In addition, His Eminence
Metropolitan PHILIP has urged us to ask our senators and congressman to oppose
authorizing a military strike on Syria, which is the home of our Antiochian
Orthodox Church. His Beatitude Patriarch JOHN X requests that we take up a
special collection next Sunday for the “Antiochian Day of Solidarity” which will
go toward humanitarian relief in Syria. And today we resume Christian Education
classes after our summer recess.
Yes, that seems like a lot, but it
is not that much different from life as usual in the world as we know it. The situation in Syria is certainly terrible
and we should all pray, give generously, and do whatever else we can to ease the
burdens there of everyone.
Unfortunately, the innocent have suffered ever since Cain murdered his
brother Abel. The bloodshed and misery of
wars and exiles described throughout the Old Testament are well known. Wicked King Herod tried unsuccessfully to
kill the infant Jesus, but then succeeded in slaughtering thousands of young
boys in the region of Bethlehem. The
Church has survived centuries of persecution in various times and places; there
are still martyrs who die for their faith to this day in Syria, Egypt, and many
other countries.
It is tempting to think that worldly
power is the solution to such difficult situations. But as anyone who has studied history even a
bit knows, one war often sows the seeds that lead to the next and none of it is
holy. Regardless of who has a better claim to being justified in killing, the
blood of the victims cries out from generation to generation, often inspiring revenge
and vengeance. No matter the details, “the wages of sin is death” and the spiritual
damage of taking life under any circumstances is profound. When we “cry havoc
and let slip the dogs of war,” all hell is liable to break loose in ways that
no one is able to control, whether in the soul of one person or the collective life of
the world. For example, our nation is
only beginning to come to grips with the psychological, spiritual, and moral
trauma endured by so many of our veterans in the last decade.
Perhaps that sober recognition will
help us see how important it is that God did not save the world through a
conquering king or a powerful army, but through a Suffering Servant Who hung on
a cross at the hands of the most powerful empire on earth. He defeated the powers of sin and death not
by shedding the blood of others, but by allowing His own blood to be shed. Purely out of love, Jesus Christ entered
fully into horrific torture and the black night of the grave as one of the
world’s countless victims and then rose victorious, bringing all the departed
with Him. Our hope is in our crucified
and risen Lord, in the selfless, forgiving, humble way of the cross that
remains a scandal to the rulers of this age.
Unfortunately, there are times when
the use of deadly force to protect the innocent is a tragic necessity in our
fallen world. But even then, the Church provides
spiritual therapy for the healing of the soul of those who have blood on their
hands for whatever reason. Whether
through movies, television, video games, a sensationalistic news media, or our
own passions, we have become desensitized to the profound gravity of using
violence against those created in the image and likeness of God. Much of our entertainment and news has become
a celebration of graphic violence and almost another form of pornography, a way
of taking perverse pleasure in the horrible distortion of what it means to be a
human being called to a life of holiness.
We do not have to be vampires or zombies in order to lust for blood,
especially the blood of those we feel justified in hating.
The way of Jesus Christ is, however,
totally different. And it should not be
surprising that He took His humanity from a mother who was not corrupted by the
ways of the world. Today we celebrate
her birthday, when the infant Mary was born to the old, righteous, and barren
couple Sts. Joachim and Anna. They
prayed for a child whom they dedicated to the Lord. Mary grew up in the Temple in prayer and
purity. And when she could no longer
remain there, St. Joseph was chosen as her guardian. Then she became the Theotokos, the virgin
mother of our Savior, and had the unique and amazing role of giving human life
to the incarnate Son of God. She did not
abandon Him, even at the foot of His cross.
In every war-torn country, there are
old people who like Sts. Joachim and Anna have hope only in God. There are completely vulnerable babies and
young girls whose lives and safety are at risk in ways too numerable to count
and often too horrible to describe. The
brokenness of life in our corrupt world is such that civilians--such the old
and the young--are often among the most vulnerable victims of war. Sts. Joachim, Anna, and their daughter lived
in a time of Roman occupation and the threat of terrible violence against
anyone who dared challenge the powers that be.
That is why the Romans crucified traitors and rebels, which is what they
did to Jesus Christ.
The Roman Empire eventually fell
apart in both the West and the East.
Such will be the fate of all the kingdoms and nations of the world,
including our own, no matter what weapons we have. As much as we love our
country, we know that it is not the Kingdom of God or “the life of the world to
come.” Like Sts. Joachim, Anna, and the
Theotokos, we are called to embody the ways of the heavenly Kingdom even as we
live amidst the broken realities of earthly kingdoms. We cannot pretend as though we have escaped
the dynamics of this life or that the world will somehow become a perfect place
if we simply call for peace or advocate for other high minded ideals. Instead, we must humbly do what we can in
order to become livings icon of God’s salvation in a world where people hate
and disregard one another and look for their salvation just about anyplace else
than the cross of Christ.
For example, we all have room to
grow in showing the love and mercy of the Lord in our own families,
friendships, workplaces, schools, and other familiar settings. We all have ways of thinking, speaking, and
acting that need to be purified and redirected according to the ways of God’s
Kingdom. We all need to take up our
crosses and die to self in how we relate to those whom we view as enemies in
our personal lives. If we want peace and
reconciliation in the world at large, we must begin with our little bit of the
world, with our own souls and the neighbors we encounter on a daily basis.
In addition, we must give as
generously as we can in efforts to relieve the suffering of refugees and other
victims of the civil war in Syria. I
know that our parish has already been remarkably generous in earlier drives to
raise funds. But now our Patriarch, who
lives in the midst of this crisis in Damascus, has asked us to open our hearts
again to our suffering brothers and sisters.
So if you are at all able to share from what God has given you to bless
those who have lost everything in this cruel conflict, I hope that you will put
an offering in the collection plate for Syria either today or next Sunday. And regardless of whether you can donate, pray
intensely for those who suffer there.
Heeding the call of our Metropolitan,
we should also urge our government to refrain from taking steps that will only make a
bad situation worse—and instead do what it can to help refugees, promote stability
and reconciliation, and protect Christians and other vulnerable groups from persecution.
None of this is about conventional
politics between groups that compete for power.
All of it is about living out the selfless love shown on the cross by Jesus
Christ. Like Sts. Joachim and Anna, as well as the Theotokos, let us look to
Him as our only hope. Let us play our
small role in making His life present in a world that desperately needs
forgiveness and peace, for we have already had more than enough vengeance, contempt,
and the shedding of blood. Our Lord has
already conquered death; let us live accordingly.
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