Redeeming the Time

Mat 21:33-44

 In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.[1]

Today is the 13th Sunday after Pentecost.  We hear the parable of the vineyard on this day.  It is also the Church New Year, being September 1.  Also on this day we commemorate St. Symeon the Stylite and his mother, Martha, so we have many feasts today.

All Scripture helps us to learn about God.  It gives us promises.  It teaches us how to live.  It teaches us how not to live by giving us the opposite example.  It also gives us a pattern and a role for living. 

Today, in this parable about the vineyard, we can see all these things.  On the surface, there is a strong rebuke of the Jews, because of their rejection of the Messiah.  Some of the Jews were the ones, of course, that were the husbandmen who killed the Householder’s servants and even His son.  The Jews understood this when He rebuked them.  Have no doubt about it.  This was one of the things that led them to plot to kill Him. 

We not only see the negative example of the Jews, but also a pattern for how to live.  If you look at how carefully God created the vineyard, and His continual entreating of the householders and what he required of them, you can see that this is, in microcosm, the Christian life. And you can see how to live and how not to live.  And then, with a little explanation, with an understanding of the mind of the Church of what fruits are and what some of the symbolism is, you can see how this parable doesn’t just apply to  the wicked Jews who killed the Savior.  It applies to us, who are wicked if we do not do the work that we are called to do in the vineyard. 

Now, there’s also a marvelous connection between this Gospel and the Gospel we say for St. Symeon who is a venerable Father[2].  We say this Gospel where at the end it says,

"My yoke is easy and My burden is light.  Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden."[3]

There is a connection between these words, "Take My yoke upon you" and what God told the householders to do.  It’s quite simple.  God gave us everything we need for our salvation.  It is natural labor.  Not natural according to the natural man, but natural according to the heavenly man, which is who we are supposed to be becoming. 

Let’s see a little bit about this parable - it is rich in symbolism - and then see how it applies to us. 

"There was a certain householder which planted a vineyard and hedged it round about and digged a wine press in it and built a tower and let it out to husbandmen and went into a far country."[4] 

If you read from the Fathers you can see what these things mean.  The Church has understood them for many, many hundreds of years now.  The Householder, of course, is Jesus Christ.  The vineyard is the Jewish people, and by extension, the New Israel -Christians, the Christian Church.  Blessed Theophylact says that everything described is spiritual.  He created a vineyard with everything necessary for our sustenance and for our salvation.  A vineyard bears sweet and juicy grapes that are not only tasty for the palate, but are good for the body and, by extension, this vineyard is good for the soul. 

There is a hedge round about the vineyard.  What does a hedge do?  It protects from marauders, from thieves and from wild animals.  It keeps that which is undesirable, and even evil, out.  The vineyard is the Church.  And the hedge that goes round the Church is just like the sides of a boat, which is another image of the Church - the Ark. This is the Law, the Law of God.  This is our tradition.  Our Holy Tradition: our fasting, our services, which are so full of meaning and beauty, our way of thinking, confession, the grace of baptism - all of these things and many more are the hedge that goes round about the Church. 

The winepress is the altar.  Sacrifices are offered on this altar.  The Jews would have thought of the sacrifices of bullocks, but we think of the sacrifice that the God-Man has given to us and of the Body and Blood of Christ offered on this altar.  And the tower within the hedge is the temple. It is high, to be seen by all, and to be a light for all.  And the temple, or course, must be within the hedge because the True Faith is only within the Church.  And it is hedged round about keeping away heresy and unclear ways of thinking and acting, no matter what they are. 

There are two meanings regarding the husbandmen.  First of all, the Jewish teachers were the first husbandmen all throughout the ages.  And there were good husbandmen, but there were a remarkable amount of bad ones.  Later, Christian bishops, priests, deacons and indeed, all of us, because we are a holy priesthood, a holy nation, and peculiar people, so says the Apostle Peter.[5]  We are like husbandmen now because if you see, later in the parable, the vineyard was taken away from the first husbandmen.  They were not worthy of it.  And it was given to other husbandmen, that is the universal Church, through the calling of the Gentiles. Now we are of that vine and of that body, if we choose to live according to the way God has taught us.

Now, God, the householder, went into a far country.  What does this mean?  It means God’s long-suffering for us.  It means that He is slow to judge us and quick to hear our repentance.  He is not slack concerning our salvation, but He is patient with us,[6]  however, when a person goes on a long journey, they return from that journey eventually.  And when He returns that will be the end of the age.  That will be the judgement.  So God is patient.  And God might seem, occasionally, because of this patience, to be far away from us.  "He doesn’t see", so we sometimes lie to ourselves.  Indeed, He sees all, and He is patient.  But there will come a time of reckoning.

