The Beautiful Mercy of Christ

St. Ephrem the Syrian  (4^th Century) writes a wonderful poem in which among many other things he meditates on Luke 8:26-39, the Gerasene demoniac named Legion.  Ephrem is encouraged by the fact that Christ grants Legion’s request to be allowed to go into the swine.  First, Christ grants the prayer of a demon, so surely He will listen to the prayers of Christians.  Second, the demon asked to go into the herd of swine, surely Jesus will much more joyfully grant the request of those seeking with their whole hearts entrance into heaven.   

            Look too at Legion:

                                    when in anguish he begged,

                        our Lord permitted and allowed him

                                    to enter into the herd;

                        respite did he ask for, without deception,

                                    in his anguish,

                        and our Lord in His kindness

                                    granted this request.

                        His compassion for demons

                                    is a rebuke to that People,

                        showing how much anguish His love suffers

                                   in desiring that men and women should live.

 

                        Encouraged by the words

                                    I had heard,

                        I knelt down and wept there,

                                    and spoke before our Lord:

                        “Legion received his request from You

                                    without any tears;

                        permit me, with my tears,

                                    to make my request,

                        grant me to enter, instead of that herd,

                                    the Garden,

                        so that in Paradise I may sing

                                    of its Planter’s compassion.”

Facing God’s Final Judgment

Giotto's Last Judgment (1305AD)

Among certain Christian groups, (especially apocalyptic, end times and sectarian traditionalists), it is addictively popular to conjure up images of the Last Judgment with sinners and unbelievers being subject to eternally excruciating tortures as they pay for their sins; all this despite proclaiming that Christ died for our sins and paid the price on the cross that God should be exacting from sinners.   As St. Paul wrote:

 “While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. …  But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us”  (Romans 5:6-8 RSV).

Paul’s words seem to mean not so much that Christ died in place of us (a substitution) but that He died on our behalf in order to spare us all from the coming judgment of God. 

St. Matthew in his Gospel offers us a few other images about the Last Judgment which certainly put the basis for God’s judgment against humanity in terms very different than sin and unbelief.

First there is the rather well known imagery of the Last Judgment Parable in Matthew 25:31-46 in which the sheep and goats are separated before being judged.  In this parable however it is not sin which leads to condemnation by the Judge, but the failure of people to minister to the least of Christ’s brothers and sisters – the failure to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, provide shelter for the homeless, or to visit the sick and imprisoned.   The judgment is not based upon committing sin but rather upon omitting acts of charity and ministry when they were in the power of people to do so.   Righteousness in the parable is equated not with sinlessness, nor even with repentance, but rather with compassion, charity, kindness, mercy and ministry. 

Another imagine of the Last Judgment can be found in Matthew 18:23-35, the Parable of the unforgiving servant.  The king forgives the debt of a servant who owes him a fortune so large it could not possible be repaid, but then the forgiven servant refuses to forgive the debt of a fellow servant who owed him a significant but certainly repayable amount of money.   St. Matthew wrote:

At that time, Jesus said to Peter, “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. … Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you   besought me; and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his lord delivered him to the jailers, till he should pay all his debt. So also my    heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

The king’s final judgment of the servant is clearly based upon the servant’s willingness or unwillingness to forgive  his fellow servant.  The image is one of the servant being forgiven by his Lord and King (not his equal!) but his own unwillingness to forgive his fellow servant (his equal).   Christ concludes the parable saying God will not forgive us at the Last Judgment if we are unforgiving and unmerciful.  It is not sin and unbelief that will cause the judgment but our willingness (or unwillingness) to forgive and be merciful.

These two parables in Matthew’s Gospel give us additional insight into God’s final judgment and move that judgment away from simply being about condemning sinners.  God in Christianity is not the enforcer of karma, but is Lord of the universe and can lay aside justice in an act of love, forgiveness and mercy, which He demonstrated His willingness to do by sending His Son into the world to die on the cross for us.  This is an act of God’s love for us and His desire to overcome death and our own sinfulness.

The failure to forgive, the failure to be merciful, the failure to be charitable and compassionate:  these are the failures that bring about God’s judgment and wrath according to Jesus Christ our Lord.   Images of God venting justice and revenge on sinners and unbelievers do not reveal the full picture of God’s Last Judgment, nor are they faithful to the images Christ gave to us through His own teachings.   To have such a narrow view of vengeful God is to risk falling under the same condemnation as Job’s “friends” (Job 42:7-8) who were so certain that God’s judgments are always just and who end up condemning rather than comforting God’s servant only to find themselves condemned by God.

