Fathers.  It was not a physical manifestation in the heavens, it was an angel who guided the wise men  from Persia, whom Daniel had  prepared and told to expect the Messiah.

 

Our Lord, just before the miracle we have before us today, had cured the centurion’s servant . You  remember the story. Our Lord is walking toward the centurion’s house, in order to heal his servant, who is almost dead. The centurion hears of this, and send some friends to Jesus with a message. This soldier, through his friends,  with humility pronounces himself unworthy to even have Christ “under his roof” [3].

 

The friends continue delivering a remarkable message: “Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.”[4]

 

And Our Lord said, “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” [5] , and healed the servant immediately, without even seeing him. Later, this man, Cornelius,  who was a man with a good heart, was enlightened by the Apostle Peter, and that story is given in the Acts. [6]

 

Our Lord healed his servant  right then and there. He did not heal him by walking to him, He just spoke the word, and the servant was healed. A time before this,  Our Lord healed the mother in law of the Apostle Peter, when He was in her presence. [7] She was in a fever, probably not altogether near death,  but  nevertheless, very sick and feverish.

 

Do you see how the miracles progress? And can you can see why our Lord raised the dead, healed the sick, stilled the waves? All these  miracles are meant to show us who He is, so that we can believe in Him.

 

Our Lord comes into the city of Nain, right after he had healed the centurion’s servant, before which  He had delivered His sweet discourse we know as the Sermon on the Mount. We mostly think of this when it is recounted in St. Matthew’s gospel, but the Apostle Luke also records it.

 

He is walking into the city, and He  is walking along the road, just going from one place to another. People are following Him, because they heard of his miracles, they have seen them, and they have heard His sweet words. They were attracted to these sweet words. At least, they continued to be attracted, most of them, until they  heard him say such things as “I am the bread of life” [8] , and “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world”. [9]

 

Then they had trouble with Him, because He was saying things that their carnal minds could not understand. But this was, if  you want to call it so, the “honeymoon” period of his ministry. Thousands of people were thronging about, watching  our Lord’s every movement.

 

He comes into the city of Nain, and He sees a funeral procession of a man  who had been dead quite some time, because he was about to be buried. This procession passes  by Him. They coincide together. And so Our  Lord says to the woman “Weep not”, and touches the bier.

 

Who is this who says “weep not”? Who has  a right to tell a woman who has lost her only son, who is a widow, and has nothing more in this world for sustenance? Remember, in those days, to be a widow was to be truly poor. There was no financial safety net for such people. They were destitute if they had not a husband or a son. She was bereft of any help in the world. Not only had she lost her son, but she was also likely to endure a life of poverty in the future.

 

Our Lord says  “Weep not”. We don’t have the right to say “Weep not” to someone who has lost their son, but our Lord does.  Why can he say this? He  had compassion on her, and knew what she needed. He knew he would  provide what she needed.

 

He stopped the bier. He put His hand on the bier. The Fathers think this is very significant. By the way, I mention parenthetically here that when we talk about the scriptures, we who are appointed to teach , the priests, and preeminently, the bishops,  we do so with fear and trembling, and we consult the Holy Fathers. We don’t  just make things up, since scripture is not a matter for private interpretation. [10] We read from those Fathers who led lives of great sanctity, and we know some of their names. Chrysostom, St. Basil the Great, St. John the Damascene, St. Theophylact of Bulgaria,  and many other Fathers, who  agree, even in minor points of theology. We read these  fathers before we start to talk so that we do not make a mistake, and say something that is heretical,  or say  something that is not edifying, and even then, may God preserve  us and you  when we make mistakes.

 

Our Lord touches the bier. There is great significance to this action. We do not have a particular icon in the church, but one of these days, hopefully, we will have it – it is called “Sweet Kissing”. It shows the Mother of God,  with our Lord kissing her on the cheek. It is a very tender and evocative icon. It means  the same thing as what He meant when he touched the bier – His great love for humanity. After all, He became a man. He took on our flesh, not just  to show solidarity with us, not just to be an example to us, but to transform us, because He loves us. He is not an aloof God. He is right here and now, as He was right there, and He touched the bier to show us His great love and to show how  He would  transform us as He Himself had transformed His own flesh. He was made of the same stuff we are made of  you know, the same flesh, also being God, but the flesh He wore is the same flesh  as we have, or the same flesh, should I  say, as we will have in the eighth day, because He will transform us, if we live in the way. This is the way that He walked.