So we must not be slack concerning what we have been told to do just because He is not on top of us as a taskmaster with a whip, telling us every moment what to do.  We must indeed be mature in Christ and live according to the Gospel without compulsion.  Remember some of the other things that are in the Gospels.  The prodigal son went into a far country and came back.  In that case the country means something different.  Remember the foolish virgins.  Their master went away and He was late, so they thought, in coming and five of them let their oil go out.  They did not have works of mercy and of devoutness and of desire and they were left out when the Bridegroom came to the great feast.

Be careful, brothers and sisters.  Life has a sort of narcotic quality to it.  We’re so busy with living.  We’re so busy with the things we need to do (or think we need to do). We forget so often, God is merciful and allows us time. Time to become like Him.  Time to repent of our sins.  Time to grow in knowledge of Him.  Time to grow in perfection. This is the purpose of our life.  Not time to acquire anything, or for pleasures, or for entertainment, or all the other things that are craved in our industrial society.  We must watch.  Jesus said it to us.  He said to His apostles and to us, "Watch, therefore, for ye know not what hour the Lord shall come."[7] 

So, the Master of the house is in a far country.  But He still sees all.  And He is patient.  And that patience should spur us to action knowing that we have a little bit of time to work out our salvation.  It should make us zealous.

Let us think for a minute of this image of the vineyard.  The Master of the house has given us everything necessary and he has hedged it off so that all which is evil cannot get in.  As long as you are within the vineyard you are safe.  As long as you are within the Ark you are safe.  All the things in the vineyard are there for a purpose: the altar, the tower, the trellises, the land, and the crops. We are given these things in order to work.  What are householders to do in the vineyard?  Are they to lie in the sun?  Are they to daydream their days away?  There is work to be done in the vineyard!  There is honest labor and growth to be accomplished in the vineyard, and gradual growth in the knowledge of God.   And as we grow in the knowledge of God, we grow in becoming like God in morality. 

"And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. {35} And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another."[8]

In fact this happened twice, and then He sent his Son.  The "time of the fruit" is the years of the prophets, according to the Fathers.  They announced the coming of the fruit many, many times.  And God sent His servants to receive the fruits of the vineyard, that is our obedience and growth.  That is all we are asked to do, to tend the vineyard.  We’re given all the tools and everything necessary just to be obedient.  That is what we are asked to do and to grow in the knowledge of God.  God counts as His gain our gain and knowledge of Him. 

So these householders, these terrible wicked men, given all of these things for their salvation, thought of it as theirs instead and grasped it, and killed the prophets.  Isaiah was sawn in half.  Zachariah, father of St. John the Baptist, was killed between the temple and the altar.[9]  St Elias was hounded.  So many of the others were killed, tortured in various ways because the husbandmen would not be obedient to the Master of the house. 

"But last of all he sent unto them his son saying, ‘They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir.  Come let us kill him.  Let us seize on his inheritance.’  And they caught him and cast him out of the vineyard and slew him."^[10]

The coming of the son is the Incarnation.  God comes to His own vineyard, which He had created for us.  And when He was cast out of the vineyard, this was a prophecy of how He was to be killed because, indeed, He was killed outside the gates of Jerusalem, cast outside the vineyard.  Jerusalem is a metaphor for the Church, and He was also cast outside the guileless will of the people.  He was killed by the wicked householders outside of the Law, outside of the vineyard, which was hedged round about.

Now, there is an important question which asked, "When the Lord, therefore, of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?"[11]  He came looking for fruit, you know.  He came looking for obedience.  He came looking for someone who had used His gifts, the talents that He had given properly.  Some actively opposed Him, and perhaps there were other householders who were not so wicked, just misused the vineyard and did not work, but then again did not lift the hand to stop the killing of the prophets or of the Son of God.

The Jews hearing the parable did not yet that is was about was about them. We can see in St. Luke that they did understand eventually because they said,

"He will miserably destroy those wicked men and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen which will render him the fruits in their seasons."[12] 

Then when Christ said something that made them understand, it was them - they said, "God forbid!"  Well, they had already said it.  They had prophesied what would happen to themselves and all those who do not labor in the vineyard with honest work. 

Let us look carefully at this phrase, "…render him the fruits in their seasons."  There is fruit to be rendered.  To be a Christian is to have an obligation.  You have accepted God’s grace, and baptism.  You must work now in the vineyard.  Our Christian life is labor. 

