Ephesians 5:8-19
Luke 8:41-56
It is hard to learn how to do anything
without a good example of how to do it. Teachers, coaches, managers, and others
who give us assignments often have to model how to do what they ask of us. Without clear examples, most of us will not
succeed in getting the job done. That is why it is so important for us to study
the lives of the saints, the great examples of what it means for Christians to
live holy lives.
Today in the Orthodox Church we
commemorate St. Nektarius of Pentapolis the Wonderworker, who exemplifies St.
Paul’s advice to the Ephesians to “walk as children of light” and to do “what
is pleasing the Lord” with purity in the midst of a corrupt world that is so
full of darkness and temptation. St. Nektarius
was a Greek born in the middle of the 19th
century. He became a monk, a priest, and
ultimately a metropolitan. Despite
Nektarius’ childlike innocence and
humility, his rapid rise to prominence in the Church roused the jealousy of
others who were not so virtuous. They
made false accusations against him, which resulted in his losing his position
and being unable to find suitable work.
So he accepted the humble place of a provincial preacher, led a theological
school, and gave generously to the needy even as he lived in poverty. He oversaw the building of a women’s
monastery, provided spiritual direction
to many, and devoted himself to intense prayer during which he was sometimes
seen elevated above the ground. His
personal holiness was such that his prayers healed the sick, cast out demons,
and ended a drought. The saint’s enemies continued to circulate
vicious rumors about him, but Nektarius never defended himself and instead simply
forgave them. His relics were found to
be incorrupt after his death, and sicknesses of all kinds—especially cancer--
have been healed through his intercessions.
We certainly ask righteous people we
know today to pray for us because we trust that God will hear their
prayers. That is a good and ancient
practice. In the same way, asking for
the prayers of saints such as St. Nektarius is an intrinsic part of the
Christian life. The word saint means
“holy” and the saints are those in whose lives the holiness of God is
powerfully evident. They are now part
of that great cloud of witnesses that inspires us to run the race in obedience
to Jesus Christ. (Heb. 12:-1-2) As
described in the Book of Revelation, they intercede for us around the heavenly
throne.
Our bodies are temples of the Holy
Spirit, and the saints’ physical remains or relics are often incorrupt or
preserved from decay. Their bodies
manifest the holiness evident in their lives, which is why the bones of the
prophet Elisha raised a dead man in the Old Testament. (2 Kings 13:21) Handkerchiefs and aprons that
had touched St. Paul healed the sick and cast out demons in Acts. (19:12) Remember
that Jesus Christ rose from the dead with a glorified body. Our hope for life eternal is the resurrection
of the whole person—body, soul, and spirit.
So it should not be surprising that the physical bodies of holy people
are often conduits of our Lord’s blessing to the rest of us who also have
physical bodies. That has been the
experience of the Church since the very beginning of the faith.
To remember and honor the saints, as
well as to ask for their intercessions, is ultimately to give thanks and praise
to God, for their great virtues are His gifts.
If we want evidence of the truth of the Gospel , of our hope to
participate personally in the holiness and eternal life of our Lord, we should
look to the saints, whose lives are truly living icons of His salvation. They are like our hall of fame, the greatest
examples of what it means to be fully open and receptive to God’s presence and
power in our lives. Like the Thetotokos,
the greatest of the saints, they always point to Christ, inviting us to give
ourselves to Him. As we say so often in
our services, “Calling to remembrance our all holy, immaculate, most blessed
and glorious Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary with all the saints, let us
commend ourselves and one another and all our life unto Christ our God.” The saints are certainly not distractions
from faithfulness to the Lord. The very
opposite is true, as they inspire us by their examples and prayers to take up
our crosses and follow Him, even as they did.
We need that inspiration because, as
St. Paul reminded the Ephesians, it is so easy to be spiritually asleep. It is so easy to fail to be alert to the
temptations all around us and especially that we have allowed to take root in
our hearts due to our own laziness. Even
as the person who has drunk too much wine tends to let his guard down and find
it hard to control himself, we too easily become drunk with our own passions or
self-centered desires. We too often
think, act, and speak foolishly, participating in “the unfruitful works of
darkness” because they are popular, appealing, and all too familiar.
If we define a good life by what is celebrated
in popular culture--in movies, television, music, the internet, advertisements,
or what most think of as the “conventional wisdom”—we will be lulled into
thinking that we are doing just fine spiritually no matter we believe or how we
live. If we pay too much attention to
popular versions of religion in our culture, we will hold ourselves to no
higher standard than whatever makes us momentarily happy or serves whatever
political agenda we may like. If we fill
our minds with graphic images of sex and violence in the name of entertainment,
we will no longer consider a life of purity to be desirable or even possible. The more comfortable we become with gratifying
every desire, the more we will excuse ourselves from pursuing holiness in the
relationship between man and woman as though that is somehow outdated and irrelevant.
That is
precisely why we need to remember the saints, not as distant historical
figures, but as fellow members of the Body of Christ, as our friends and
personal examples, as holy people for whose prayers we ask every day of our
lives. If we hold ourselves to the
standard that they set in faithful service to Jesus Christ, we will be less
inclined to let ourselves off the hook by having expectations no higher than
those of our darkened and corrupt world.
When they become our spiritual companions, we will be less likely to
think of ours as a lonely and impossible path.
Every temptation we face, they faced.
Every virtue we seek to cultivate, they developed in their own
lives. Every pain or difficulty that we
encounter, they know. They are examples
of how to live faithfully in a world where there is nothing new under the sun.
We should commemorate
St. Nektarius of Pentapolis the Wonderworker by living as he did in
faithfulness to our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ. Let us wake up
spiritually and “walk as children of light,” refusing to conform ourselves to
the darkness and instead keeping our eyes on the prize of finishing the
race. The saints have shown us how to do
that and now they cheer us on to victory through their intercessions. As Orthodox Christians, we must take full
advantage of their example, their intercession, and their companionship. They are shining lights of what it means to be
truly human in Jesus Christ and they invite us to join them. By God’s grace, we can. The only question is whether we will choose
to do so.
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