Forgiving as Giving

There is no Christian who cannot be a minister of the Gospel.   It is always in our power to give to others, even when we have no material gifts to give, we can minister to others spiritually.    Sixth Century St. Dorotheos of Gaza said:

For even if you cannot give as the rich gave their gifts into the temple treasury, give two farthings as the poor widow did, and from you God will consider it a greater gift than the gifts of the rich.  And if you do not have as much as two farthings?  You still have power to give alms, you can take pity on the sick and give alms by ministering to them.  And if you cannot do even this?  You can comfort your brother by your words.  Express your pity for him in words and take heed of the one who said, ‘A good word is better than the best of gifts.’  Suppose you cannot even help him by words; you can still, even when he is incensed against you, take pity on him and bear with him in the time of his fury, seeing that he is being dealt with spitefully by the common enemy and, instead of making a sharp remark and adding to his fury, keep silent and so have pity on him and his soul, thus dragging him away from the enemy.  Even if he offends against you, you can have mercy on him and forgive his offence against you, so that you may receive forgiveness from God.  For it says, ‘Forgive and it shall be forgiven you.’  And you shall be found to have mercy on your brother’s soul by pardoning him his offence against you.  God made us a gift of the power, if we wish to use it, or forgiving one another the sins committed against us, so that if we do not have the means of coming to the aid of their bodies, we may come to the aid of their souls.

(The icon of St. Juliana the Merciful is from St. Paul the Apostle Church, Dayton, OH)

The Last Judgment: What Did you Give to Others?

Gospel Lesson of the Last Judgment (Matthew 25:31-46)

 Mother Maria Skobtsova wrote: 

The way to God lies through love of people. At the Last Judgment I shall not be asked whether I was successful in my ascetic exercises, nor how many bows and prostrations I made. Instead I shall be asked, did I feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and the prisoners. That is all I shall be asked. About every poor, hungry and imprisoned person the Savior says “I”: “I was hungry, and thirsty, I was sick and in prison.” To think that he puts and equal sign between himself and anyone in need…I always knew it, but now it has somehow penetrated to my sinews. It fills me with awe.  

Michael Plekon, in Living Icons wrote:

“Father Lev concludes the retreat on the burning bush, which I have closely followed here, with the incident toward the end of the apostle Paul’s adventures during his journey as a prisoner to stand trial in Rome, toward the end of the Acts of the Apostles, 28. The soaked, shivering survivors of the shipwreck are received with ‘great kindness’ by the barbarian inhabitants of the island of Malta. A huge fire is made so that they can warm and dry themselves. Moreover, the Maltese take the survivors back to their homes, after the emergency services are delivered, for food, rest, and other care. If we are truly servant of the Lord Love, Father Lev says by way of conclusion, then like the residents of Malta, we too will seek out the survivors wherever they may be, drenched and paralyzed by rain and cold, bringing them fire, the fire of our love, the fire of the burning bush, of Limitless Love.”

Pascha as our Judgment Day

Meatfare Sunday 2009

The Gospel Lesson of the Last Judgment (Matthew 25:31-46) offers us some thoughts about how to end up on God’s good side on the Day of Judgment.  

Take note in this parable of Jesus that the Kingdom of God was prepared “from the foundation of the world” for those who show mercy, kindness and charity.  In other words before any human had done anything, God had prepared a Kingdom for all humans.  To get to that Kingdom required only that you be merciful and charitable. 

Note also in the parable that the eternal fire was prepared for the devil and his angels, not for humans.  God did not intend humans to end up in the eternal fire, but humans could through their own choices and behavior end up there.  The Last Judgment in Christ’s parable is God allowing humans to choose their final destination based on their own choices and actions.

The Great Lenten Journey we are about to embark on is the road to the Kingdom of God.   Great Lent is the road map to help us arrive at the good destination – Pascha and the Kingdom of God.   So how do we use Great Lent to get to the Kingdom?

Christ taught us to care for Him.  How do we do this?  By taking care of whom He called the least among the members of His family;  whenever we do these acts of charity to one of the least members of the Christian family we do it for Christ.