I’ve said it a thousand times and I will say it a thousand more times if I have breath.  The great heresy of our age is that one can have belief without labor.  It is not true.  The Christian who laments his sins knows that he must labor to cease doing them. The Christian that loves God and is thankful for what has been given desires to labor in the vineyard and picks up his spade and digs, and a hoe and hoes away the weeds from his soul so that it will be bright and shiny and will be able to grow. 

We have everything we need in this vineyard and it is hedged round about and yet we, in our foolishness, sometimes cut through the hedge.  That’s what we do when we sin, you know.  That’s what we do especially when we have incorrect attitudes about the Christian life, because from incorrect attitudes comes sinful behavior and we open the hedge.  And if we open it wide enough, marauders will come in.  This is happening in our beloved Church, even as we speak, these days.  And it is something that should make a Christian lament.  We currently see so many opening the hedge to marauders by false doctrines, false ways of life, false practices that are being touted as Orthodox and we know that they are not. 

The fruit that the Lord wants is the knowledge of Him in our souls.  And a necessity - if the knowledge comes then the action will come too.  A man fools himself if he thinks he knows something about God and he doesn’t live morally.  Do not mistake the time the Lord has given you for your own personal security. You must bear fruit.  It is a requirement.  Now, you need not bear fruit like St. Symeon did.  He would stand in prayer from sundown until the 9th hour (that’s 3 in the afternoon).  And then he would counsel people until sundown from that time. And he did this for 80 years on a pillar.  He had clairvoyance and humility and all manner of spiritual gifts.  He bore fruit abundantly.  We must have humility and realize we cannot reach such heights.  But we must stay in the hedge to bear the fruit that God desires and requires of us. 

How do we do this?  It’s simple.  The things I’ve told you over and over. And the things I tell myself over and over, because it is only possible to do spiritual works by making a beginning; keeping the fasts, accepting the Church’s authority over you, in the way you live, even in the way you think, the way you act, going to the services, fasting, praying, giving (alms-giving) what is God’s to God, and work in the vineyard. 

Know that your purpose is to know God.  It’s to become perfected.  It’s to ascend in knowledge and in action.  Those two swords, when Christ said it was enough, when someone said, ‘here are two swords’[13], knowledge and action.  Those are the necessities for salvation.  Anytime you sin you break down the hedge.  So you must rebuild it as rapidly as possible.

May God help you in staying within the vineyard and in working out your salvation.  Now remember, in the vineyard, there is a product of a vineyard and it is grapes, and fruit.  Now, if you are in the vineyard and you do not participate in producing fruit then you will be cast off.  Have you ever seen grapevines burn?  It is mentioned when they tried to burn the Three Holy Children.  The wood that comes from a vine, like grapes, when it dries out, burns incredibly rapidly and with great heat and intensity.  This is what will happen to those who cast themselves off the vine by not laboring.  So now we see.  We come to the end of the meaning of this parable.  Apply it to your life.  Work in the vineyard, brothers and sisters, and struggle for your salvation and understand that every moment God requires of you fruit.  May God help you to attain salvation.  Amen.

Matthew 21:33-44

Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: {34} And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. {35} And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. {36} Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. {37} But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. {38} But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. {39} And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. {40} When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? {41} They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. {42} Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes? {43} Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. {44} And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

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-13_1998+the-parable-of-the-vineyard.html

http://www.orthodox.net/sermons/pentecost-sunday-13_1998+the-parable-of-the-vineyard.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.

Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.  {11} Behold, we count them happy which endure.  Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.  {12} But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.  {13} Is any among you afflicted?  let him pray.  Is any merry?  let him sing psalms.  {14} Is any sick among you?  let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: {15} And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.  {16} Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.  The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.  {17} Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.  {18} And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.  {19} Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; {20} Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.  (James 5:10-20)

In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen[1]

Today is the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, when we read about the feeding of the 5000.  Today is also the day that we commemorate the Holy Prophet Elijah (or Elias).  We hear of a great miracle in the feeding of the 5000.  It’s full of great inner meaning, because it really points to the Church very, very clearly[2].  I would like to talk about that, and we will, later, after trapeza,, but I would like to talk about even more about something else right now, a GREATER miracle.  Christ has said to His disciples, "Greater things than these shall ye see."[3], and indeed it is true.  The great miracle I’m speaking of is one that is hidden in the Epistle for the Prophet Elias.  It mentions him a little bit in the epistle - not very much, only a sentence or two, but a great miracle is hidden in the words, and it is not that rain came or didn’t come for three and a half years.