 

This man, this dead man, was fortunate to be in the way of Christ. After  our Lord touched the bier, He then said dogmatically, “Young man I say unto thee, arise” [11] .  He could have said something  else, perhaps a bit less dogmatic. He could have said, “Young man, be risen from the dead”, but He said “I say unto Thee, arise”. Why should He say such a thing? Because He is the Lord.  He is the One who said to Moses, “I am”. [12] He is the uncreated one. He is our Savior, and He shows us this by this miracle, and by His presence. Even those who hated Him knew that, He does speak as the scribes and the Pharisees. He speaks with authority. [13] And how did  He speak with authority? Because He was and is – authority. He is God.

 

We have a principle in the church. You cannot give what you do not have. This is very true.

 

Parents, if you want your children to grow up without passions, to be without anger, or to be obedient and God-fearing, if you are still filled with anger, or not obedient, or do not fear God, do not expect your children to learn these virtues from you. You wont be giving them what you don’t have. A priest cannot ordain. Only a Bishop can ordain. He has something a priest does not have. Christ can give us so much, because He has an abundance.

 

So He says to the young man, arise, and He gives the young man to his mother. He starts to talk, and the fathers  tell us that the reason he sat up and began to talk right away is so those around him would not think that our Lord was a sorcerer. He was not glassy eyed, he did not look like he was drunk, or on drugs. The man was completely risen from the dead, and was  ready to begin his life anew. Surely, indeed, he had much to ponder in the rest of his life. We are not told what happened to him from that point on.

 

The people who saw this miracle had a great  fear upon them. They said “ a great prophet has risen up among us, and God has visited His people” [14] . And they were correct, but they also did not know the  fullness of the truth concerning Christ.

 

Remember that God is revealing Himself to them, just as He does to us, according to what we can bear. Do you remember the story  of the talents that we spoke about recently? [15] The man who had five talents, later increased to ten, and then to eleven, and then, really, infinitely – that man had greater talents at the beginning because of his greater love for Christ. So Christ filled Him more.

 

The man started with a few talents, and went higher,. And we should start with some number and go higher, and never lose talents, and bury them ion the earth, and blame our Lord  because we do not use the grace that He has given us.

 

Remember that is what a talent  is – the grace that God gives us to follow His commandments.

 

What is  the point of the Christian life? It is to know God, isn’t it? It is to obtain our salvation.

 

And  how do we know God? By becoming like Him. We follow His commandments. It is impossible to be a Christian and not to follow  His ways, and do the things that He tells us. He says this over and over again. Every  page of scripture speaks of this. If you say you believe, act like it! Your faith is known by how you live, how  you think, how you act.

 

These people did not quite know Christ yet. They knew that He was very unique, and extraordinary, but they did not quite understand that He was the God-man, and that when He said “Young man, I say to unto thee, arise” [16], that He was the one, the Messiah. He had to show them many, many times, with many miracles, and many sweet words, and even  some did not understand until much later.

 

We have St. Paul speaking  of how he was one born “out  of season” [17], as he says. He was born out of season because he persecuted the Christians for a great length of time, and killed many hundreds of them, if not thousands, and with blood on his hands, on the way to Damascus, he was visited by the God-man, Jesus Christ, and his life was changed. [18] It took him quite some time, but we believe that he certainly made up for that time, by becoming a great apostle.

 

We can see several  things we should learn from this short passage. We can see many other miracles in the scriptures.  When we read them, do they make an effect on us, do they change us?

 

What do we see? First of  all, there is something earlier in this passage that we have not touched on, but need to, because it is very, very critical.  Our Lord touched the bier, and they that bear Him stood still. Stood still , because of obedience.