 We should take today’s Gospel Lesson and figure out how to live it each week of Great Lent.   Even if we did but one of the acts of mercy that Christ speaks about per week, there are plenty of weeks in Great Lent to accomplish them all.  So here is a check list for Great Lent:

____ Fed the hungry Christ     When & how accomplished?

____ Gave drink to the thirsty Christ    When & how accomplished?

____ Welcomed the stranger Christ     When & how accomplished?

____ Clothed the naked Christ     When & how accomplished?

____ Cared for the sick Christ     When & how accomplished?

____ Visited the prisoner Christ     When & how accomplished?

 

Pascha, the day without end, is also our Judgment Day – the day on which we enter into God’s Kingdom.  On that Day the Lord is not going to ask about what we ate during Lent, nor how many services we attended.   He is going to sort us out by whether we did the deeds of mercy to the least of His family members which he enumerated in today’s Gospel Lesson.  Fasting is a good discipline as it teaches us to stop paying attention to our wants, desires and passions and start paying attention to the least of Christ’s brothers and sisters.  The arrival at Pascha and the Kingdom will be a joyous celebration, not so much because we have avoided certain foods for 7 weeks, but because we indeed followed the discipline in order to figure out how to minister to Christ.

Giving A Glass of Water – Receiving the Kingdom of God

St. Peter of Damaskos (12th Century) asks,

“What can be simpler than giving a glass of cold water or a piece of bread, or than refraining from one’s own desires and petty thoughts.  Yet through such things the kingdom of heaven is offered to us, by the grace of Him who said, ‘Behold, the kingdom of heaven is within you.’  For, as St. John of Damaskos says, the kingdom of heaven is not far away, not outside us, but within us.  Simply choose to overcome the passions, and you will possess it within you because you live in accordance with the will of God.”

In the Icon:  The acts of mercy from Matthew 25 – note each act is being done to Christ for when you do it to the least of His brothers and sisters  you do it to Him.

Top Tier:      feeding the hungry, giving a drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked

Lower Tier: Welcoming the stranger, visiting the sick, visiting someone in prison.

The Kingdom of Heaven is found in acts such as these.  Doing these things will bring you close to God’s Kingdom and mercy.

Being the Good Samaritan to those We have Hurt

Sermon Notes  2008:  The Parable of the Good Samaritan  (Luke 10:25-37 ), 

Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, it is obvious that a literal reading of the story would say, “if you come upon a suffering human, take care of them.”  It doesn’t matter how they got into their condition – the story doesn’t moralize about whether or not the man should have been going down to Jericho, on that particular road or at that particular time, nor does it question the man’s wisdom or intentions.  The man was a victim, and only the Samaritan showed any sign of humanness or compassion – the very religious types in the parable refuse to show the slightest compassion or empathy for the victim.

And for us “religious types” today we can readily identify with the Samaritan, the hero of the story, but also with the victim  whom we have empathy for if not a belief that we have been victimized a few times ourselves and watched others pass us by.

One of the great things about the parables of Jesus is that they allow us to experience the story from many different angles.  We can think about the Gospel lesson from a variety of perspectives which deepens the parable and opens our hearts and minds to work of the Holy Spirit.

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, we can imagine or perhaps even remember times when we were victimized by someone – if not physically, emotionally or verbally or spiritually – and we can recall what it is like to be ignored or judged or blamed by others.   Our own suffering makes it possible for us to empathize with the suffering of others and to want to reach out to such victims.   We might remember the pain of suffering alone or the embarrassment of having become a victim and feeling no one understands.  

And if we are introverted or analytical type people who normally hide our emotions, we may have been weeping inconsolably within our hearts, and wondering why others walk by seeing we have been wounded but don’t stop to ask us about our pain.

But the parable also invites us to take a look at one other role we can play in the parable.  We can be the ones who inflict pain on others – we can rob them of their innocence, their hope, their trust, their faith, their self esteem, their sanity, their sanctity, their vitality, and/or their health.   We don’t have to be robbers or thieves in the legal sense.  We can be abusive, overbearing, unjust, selfish, self centered, controlling, adulterers, disrespectful, liars, quarrelsome, enraged, outrageous, withdrawn, hateful, cold hearted, indifferent, mean, drunkards, addicts, lacking self control, profligates, excessive, promiscuous, self indulgent.  In all and in any of those things, we can leave a multitude of victims in our wake, lying on the side of the road, half dead or wishing they were dead.

