1 Cor. 4:9-15
Matt. 17:14-23
It
is easy to become discouraged by the distortions of Christianity in our
culture. Some preach that those who
truly believe will become rich and healthy with no problems at all. More assume that following Jesus Christ is
just another way to have a bit of inner peace as they pursue what is really
important in life: professional success,
personal fulfillment, or some other worldly goal on their own terms. Neither approach, however, has much to do
with truly participating in the life of our Lord.
Even a quick glance at Jesus Christ,
His mother the Theotokos, or apostles such as St. Paul shows how weak such
teachings are. They did not live what any
mainstream culture—then or now--thinks of as a happy or successful life. Obviously, they lived the best and
holiest of lives; they are models for us in how to live, to die, and enter into
glory. But they appear strange to the world because they put the Kingdom of God
first and refused to put even their own happiness before God’s will and the
humble service of others. They suffered horribly
by conventional standards, but thereby participated in a blessedness not of
this world. The Son of God lowered Himself in
the Incarnation, becoming one of us and even enduring death and descent to
Hades in order to conquer them and bring us into His eternal life through His
resurrection. He was rejected by the
leaders of His own people and brutally executed by the Roman authorities. The Theotokos accepted a scandalous pregnancy
as the Lord’s virgin mother and saw her Son murdered by those He came to
save. St. Paul endured hardships of all
kinds, beatings, imprisonment, and ultimately martyrdom for Christ. These were not wealthy people; their lives
did not follow conventional patterns; they were not in favor with the religious
and political authorities of their day.
They were outsiders and outcasts in many ways, but it was precisely
through their difficult struggles that salvation has come to the world and we
have inherited the blessings of life eternal.
That is an important truth to keep
in mind when we read of the father of the epileptic boy kneeling before Christ
to ask for the healing of his son. The disciples had been unable to cure him
because of their lack of faith, prayer, and fasting. Consequently, they lacked the spiritual
strength to overcome evil. Like most of
the other Jews, they probably assumed that following the Messiah—thought to be
a great king and military ruler-- would result in a privileged life. In their hopes for that kind of savior, the
disciples were part of a “faithless and perverse” generation that trusted in and
served itself, rather than the one true God.
In contrast, the boy’s father had
true faith, trust and humility before the Lord, kneeling down before him and
asking for mercy from the bottom of his heart.
He lowered himself before Christ, putting himself in the lowly place of
one who could receive the blessing of the most humble One of all.
Unfortunately, many in the church of
Corinth were nothing like that father; they were so full of pride that St. Paul
had to set them straight on what it meant to serve Jesus Christ. He wrote that true apostles lived like “men sentenced
to death,” as fools who are weak, dishonored, homeless, and treated as the
filth of the world. Theirs was not a
path for the rich and famous. The words
used by St. Paul of his own ministry remind us of how our Lord identified
Himself with “the least of these,” the hungry, the stranger, the prisoner, the
sick—those on the margins of any
society.
How ironic that the same Lord Who
identified Himself with the wretched and miserable, and whose apostles suffered
so greatly, was transfigured in glory before His disciples on Mt. Tabor. As He shone with the brilliant light of
heaven and was shown to be superior to Moses and Elijah, the voice of the
Father said “This is my beloved Son with Whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him!” The divine glory of this most exalted One shines
through the apparent weakness of a cross and a tomb, through what looked like
failure and foolishness in the world as we know it. Indeed, He glorifies martyrs, confessors, and
others who truly take up their crosses and die to the idolatry of self that is
the real religion of so many, regardless of what we say we believe. To this very day, those who share in His
glory first participate in His lowliness, meekness, and humility.
Despite what some of Christianity’s
supporters and some of its foes like to say, our Lord’s salvation is not an
extension of any earthly kingdom, culture, or achievement. Instead of building ourselves up according to
designs of false gods, we must lower ourselves before Him like the father of
the epileptic in order to be transfigured by His grace. We must go against the popular trends of our
culture—and of any culture-- in order to believe, pray, and deny ourselves if
we are to open ourselves to His brilliant light, if we are to become radiant
with His holiness. The journey to His
Kingdom has nothing to do with acquiring earthly power, prominence, or
popularity. As much as in the first
century, His Kingdom is still not of this world. And some of the most dangerous temptations are
to distort the Christian faith in the service of any worldly goal or agenda,
regardless of the name it goes by at the time.
Instead of following the easy paths
today of worshiping money, power, pleasure, and other forms of self-indulgence,
we must follow the advice of the Lord Himself to the disciples on the necessity
of faith, prayer, and fasting. Instead
of believing that success according to the standards of any earthly realm is
the highest good, we must entrust our lives to the One whose divinity shines
forth through His humility and Who identifies Himself with the outcasts of all
times and places.
Instead of defining ourselves by our
busy schedules, routines, or obsessions about other earthly cares, we must—and
we all can-- carve out time every day for spiritual communion with the Lord.
Instead of satisfying every desire and wallowing in unrestrained indulgence, we
must learn to say no to our addiction to pleasure through appropriate forms of
fasting and self-denial on a regular basis.
Instead of making our faith a way to get what we want and gain the
praise of others, we must learn the essential place of humility in the
Christian life. For it is only when we
stop focusing on ourselves—our strengths, our virtues, our abilities, as well
as our failures and weaknesses—that we will be able to kneel before Christ like
that father who was at the end of his rope and open ourselves
to the mercy and healing of the Lord.
We have to accept that it is not all
about us. If we make our faith basically about helping us get what we want,
then we will always serve ourselves and become addicted to self-centered
desires. We will become so enslaved to
our bellies, our entertainment, our will, and our false hopes for fulfillment that
we will become just like the disciples:
powerless against the forces of evil in our own lives and totally unable
to help others. If we serve and please only ourselves, we will
become so self-focused and self-centered that we will find it impossible to
cultivate the humility required to serve God and our neighbors. We will become so addicted to our desires
that we will lack the ability to say no to ourselves for any reason, which is
ultimately a recipe for nothing but despair.
Far better to look to Christ who
came not to be served, but to serve, and Whose glory had nothing in common with
worldly domination or success. He will
transfigure us into participants in His divine glory through our humble faith,
prayer, and fasting. In this season of
the Dormition Fast, we follow the example of the Theotokos who was prepared and
sustained for her sublime ministry by these spiritual disciplines. The same is true of St. Paul and the
apostles.
There is hard work involved when we
embrace humility, obedience, and self-denial. Should that be surprising if we
serve a Lord Who told us to take up our crosses and follow Him? If our goal is to become so permeated with
holiness that we radiate the divine beauty, should we be shocked that sacrifice
is required?
By investing ourselves in the basic disciplines
of the Christian life we will become more like the father of the epileptic boy
who, in his humble faith, received the mercy and healing of the Lord. That is a
blessing beyond the ability of this world and the only hope for the salvation
of our souls.
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