It says, "Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months."[4] This is the great miracle.  It was not the drought, nor the rain after the drought, but a man with passions prayed fervently to God, and God heard him.  Something that seemingly is impossible was asked for, to keep rain from falling.  It might seem rather possible nowadays in Texas that this could happen[5].  To keep rain from falling from the sky?  We have no ability to do that.  That’s not within our province.  Can we heal the sick as is mentioned also in this Epistle of St.  James?  We don’t have the ability to cure incurable diseases, to cleanse lepers.  All these things are impossibilities to us.  We don’t have the ability.

The greatest miracle - the greatest miracle - that God works is when He changes a heart.  And if you see your heart start to change, if you see yourself turning to God, even if it’s only happening slowly, you can be assured that this is a greater miracle than raising the dead.  God can raise the dead anytime He wants, but for a man to truly change, this involves great effort as well as God’s grace.  It is the greatest news, the best news there has ever been, that a heart CAN turn to God. 

We celebrate Elias so extravagantly because he was a man of like passions as us.  You read his story[6].  He was not perfect, no not at all.  In fact, he showed great weakness even after he had performed perhaps the greatest of his signs, what most would call the greatest of his miracles.  This was when he went and rebuked Achab, and had them set up two sacrifices, one for the priests of Baal (or Baalim) and one for the True God, he gave them a little wager: We will pray.  You pray to your god and I will pray to mine, and no fire will be put underneath, and whichever holocaust is burned, He is God.  The people said, ‘that’s a good proposition’. 

The priests of Baal prayed the entire day through the afternoon, and Elias mocked them with great fervor and with great bravery, because these were people who wanted to kill him, and there were many of them and he was few.  Then we all know what happened.  He prayed to God with faith.  We are told that he was a man with passions now, a weak man.  And the entire sacrifice, and the twelve stones, and the water and everything, the dust, the stones and dirt was all consumed by the fire of the Lord.  And then the rain came and during this time of the rain coming, Jezebel, that name which will live in infamy, sent him a message saying my ‘gods will do this to me and more besides if I don’t have you dead by this time tomorrow.’  And what happened to Elias?  He was afraid.  It says right in the Scriptures, he was afraid.  So - yes, he has passions just like us, weaknesses just like us. 

It doesn’t matter how weak a man is, not if he has faith in God.  This was just a slight misstep for the prophet, because a scant 40 days later, God appeared to him in the cave - not in the wind, not in the earthquake, not in the fire -but in the still, small voice.  Elias was very worthy of receiving this; it didn’t matter that he had weaknesses.

Emulate Elias.  Not his fear.  We don’t emulate the saints when they are weak.  We emulate their strengths, and this is a man with many strengths, great fervor, great love for God, and because of that, he could pray and that which is impossible would happen. 

Now each one of us, from my experience as a confessor, I tell you, each one of us has something we consider to be impossible in our life.  If you pray with fervor it will no longer be impossible.  You’ve got to believe this.  Despite the fact that there is so much evidence in the life of the Church, we find it difficult to really believe this.  This is why we celebrate the saints, that so magnificently show what faith can do.  Whether it is stopping the heavens and starting them again, or whether it is consuming a burnt offering that is soaked in water, or whether it is giving up one’s life even in the bloom of youth, such as St.  Marina did, who was celebrated just a few days ago, this is from God changing a heart.

God can change your heart.  It will take an effort from you, though.  If you’re lazy, your heart won’t change.  You’ll never believe.  You’ll never really believe.  What a tragedy. 

We read in the Scriptures of these exploits of the saints, and is it going to be for us like watching a movie?  Watching a movie about, let’s say, the Everglades, but never being there?  Never experiencing it?  Never understanding what it’s like to be there?  The exploits of the saints are not a movie or a book for us.  They are a way of life and they lead us, if we follow the path, to the greatest of miracles - our heart changing.  Truly it excites me to think of the saints.  They are our destiny, you know.  God has shown in them what we will be like if we follow, if we live according to faith.  Even the ones that sin grievously sometimes, eh?  Even like David who combined two sins in one, adultery and murder.  And so many of the other saints that had difficulty in their lives.  But they also had great faith. 

We must exercise that faith, brothers and sisters.  You must believe that you can be changed.  If you believe this, then God will change you.  It’s going to take some effort on your part.  It’s going to take some pain as well, because there are things that we like that we don’t want to let go of.  We hold onto them.  We get dragged along the ground with the wild horses that are our passions, but we don’t let go of the rope.  But the first and foremost thing you must do if you are to conquer your passions - you must believe that they can be conquered.  This is just another way of saying that you must believe in the resurrection.

May God help you to truly have this belief, to truly know that the purpose of your life is an intimate knowledge with God.  That is your destiny.  It is the purpose of your being, and it is possible.  Through the prayers of the Holy Prophet Elias may we have firm, real, living faith in our Savior.  Amen. 