 

If we do not stand still in the Christian life, our Lord will not touch us, our Lord will not change us. We must stand still. And what  is it that we must do when we are standing still? Be obedient, and  listen to our Lord.

 

Why was this man raised from the dead?  Because he was in the way of Christ. What  is this way? It is the gospel, it is what our Lord teaches us. Preeminently, He has taught us to love, and He  has given us an apparatus as it were, to help us – the church. His body  is where we must be joined, or else we are not in the way, and God will not touch us, and will not redeem us, and will not change.

 

So all these things that we know about as Christians, such as following the fasts, because  they a prescribed for us, not by man, but by the Holy Spirit (the apostles  fasted after our Lord was gone, and taught the church to do so), the Holy services, partaking  of the Holy mysteries, reading the Holy Fathers, understanding all the doctrines and dogmas of our faith – all these things  comprise being in the way, but we surely know that they are all useless if we do not change because of them.

 

If we do not  change, it matters not what we believe, because the Devil believes. He knows. He knows  the truth of the matter, better than most of us do, and he will not change.

 

Our Lord gives us many opportunities to change. The Gospels are one continual  story after story of God showing Himself, manifesting Himself, showing His power, His wisdom. These people who did not know our  Lord yet, at least many of them would learn because they would  see other miracle, and our Lord would touch them in other ways, and they would come to an understanding. And then there are others, you know,  who, when they came to a greater understanding, rejected our  Lord. It is a mystery why one man  and another act differently with the knowledge of God.  This is something we do not know and cannot understand, only God knows – why some reject the truth even though they believe it. This is a hard  thing to understand, and a hard thing to know.

 

The bishop that we glorify today, Bishop  Jonah, lived a very extraordinary life in terms of the inner life in trify today, Bishop  Jonah, lived a very extraordinary life in terms of the inner life ihe church, but  very pedestrian in it’s outer aspect. He died very young, before he was forty. He died of typhus, just like anybody else, with a fever.  He had only begun his ministry in  Manchuria. He was there about three years, and yet, he left an indelible print upon the Russian people and upon the church because he invested in young  children, and those that had fallen away from the faith. Even to this day, surely you can find priests, and those who have lived pious lives or come back to the church because of his ministry. He only died in the late twenties.

 

His life did not look extraordinary to someone who would not be looking very carefully. This woman of Nain did not have an extraordinary life either, and yet extraordinary things happened to both of them.

 

The woman had her  son raised from the dead, merely because her way coincided with Christ. Bishop Jonah gave  his legs to a young boy who had lost the use of his, the night he died. He appeared in a dream to the boy and said, take my legs, I don’t need them anymore. This is one of the  signs by which we know that he is sanctified and that God has received his repentance, and numbers  him among those who please Him.

 

I want you to realize again , there was nothing extraordinary about his life externally. He just worked hard. He worked  in an orphanage. He took care of children. He preached. He taught. He labored. He administrated. In the midst  of all his work was Christ. He was a man with great love, and when you hear his testament and his life later on, you will agree that he is certainly numbered among the saints.

 

We can learn something from his life, so plain on the outside, or from the widow of Nain, that our life is just to follow Christ, simply and without pretense. God will indeed do miraculous things to  us, if we just live as He has told us.

 

This is very simple, a lot  simpler than we want it to be. We like to have things  complicated. We like to have things difficult. It is very simple. Christian, what  are you to do? You are to struggle to know Christ, and to know yourself. You are to struggle to  love those who hate you.  You are to struggle to learn God’s commandments, which are sweet, and to follow them.

 

You are not just  to say that you believe, because that just puts you in the same league with the devil, but you also must follow what you believe.  And you are to keep the fasts, you are to worship in the  services with fear and with trembling, and with awe, you are to  prepare yourself carefully for the mysteries. You are just to go on with your daily life, imbuing  it with Christ, Who lives within you.  If indeed, God ever gives you a mountain to climb, and some great work to do, then you will know it., And it will happen. Great works begin with very tiny beginnings.