And if we are to follow Christ (remember Matthew 28:20 – teaching them to observe all I have commanded you) we have to remember the good Samaritan parable and say, it is not only the victims of others that we can tend to or minister to or care for – we can take a walk down the path of our lives and find the victims of our own behaviors and tend to them.  Yes, it means acknowledging the wrongs we have done and recognizing others as victims of our own abuses.

Like the Levite and the priest in the parable, we can rush by on the other side of the road, hurrying to what is important to us, or we can be the good Samaritan and stop and take care of those we have hurt and help them get to a place where others can care for them.  And this means it may cost us something more than a little time – they may have wounds that we have to pay to have mended.  There is a price to be paid to be a good Samaritan, to do the work Christ has commanded us to do.

And it also means following up and coming back to where we left the victims of our excesses and abuse and seeing what more we can do to restore them to health.   This is what it means to do all that Christ commanded us.

Too often we reduce obeying Christ to obeying some strict moral prohibitions.  But more than (rather than?) a law giver, Christ was a teacher of love.  He used parables to present his commandment, not legal and imperial decrees.  He was critical of reducing religion to ritual purity, and instead offered us wisdom as the way to learning to be merciful and to loving one another.

Do Unto Others as You Want Them to Do to You

Sermon notes from September 29, 1991″And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.” (Luke 6:31)

Even sinners, atheists, non-believers, the greedy, perverts, etc, might behave decently toward others like themselves. You don’t have to be an Orthodox Christian to do this. You don’t become an Orthodox Christian to do this. You can behave this way even if you never come to Church.

We are the disciples of the Master, Jesus. He not only taught us to go far beyond the decency of the world, He demonstrated by His way of life how we are to live. Jesus not only loved his disciples, He loved and forgave those who crucified Him, He loved and forgave the thief on the cross, He loved and forgave Peter who denied Him, and Judas who betrayed Him. God is truly good even to the ungrateful and to the wicked.

Bottom line is mercy – being merciful.

Being merciful is part of God’s wisdom as versus the wisdom of the world, which empasizes competition, getting ahead, looking out for yourself.

Mercy is a readiness to do good and to forgive. Mercy is not just a one time act, it is a way of life.

Mercy means help, love, consideration of the other’s need

Because God loves us, we are to be merciful.

Let us look at some writing of the early church fathers about this way of life which encompasses mercy. The early Christians formed INTENTIONAL Christian communities – communities which were wholly devoted to the Christian way of life.

Abba Anthony said, “A man’s life or death comes from his neighbor; if we benefit our brother, we benefit ourselves, but if we offend him, we sin against God.”

Jesus taught us a way of life, it involves loving one another, washing each other’s feet, doing to others as you would have them do to you, being merciful to others, the Good Samaritan, bearing the burdens of others, the exchange of the kiss of peace in Liturgy. Look around you, your salvation is in your neighbor and how you treat them. For this is the basis on which God is going to Judge you.

There is a story from the desert fathers of an old monk, who worked hard by weaving baskets. A young monk asks to become his disciple and throughout his life steals from the old monk. So the old man is forced to work harder. He knows who the thief is. In humility, in mercy, because of self-sacrifice and the Cross, he says nothing to the monk. The old monk is on his death bed and the community assembles around him as death approaches. The old man calls for the young monk. The monk comes forward fearing he will be exposed and the community which also knows of the young man’s misdeeds awaits his just criticism. Instead, the dying monk kisses the hand of his thieving young disciple and says, “you will be my salvation.”
“What?” we might ask. Why would the thief be the saintly and patient old man’s salvation? Isn’t it going to be the other way around – the saint will save the sinner?
The story’s moral though is that the old man treated the young monk the way the elder wanted to be treated and judged by God – with patience, with love, in mercy.  He did to another what he hoped would be done to him: he showed him mercy.

A last story from the desert fathers:
Young monk, asks: “If a brother asks me to do something for him purely out of love, and I am really inconvenienced by it, should I do it?”
The Elder answers, ” If you can do it without getting angry or demanding repayment, do it. God will accept it as a sacrifice from you. But if you are going to be angry, bear a grudge, or demand a favor in return, don’t do it. There is no advantage to you in that. If you decide to do it, take heed, your soul, your eternal life is on the line.