Bibliography:

·         Questions and Answers about St Elijah: http://www.orthodox.net/questoins/elias_1.htm

·         The end of Third Kings, and part of Fourth Kings

This, and other Orthodox materials are available in booklet and electronic form from:

This particular text may be found at:

 http://www.orthodox.net/sermons/pentecost-sunday-08_1998+feeding-the-5000-and-st-elijah.doc

http://www.orthodox.net/sermons/pentecost-sunday-08_1998+feeding-the-5000-and-st-elijah.html

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.

Today, on the Second Sunday after Pentecost, we celebrate the memory of all the saints of Russia who have enlightened that land and shown their light on top of the hill instead of under a bushel.  What is it that makes a saint?  We’ve talked about this last week.  We read part of the same reading today as we read last week also. 

When Jesus called His disciples, they left immediately, left their nets, and they didn’t look back. They left with many weaknesses. We can see them. Their warts are shown in the scriptures: they argued with one another, they jousted with one another to see who would be the greatest, they had lack of faith, they even denied our Lord, and not just Peter, by the way; all of them were afraid, even St. John, who followed from a distance.  They all had human frailties.  But they did as the good farmer that our Lord speaks about in a parable: you put your hand to the plow.[1]  And no man who wants to plow a field looks back, because then the furrows will be not straight, and you will not get as much fruit from the ground. 

This is the key, brothers and sisters.  Have you left your nets?  Our Lord called James and John, the sons of Zebedee, and straightway they left their nets.   The "nets" are the "world", in this context.  The spiritual, the inner meaning, of the nets is this: all the things which entangle us.  Have you left your nets?   Or do you still keep nets around? 

I’m not talking about whether or not you fall into sin.  We are sinners.  We should not be surprised when we sin.  I’m not talking about if you have weaknesses, passions.  I’m talking about your priorities.  Have you left your nets?  Do you understand?  Do you live your life in accordance with the fact that Christianity must be a continual ascent, away from the earth, into heaven? A continual change, a continual changing of one’s mind. Warfare till the last breath. This is what Christianity is. You must leave your nets.

If you set your face towards Jerusalem, as the Lord did[2], meaning, if you don’t let the world get in the way of what your life is for, and then God will strengthen you and will help you.  You’ll have many problems.  You might have many sins.  In fact, you might sin wretchedly and continually, but God will help you if you have the right priorities, and if you beg Him to help you. 

Christianity is not what we believe; it’s how we act, it’s what we become.  It’s not possible without belief, but belief is only the beginning, just like when the grain of mustard seed is put into the ground.  That is only the beginning.  That is only the start.  Then the seedling starts to grow.  Many things endanger the seedling, but eventually, with care, it becomes a great tree.[3]  This is what we must do.  We must have the priority to grow, to change.  This is Christianity.  This is the essence. 

Our Lord called His disciples; they straightway left their nets.  They’d been waiting for the Messiah.  At this point they didn’t really understand.  He was a charismatic man, and there was something about Him. Those with sensitive souls would see such a thing.  They might not understand it, but they saw it and they desired to follow it.  They gave up everything in order to follow it.  Everything.  And they didn’t look backwards.  Now they still brought along their baggage, and their sins, and their passions, and their pride, and … everything else.  But their desire was to change. 

And look what God has done, with twelve men!  He didn’t come to twelve kings, twelve princes, twelve great ones, twelve scholars, but twelve simple men, uneducated for the most part.  Simple.  Men of the sea, men of the earth.  And look what happened.  Because they desired to follow Christ, they left their nets.  And anything that was imperfect in them would be, eventually, healed because of their desire. 

It is so important to understand the purpose of the Christian life.  We can talk about it, but to really understand it is to live it.  Perfection.  Self-amendment.  Change according to the One Whom we say we love.  Leaving behind those things that shackle us.  As St. Paul says, "We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses."[4]  Let’s leave behind sin which so easily entangles us.  But the first step to leaving behind sin which entangles is to leave your nets. 

The sin may still come with.  We see that from the apostles.  The sin may still come with.  The weakness still comes with.  But if God sees a man who wants to change, He will help him.  Grace will descend upon him and will warm him.  This is the key.  You must desire to change.  You must desire to become like Christ.  You must desire to be all fire.  And all these imperfections, they’ll just be a memory some day.   All the things that are wrong with us, they’ll burn away, and all that will be left, if we live according to desire for Christ, will be the pearl[5], all burnished and shining because of our efforts, because of God’s grace which has descended upon us. 