 

When Bishop Jonah went to Manchuria, the people there were  very faithless. He would begin the divine liturgy, and nobody would show up until after the Cherubic  hymn, but he persevered. And his preaching was powerful. People saw something in this man that attracted them, and this something, of course, was Christ. So as he continued serving and preaching, in a very short while, the churches were filled to overflowing, and he was able to come  up with vast sums of money to create orphanages and schools.  At that time, the Russians in China that had been exiled were quite poor. There were children that had been sold into slavery, women being sold, dysentery, and disease … and typhus, from which our saint died. There were very  bad conditions. Bishop Jonah waded into those conditions and changed people. He made people  to see what it is they should do with their life, and follow Christ. He just did it by  being a Christian, by believing what he was doing. By laboring.

 

I don’t know why this  word “labor” is misunderstood so much among those that call themselves Christian today. Perhaps the greatest heresy of our day, and of all time is the divorcing  of … belief from action.

 

This is greater than the heresy  of Arianism, which if you are a student of heresies, and you should be, as a Christian, so you can know how to avoid them, leads to this great heresy,  since Arianism separates the flesh  from the spirit. We Christians don’t do that! The flesh and the spirit are joined. So as we believe, so we should act,  but so many believe and act differently, and have no qualms about this. This heresy has infiltrated all levels of life.

 

We cannot have this heresy  in our life! We must follow what God has taught us, or we cannot call ourselves Christians. And if we follow what God has taught us, most days it will not be spectacular. We will have struggles, we will be victorious in some, we will fall in others.  There may be some passion or sin that has a hold on us for a long period of time, and we fall again and again and again. 

 

How in the world can we say that we are making any progress when that happens? Oh, indeed, we are making progress! God wants us to be patient, to endure and to struggle. But we must struggle in truth, according to  what has been revealed in truth! If we struggle in something that  is not true, then it is of no benefit to us, except perhaps, that when we come to our senses, we will be ever grateful to God that He has delivered us from our previous life, before we were  Orthodox.

 

Let your way be in Christ’s way. This is the meaning of this scripture for today. Let  your way be in Christ’s way, follow what He teaches you. And when He touches you, stand still and listen. Listen to what He commands you to do. Don’t consider anything He says to you, through His church, to be a suggestion. The young man did not consider our Lord’s words to be a suggestion when He told him to arise. Nothing our Lord tells us is a suggestion. It is an order, from a king.

 

Check yourselves every moment, which way are you proceeding on? If you are proceeding on the way that  is Christ’s, then He will fill you.  He will change you, He will  enlighten you, He will raise you from the dead. If you deviate from that way, whether it be by incorrect belief, or pride,  or not trying to struggle against your sins, then you will not meet Him, because He will not be there. Stay on the way of Christ. Stay on the royal path. And then stand still, and listen, and God  will help you.

 

Amen.

Luke 7:11-16

 

And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called  Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people.    7:12  Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a  dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and  much people of the city was with her.    7:13  And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto  her, Weep not.    7:14  And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still.  And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.    7:15  And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him  to his mother.    7:16  And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a  great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people

 

Priest Seraphim Holland      St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, McKinney, Texas

 

This and other Orthodox materials are available in from:

 

This homily is at:

http://www.orthodox.net/sermons/

 

New sermons, commentaries, etc  are posted on our BLOG: http://www/.orthodox.net/redeemingthetime

Archive of commentaries: http://www.orthodox.net/scripture

Archive of homilies: http://www.orthodox.net/sermons

 

To receive regular mailings of sermons, and scriptural and services commentary and other things throughout the church year, read our blog “Redeeming the Time” (http://www.orthodox.net/redeemingthetime). You may also subscribe to the RSS Feed or receive its postings by email.

 

Our parish Email list ( http://groups.google.com/group/saint-nicholas-orthodox-church) also has all the latest postings from our website and blog; everyone is welcome to join.

 

All rights reserved.  Please use this material in any edifying reason. We ask that you contact St. Nicholas if you wish to distribute it in any way.  We grant permission to post this text, if completely intact only, including this paragraph and the URL of the text, to any electronic mailing list, church bulletin, web page or blog.