The fathers were eminently practical. The Christian way is hard, but it is not impossible. Do everything in love, with mercy, treating others with respect, as you would want them to treat you.

Christians: Merciful or Mercenaries?

If we obey in order to attain heaven, we are nothing but mercenaries; bounty hunters collecting our reward.   If we obey God only to avoid punishment and hell, we are nothing but fearful slaves.  God wants us to be loving children, with whom He can share His life and who are willing to share His love.

Christians have no problem believing about themselves:  ”if Christ came to my home, I would honor and welcome him.” And no doubt would do it knowing that the Lord does so much more for us, He is powerful and saving, and to serve Him in the end is to my benefit.

But what if Christ comes to our house, and it was obvious that he was powerless – homeless, hungry, terminally ill, crippled, begging, or suffering from a debilitating disease like MS?

Would I be so eager to minister to Him? Would I be eager to serve and minister to one who was weak, blind, lame, less powerful than I am? Would I gladly give my time and effort to one who is dependent on me and will take more of my time and energy away from me?    

That is what Christ asks us to do – to the least of His brothers and sisters.  If Christ comes to me and is debilitated, will I love him and be awed by him? Will I worship Him as king? If he is not beautiful to look at, but is repulsive, would I embrace Him?  (Isaiah 53)

If there is no obvious chance of reward, would I be so eager to serve Jesus? 

I think about the strange story of Balaam from Numbers 22-24. Balak offers Balaam a huge sum of money to consult with God and then to curse the Israelites. God tells Balaam to go ahead and do what Balak requests, but then along the way God sends His angel to confront Balaam and is angry with Balaam. The angel of the Lord speaks to Balaam through his donkey. The story is strange because God told Balaam to go with Balak but then is angry with Balaam for going and threatens to kill Balaam.

Why is God angry with Balaam for doing what God told Balaam to do?   I think it has to do with Balak’s offer of a huge sum of money to Balaam. Balaam is told by God, go with Balak. Balaam is no doubt thinking, this is great, not only will I do what God wants but I’m going to get rich for doing it! But God confronts Balaam in his thinking – you are to go with Balak, and you are to tell him what I say to you, but you have mixed motives, you want the money. God is warning Balaam, don’t do my will in order to get rich. As it turns out Balaam does obey God. Balaam goes and tells Balak what God has said. This angers Balak because its not what he wants to hear; in the end Balak refuses to pay Balaam a penny.

Balaam does what God wants and speaks exactly what God tells him to speak.  Balaam actually did what Balak wanted him to do, but Balak is not happy with Balaam for speaking God’s word, rather than saying what Balak wanted him to say and was paying him to say.  Balaam gets nothing for his efforts, though he did God’s will.  There is no reward for him. 

So each Christian must ask him or her self:  Am I so willing to obey God even if I get nothing in return? Am I so willing to love Christ even if He comes to me weak, powerless, released from prison, mentally retarded, downtrodden, disease ridden, begging for money or disabled by MS?

Bearing with the Failings of the Weak

Sermon Notes for the 7^th Sunday after Pentecost   July 21, 1996

“We who are strong ought to put up with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.  Each of us must please our neighbor for the good purpose of building up the neighbor.  For Christ did not please himself; but, as it is written, “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”    ….    May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  (Romans 15:1-7)

In Sigrid Undset’s wonderful trilogy THE MASTER OF HESTVIKEN (VOL 1 THE AXE), Olav had committed himself to marry Ingunn but found she came along with a lot of old baggage and problems, including health problems, some mental health frailties and an illegitimate son. Olav thought his happiness and his love were all that mattered, but he came to a spiritual realization, that the love and happiness which he felt with Ingunn were not the real or even the most important issues; what really mattered was that his commitment to her meant he was going to have to bear with her problems, and to help carry her through them.  Undset wrote in the story:

“Now it was revealed to him that what had happened when he had taken her in his arms, plucked her flower, and breathed its sweetness and its scent, was only something that had chanced by the way.   But what really mattered, when it came to the point, was that she had been placed in his arms in order that he might carry her through everything, take the burden from her and defend her.  That was to be his happiness, the other was no more than passing joys.”