That is surely why He sets the bar so
high for His disciples. He did not “come
to abolish the law and the prophets” of the Old Testament, “but to fulfill
them.” So those who “shall be called
great in the Kingdom of Heaven” are those who obey the commandments and teach
others to do so. And, likewise, those
who relax God’s requirements and teach others to follow their example “shall be
called least in the kingdom of Heaven.”
The Savior wants us to shine with
holiness such that we become the light of the world, illuminating it with goodness
so that all will give glory to God. So
it is not enough to refrain from the physical act of murder; we are to be
healed of the passion of anger, which is at the root of murder. It is not sufficient to avoid the physical
act of adultery or other sexual sins; we are to be free from bondage to lust in
all its forms. It is not enough to limit
our revenge to “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” We are to turn the
other cheek, blessing our enemies with the same love that we have received from
Him. The ultimate goal of these
commandments is nothing short of: “Be perfect as your Father in heaven is
perfect.” If that is who we become in
Christ, imagine what a blessing we would be to the world as living proof of His
salvation. That is a calling much higher
than being merely nice.
Today we remember the 630 holy and
God-bearing fathers of the Fourth Ecumenical Council in Chalcedon in the year
451. They made clear that Christ is
fully God and fully human: one Person
with two natures. They rejected the views of the Monophysites who claimed the
Lord has only one nature, a divine one.
If that were the case, we could not participate in His divine life—for
we are simply humans--and it would be hard to see how Christ’s death and
resurrection had much to do with us. Today’s
commemoration is not simply a reminder about Church history; it is a
proclamation of the Gospel, for Jesus Christ must be both fully God and fully
human in order to bring us into eternal light and life as our Savior.
Indeed, He is the Light, the eternal
Son of God who becomes fully human while remaining fully divine. That is how He makes it possible for us to
shine with His holy glory even as we live and breathe upon the earth as flesh
and blood. He fulfills all the
foreshadowing and preparation of the Law and the Prophets, for God was never
primarily concerned with Old Testament rules about outward behavior or the
sacrifice of animals. Instead, they pointed
the way to the true Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, to the
One who triumphs over sin and death itself.
And now He makes it possible for us to share in His glorious, brilliant
light as partakers of His divinity by grace.
The God-Man Jesus Christ is our
perfection, our salvation, our theosis. He has joined humanity and divinity, has
conquered sin and death, and made us creatures of the earth participants in His
life. Our task is to open the dark corners of our lives to His light, to stop hiding
in the night of sin and instead to do all that we can to become more radiant living
icons of the divine glory. In order
to do that, we must embrace our identity as members of the living Body of
Christ. That means growing in holiness, finding healing for our passions, and
turning away from the darkness as we enter more fully into the light of the
Kingdom. Our goal is nothing short of
perfection, full personal participation in the eternal life of God by grace.
We will not advance toward that high
goal by accommodating ourselves or our faith to whatever strand of popular
culture we happen to like. At the end of
the day, simply being nice and decent by any worldly interpretation falls short
of our high calling. We need the God-Man
to save us, not simply a moral teacher or good example. We must humble
ourselves before Him by refusing to water down our faith into a comfortable cultural
agenda of any kind.
So in a world of addiction to
self-indulgence, we must fast and learn to say “no” to our self-centered
desires for pleasure. In a society of violence,
hatred, and revenge, we must love, forgive, and bless our critics and enemies. In a time of disregard for the weak, helpless,
and inconvenient, we must sacrifice to serve all who bear the divine image and
likeness from the womb to the tomb. In an
age when we are distracted and busy, we must take the time and effort to pray,
to read the Scriptures and the lives of the saints, and to keep a close guard
on our thoughts. And whenever we stumble
on this path, we must do the radically countercultural act of refusing to make
excuses and humbling ourselves by sincere confession and repentance. Above all, we must not compromise the high
vision and calling that our Savior gives us.
As the God-Man, He has shown us how to radiate His light in our darkened
world, and it is surely not by relaxing His commandments. Easier paths may make us nice, but they will
not make us holy.
We must be on guard against everything
that distracts us from following Him, including becoming obsessed with
pointless arguments. In St. Paul’s
letter to St. Titus, he notes that some Christians preferred to spend their
time in foolish, unprofitable, and useless arguments which led to nothing but
division. Apparently, not much has
changed in two thousand years! St. Paul teaches that it is much better to use
such wasted time and energy in actually doing good works, meeting the urgent
needs of people, and bearing fruit for the Kingdom. In other words, it is better to focus on
living the basic Christian life than it is to distract ourselves with what ultimately
amounts to nonsense.
We certainly have a lot of nonsense
in our day. In our age of the internet,
social media, smart phones, video games, and 24-hour television, we probably
have more opportunities for distraction, endless arguments, and inflamed
passions than any other generation in human history. So we must be on guard not to waste our lives
on habits that sap time and energy we could use as fuel to become lamps burning
brightly with the light of Christ. If
we will focus on getting the basic practices of our faith established in our
daily lives, we will find strength for keeping other habits in their proper
place. Unfortunately, too often we put
other things first and then find that we have very little power to focus on
what is really important. If we have already wasted our fuel, we should not be
surprised when we do not have enough left to burn brightly ourselves as lamps of
holiness.
We can avoid these problems by
simply doing what we know we should be doing already. Come to church; receive
the Holy Mysteries with proper preparation; pray, fast, and take confession;
repent of any wrong that you do; give to the needy; serve the weak; forgive
those who have wronged you and ask forgiveness of those you have wronged; fight
your passions; watch your thoughts, your mouth, and whatever else you have
trouble controlling. Focus your energy
on living the basic Christian life and you will have much less time for
pointless disputes and other spiritually unhealthy endeavors. Do all of this with sincere faith, hope, and
love, and you will become much more than merely nice. Your light will shine before others such that
they will see your good works and give glory to the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. Amen.
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