Don’t lament so much out of proportion about your sins that you commit and your difficulties with passions; don’t lament about those more than you lament about your attitude and your desire.  A lack of desire, a lack of proper priorities, a lack of faith and belief in the resurrection is what really makes those sins which entangle you still hang around.  They will be burned away by the grace of God, but you must leave them.  You must struggle with all of your might to leave them. 

Now after having been a priest for I think over five years now, I am well aware of the great grace of God and the great weakness of men.  Unfortunately, I’ve learned it autobiographically, but also by observing my flock whom I love.  But mostly by observing my own weakness and seeing how God takes an imperfect vessel and bestows grace upon it.  Most of the grace is wasted, and is not made fruitful, like the water that flows into the ditch and into the sewer and is not retained in the orchard.  But some of it is retained.  And I’ve learned, and I wish you to know: God desires your heart, and not so much today that you don’t sin but that you desire to not sin, and that you order your priorities according to what God has done, and the grace the God-man gives us.  If you leave your nets, everything else will follow. 

Certainly, God who has created us for a good work will complete it in the day of Christ Jesus.[6]  Of course He will.  But He will complete it for those who endure to the end.  Not for those who make a beginning, but for those who endure to the end.[7]  He will not leave those who struggle with their sins.  And I tell you boldly; He will not leave those who fail when they struggle against their sins, who continue to sin.  He will not leave them, if they struggle, if they desire. 

This is the key.  This is the pearl.  This is the inner knowledge a Christian must possess.  God will not abandon you, but you must not abandon Him.  You must struggle to abandon all that is not of Him.  Whether you are successful or not, in this life, in this world, in being free of every sin is not as important as if you are successful in ordering your priorities and your desires.  Leave your nets. 

There are many of them in the world today.  Sometimes we think that some of these things, the vices and passions and difficulties, have been invented by our generation.  They’ve been around a long time.  But now we have a terrible affliction in our society: lukewarmness of belief.  It affects us, makes us make excuses, and makes us to have false priorities, to arrange for our retirement, but not for the keeping of the church.  To take care of this, or that, but to not say our prayers. 

Don’t be entangled by the world.  The world offers you nothing.  The world pushes you to the abyss, and then you fall off.  Leave your nets.  And then you’ll be like the saints. 

We can share in something that they have obtained.  We all, I tell you boldly — every one of us, no matter how sinful, are capable of becoming as the saints.  And that is an arrogant statement; that is the truth.  We are made of the same stuff, and the same grace is shed upon us. 

But the reason why we are moribund in our sins, and why there is little fruit in our lives, is because we have not left behind our nets.  We still have the wrong priorities.  Then let us obey the apostle Paul, "seeing that we are compassed about by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside sin, which so easily encumbers us."[8]  Let’s strive for the goal.  Let’s struggle.  Let’s desire.  Let us leave our nets.  God will not abandon us.  God will help us. 

This is glorious news.  The saints, you know, are the resurrection in action.  The saints are living examples of the resurrection, and even in our life we should experience living examples of the resurrection, if we are able to turn aside from the sins that once beset us, if we are able to make the right choice, instead of the wrong one that we’ve been making for so long.  This is the resurrection at work in a man.  And it is a glorious thing.  It is a privilege, and an honor to be a creature of God, for He dwells within us, an amazing thing.  Let us leave our nets, and let’s truly experience what God desires for us.  Amen.

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-02_1999+all-saints-of-russia.doc

http://www.orthodox.net/sermons/pentecost-sunday-02_1999+all-saints-of-russia.html

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.

"Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven"

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Today, the Sunday after Pentecost, we remember all of the saints, and we are inspired by these two readings, I would hope, that contain much encouragement.  How can one not be encouraged when this whole choir of righteous is enumerated by the apostle Paul, and then he says:

"Wherefore seeing we are also compassed about by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us.  Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, Who, for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." 

This should be like an anthem for we Christians.  The saints are all described at the end of the Gospel reading.  Every righteous one who has ever lived, who has ever pleased God, who has ever struggled with his sins, who has ever truly believed in the resurrection is described today, because our Lord says:

"Everyone that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children or lands for My Name’s sake, shall receive a hundred fold and shall inherit ever-lasting life.  But many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first." 

This describes in microcosm the life that pleases God, the life that we are called to.  We are to forsake that which weighs us down, sin which easily besets us, and even father or mother or sister or brother, if they weigh us down, if they keep us from the kingdom of God. 

In most cases that would not be literally necessary; Jesus Christ is not telling us to always leave our father and mother.  Indeed we must love them, and honor them, whether they honor God or not.  But it is a value judgement here; it is a set of priorities.  If we are to inherit what is our birthright, then we must live according to that birthright.  You remember, with Esau and Jacob, Esau had the birthright, but he didn’t live according to it, so it was taken from him. 

