Matthew 4:18-23
Two weeks ago
we celebrated the great feast of Pentecost at which the Holy Spirit descended
upon our Lord’s followers, making them members of His Body, the Church. A week ago we celebrated the Sunday of All
Saints, remembering all those who have become living icons of our Lord’s
salvation by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Since then, we have begun the Apostles Fast, a period in which we embrace
a fairly light discipline of self-restraint in our diets in order to gain the
spiritual strength that we need to become more like the apostles who responded faithfully
to Christ’s command “Follow Me.”
When the disciples first heard that
command, they were involved in their daily work as fishermen. But the Savior called them to the fulfillment
of their fishing, for they were to learn how to catch people for the Kingdom,
how to draw them into the blessing of God’s salvation. That required leaving their homes and occupations
in order literally to follow Christ around in His ministry and to learn from
His teaching and example as best they could.
Of course, it was not until after His resurrection that they really
understood who He was and were empowered by the Holy Spirit for their unique
ministry.
Nonetheless, it was essential that
the first disciples obeyed the command to leave home and follow the
Messiah. Even though their understanding
was quite limited, they were prepared by their close association with Christ
for what was to come. Had they not obeyed
that initial command, they would not have become His disciples. Literally leaving
home and following Christ were necessary dimensions of their preparation to
unite themselves with the risen Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit, as well
as for their leadership of the Church. Their
discipleship provided the context within which they would find the healing of
their souls.
We live well after Christ called His
first followers to leave their nets and become fishers of men. Many centuries have passed since the day of
Pentecost when our ascended Lord sent the Holy Spirit to empower the
Church. As members of the Body of
Christ, however, we participate in the eternal truth and reality of these
events. They are present to us in the
life of the Church, especially as we enter into the heavenly banquet in the
Divine Liturgy. That means that He calls
us as He called them. That means that He
enables us to share in His life as He did for those gathered at Pentecost. The Apostles Fast provides us all with a good
opportunity to consider whether we are placing our lives in a context that
enables us to follow their example of faithfulness to the Lord.
Even small acts of self-denial, such
as abstaining from meat in the Apostles Fast, remind us that our strength comes
from God, not from our own will being accomplished or our desires for pleasure
being fulfilled. We humble ourselves
when we put our own preferences for food or anything else aside in order to
orient ourselves more fully to the Kingdom.
Fasting periods are times of training, of learning to say “no” to our
self-centeredness so that we will find it easier to say “yes” to Christ,
especially when He calls us to follow Him in ways that challenge our
inclinations to place our own comfort and desires before the demands of serving
Him faithfully.
In some ways, we may think that the
disciples had it easy when Christ walked up to them and told them
straightforwardly what to do. They had
to leave home and their livelihood, but at least the Lord made that crystal
clear to them. Our challenge is a bit different
because we encounter Him in our hearts and souls, which are not pure and so
easily misinterpret what He wants us to do.
We typically get so caught up in our thoughts and self-centered desires
that we hear only what we want to hear.
It is much more appealing to make God in our own image than to take up
the cross of truly becoming more like Him in holiness. It is so tempting to fill our minds with
whatever fuels our passions such that we have little interest in devoting
ourselves to prayer, Bible reading, or the lives and teachings of the Saints. It is so easy to fill our eyes and ears with
entertainment that denigrates the holiness of the intimate union of man and
woman, that celebrates violence and hatred, and that worships at the altar of
money and what it can buy.
In so many ways, we are caught up in
nets that make it difficult for us to follow the example of the apostles who
left everything behind in order to follow Christ. The good news, however, is that we have all
we need in the life of the Church in order to hear and respond faithfully to
the call of our Lord. The path that
leads to the healing of our souls is open to all and quite obvious. We have died to sin in baptism and risen with
Christ into a new life of holiness. We have
received the Holy Spirit personally in chrismation and are nourished with “the
medicine of immortality,” our Lord’s own Body and Blood, in the Eucharist. When we fall short of living faithfully as
those who are in Christ, He Himself receives us through repentance and forgives
us through Confession. Through our life
together in the Church, we have innumerable opportunities to serve and love Him
in one another. In a world so obviously corrupted by the
worship of the false gods of power, pleasure, and possessions, we have
tremendous resources in the Church for a radically different way of living in
which self-righteous judgment and self-centered indulgence have no place at
all.
It is tempting to think that all
this is fine for the Saints, but not for people like you and me who have spent
decades weakening ourselves spiritually in one way or another. We all bear the burdens of our brokenness,
both personally and collectively. The
Church is a hospital for us all, and the therapy is not always easy or
pleasant. Old habits are hard to break,
and pursuing a life of holiness can be as difficult as undergoing physical
therapy for muscles that have grown weak through disuse or become mangled by
disease or accident. So it is rarely
going to be easy or appealing for us to embrace the healing of our souls. Work and sacrifice are required, but this is not
simply a journey of self-help. It is,
instead, always a matter of opening ourselves as fully as possible to the
gracious healing energies of the Holy Spirit by embracing the humble path of
discipleship as best we have the strength to do at this point in our
journey.
It really is a simple path. If you want to discern faithfully what Christ
is calling you to do in life, devote at least a few minutes regularly each day
to prayer. As your physical health
allows, fast as best you can according to the guidelines of the Church. Give as generously as you can to the needy
and in support of the Church’s ministries.
Read the Bible each day and turn your attention away from entertainment
that inflames your passions. Learn more
about the teaching and example of the Saints and give less attention to the
rich and famous of this world. Confess
your sins in humility and strive to reorient your life to Christ. Pray for those who have offended you every
day and do your best to mend broken relationships. Ask forgiveness of those you have wronged. When someone asks for your forgiveness, give
it readily. Pray for the departed and
for everyone in need. Refuse to judge
anyone else and focus on repenting of your own sins. Prepare to receive the Eucharist with prayer,
fasting, and regular Confession.
Do
these things persistently throughout your life as you call upon the mercy of
the Lord with the humility of the Jesus Prayer. If you do so, you will be able to hear and
respond to His command “Follow Me.” And,
by His grace, you may even become a Saint.
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