These readings contain not only the encouragement and this incredible joy that we should feel about the grace of God; they also contain a blueprint, a path of how to live.  Not only how to live, but also how not to live.  The promise is there, that also contains, very, very clearly for those who have ears to hear and eyes to see, what happens when a man does not follow Christ. 

Now this is the Sunday after Pentecost.  Pentecost, the out-pouring of the Holy spirit, the gift of the Holy spirit upon all in the church, is what makes us capable of being part of this choir of the saints.  It’s what helps all men to attain to the knowledge of God and to righteousness. 

St. Paul says through faith they did this, through faith they did that.  This was in the Old Testament times, before the giving of the Holy Spirit.  Even more remarkable are the exploits of the saints before the coming of Christ, because the Holy Spirit did not dwell within them.  The Holy Spirit influenced their lives, guided them, helped them, but did not dwell within them.  This was meant for a later time.  And St. Paul alludes to this when he says,

"And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise, God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." 

He is pointing to the coming of the God-man Jesus Christ, and then the bringing of the Holy Spirit after Jesus Christ showed and in actuality did what was necessary for our salvation.  He showed us how to live, and lived according to His commandments, and caused Himself to be risen from the dead.  And then the bringing of the Holy Spirit enlightens us, strengthens us and allows us to do the will of God, and to obtain the promise. 

I want to focus on some things that were said in the Gospel - the Gospel is a composite reading, by the way.  It is actually Matthew chapter ten and also chapter nineteen, a portion of it.  It fits together very nicely in context, and that’s why the Holy Spirit must have desired the reading be put together as it was for this day.  Our Lord said,

"Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven." 

This is a fundamental characteristic of righteousness, to confess the Lord Jesus Christ.  And how do we confess Him?  Without lips and with our actions; with our priorities and with our way of dealing with people; with what we say is important and what we show is important. 

There are some obvious things that you could have come to mind.  We confess the Lord by showing that we care about Christianity, that we live our life in a moral way.  The entire world has gone off unto Sodom and Gomorrah, but we cannot do this.  We must have the courage to stand against it, to stand against every form of immorality and vice.  This is the confession of Christ. 

Now there is a new form of Christianity in name only.  It’s been around now for quite a good many years.  In fact, you really can see the beginnings of it in Apostolic times.  But certainly, in the past few hundred years of the post enlightenment age, it has been codified that this is an acceptable way of life. 

This way of life confesses Christ with the lips, but not with action, not with morality, not with the way we live, not with the way we order our lives.  The new Christianity, from which the Orthodox are not immune, has a sort of dichotomy between belief and action.  But there is no such thing.  This is the great lie.  Faith without works is dead.  There is no dichotomy between action and belief.  And if you do not live according to what you say you believe, then you are not confessing Christ.  And we’ve been given everything we need to confess Him.  We’ve been given the Holy Spirit, the comforter, Who lives within us if indeed we make a place for Him, if indeed we clean out our soul, and garnish it and sweep it out with effort and desire.  And He will help us in all things.  But if we do not live righteously we are not confessing Christ. 

Christ says He will confess us before His Father, if we live according to His will, and confess Him in this life.  But He won’t confess us before His Father if we do not live in such a way.  For those people who do not live in such a way are reserved the words, "I don’t know you.  I don’t know who you are.  You have no part with Me.  You haven’t become like Me.  Go away.  Go unto outer darkness."  Those words are reserved for those people who confess with their lips but not with the way they live, not with their priorities. 

Now there are other practical things.  In our modern society we are constantly in social situations.  Are you afraid to make the sign of the cross before you have your dinner in a restaurant?  If this is the case, you should weep and lament and pound your breast and ask God’s forgiveness for this, and do it the next time.  Are you afraid among your friends or among your business associates or whomever else you come across in your daily walk of life to show your priorities and the Christian way of thinking, or do you change your priorities based upon the vicissitudes of your life, maybe so you are not in trouble, or so nobody thinks badly of you, or maybe just so that you are not inconvenienced?  This is not confessing Christ, either. 

This is confessing the Devil, because this is the way the Devil wants us to live.  The Devil is perfectly happy with lipservice to Christianity; he loves that. In fact, I think he prefers it to out and out paganism, because what does our Lord say to those in the church of Laodicea, in Revelations? 

"Thou art lukewarm, and I will spit thee out of my mouth." 

No, brothers and sisters, we are not to be lukewarm.  We have fire within us.  The Holy Spirit warms us.  That fire should burn things, not burn us; it should burn the sins within us, and it should glow. There should be a light.  People should see it. 

I am convinced there are two main  reasons our churches are not full - one is the world is very, very evil, and people are not interested in a Christian way of life.  They are interested in Christian lipservice, but not in actually ordering their lives completely according to Christ.  That’s part of it.  But another part of it is, we don’t shine.  We don’t profess Christ in very aspect of how we live, how we think, how we prioritize.  Every single person in our workplace should notice something about us, or think we’re different.  Some may hate us because it - absolutely and positively.  Some hated Christ.  But there was no one that encountered Christ that did not notice something about Him, that did not have to come to a decision because of Him.  So should it be with us. 

We must confess Christ before men.  Don’t live your life according to the priorities of the world.  Don’t let anything get in the way of an all-out assault on your passions, and an all-out desire to follow the commandments.  We have this cloud of witnesses. Look what they did: through faith they subdued kingdoms, they wrought righteousness, they obtained promises, they stopped the mouths of lions, they were sawn asunder, they wandered about in sheep skins and in goat skins.  The world was not even worthy of them.  All of these things were struggles.  None of these things that I just mentioned are pleasant.  All of them were difficult trials.  The Christian life is indeed a trial, a difficulty, it is an arena, it is a life-or-death struggle. 

If this causes your heart to contract and be afraid, then you must beg the Holy Spirit to indwell in you more, and be joyful on this day that so many have entered into the kingdom of heaven, so many have endured struggles, and pain, and grief, and endured to the end, and come to the kingdom of heaven. 

And they are all examples for us, all around.  And they are poof that the resurrection is real.  The resurrection is true.  And it changes a man.  This news is the best news that can be said.  There is nothing greater.  The resurrection changes us!   Now our life sometimes is filled with bitterness and difficulty.  Some of it is from without, brought on by those whom we know, or whom we don’t know.  Some of it is from within, from our own sinfulness, our lack of belief, our lack of constancy, our lack of good priorities.  But regardless, life is struggle.  Everyone understands this.  But God has given us the tools to endure in the struggle. 

God has given us everything we need, and on this day we celebrate the whole panoply of saints that have endured to the end, as an example to us, but also - we must understand, and we must be able to have these two thoughts together at the same time - also as a reproach against us.  They are both a reproach against us, and also an encouragement to us, both at the same time, because they’ve all endured.  They’re made of the same stuff as we are.  They had the same difficulties with sins that we have.  They were given the same grace that we have been given, the same truth, the same God, the same Holy Spirit.  But they fought the good fight, and endured; they finished the course. 

And now we ask their intercessions before God, for our sinful selves.  We can attain; we must attain some measure of what they have attained.  We are called to perfection.  Christianity is not just a belief system, or membership; it is the continual, extreme change of a man.  And this is good news.  There is so much wrong with us, so much incomplete, so much that hurts, so much that is imperfect, so much that we don’t know, so much that makes us sad; all of that God will change.  No sadness, no incompleteness, no sickness, no bad thoughts, nothing whatsoever that causes our faces to be downcast, but instead all light. 

This is what God wants to give us.  We must live our life according to this promise, aim for this promise, and struggle for this promise.  Then we will truly be called friend by our Lord.  He will call us friend, and we will be able to cry, "Abba, Father."  Such incredible intimacy with God!  The saints obtained it.  And we can attain it.  But only by struggle, only by confessing Christ, only by living according to His commandments. 

In the middle of today’s reading it says,

"He that taketh not up his cross and followeth after me, the same is not worthy of Me." 

We must struggle according to what He has told us to do.  I am continually struck by the lives of the saints, and by the writings of the fathers, by how these two thoughts - our depravity and God’s great mercy - are welded into one.  On almost every page of the Scriptures this knowledge of the condition of man, which is deplorable, and the promise of what man will become, is present.  And we see it in the saints.  We see their righteousness, how God brought them home.  We also see their struggles, and we should compare their struggles to our own, and mix always the knowledge of what God has predestined for us with the knowledge of what kind of person we are.  They always must be mixed together.  And then we will struggle. 

The Gospel and Epistle

{Heb 11:33}  Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, {34} Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. {35} Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: {36} And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: {37} They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; {38} (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. {39} And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: {40} God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. {Heb 12:1-2}  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, {2} Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

{Mat 10:32}  "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. {33} But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. {10:37} "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. {38} And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me." {19:27} Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore? {28} And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. {29} And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. {30} But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first."

Priest Seraphim Holland 2000.     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-01_2000+sunday-of-all-saints.html

http://www.orthodox.net/sermons/pentecost-sunday-01_2000+sunday-of-all-saints.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