Titus 3: 8-15; Matthew 5: 14-19
It is not hard to find examples
of Christians whose behavior disappoints and scandalizes us. Whether people we know personally or simply
those we know about, it is easy to find ourselves thinking that others hardly seem
to be “the light of the world.” There is a powerful temptation, of course, to
point our finger at others for not beaming radiantly with the holy light of our
Lord. Before we even begin to think
about how our neighbors are doing, however, we must first take a painfully
honest look at our own souls. For when
we see ourselves clearly in the brilliant light of our Lord’s holiness, the
darkness within us will become quite apparent.
Instead of welcoming into our hearts judgmental thoughts about how
others are filled with darkness, we must focus on exposing our own diseased
souls to the healing presence of the Lord. Otherwise, we will become just
like the hypocritical, self-righteous judges who rejected the Savior.
Most
of us are very good, however, at finding ways to hide in the darkness. Like the people St. Paul described in his
letter to St. Titus, we would rather focus on foolish arguments and disputes
that “are unprofitable and futile.” Instead
of investing our time and energy in “good deeds, so as to help cases of urgent
need,” we obsess about problems beyond our control and fall into fantasy about
the wickedness of those we consider to be our enemies and the bad things that
might happen to us in the future. This way of thinking is simply an invitation
to weaken ourselves spiritually to the point that we will shed no light at all
in our darkened world. It leads to shutting
the light of Christ out of our souls in ways that result inevitably in slavery
to the darkness. When we live that way,
we will be anything but a lamp that draws others to give glory to God. Instead, we will scandalize and disappoint
our neighbors by our poor witness for Christ.
Today
we commemorate the Holy Fathers of the Fourth Ecumenical Council of
Chalcedon. They proclaimed that Jesus
Christ is both fully God and fully human, one Person Who unites in Himself both
divinity and humanity. They were not
concerned with abstract points of theology, but with the pressing need to
reject false teachings that made it impossible to proclaim how the Son of God
could bring corrupt human beings into eternal life. Apart from a Savior Who is both fully divine
and fully one of us, we would remain lost in the darkness of this world. We need the God-Man to bring us into His
light.
Unfortunately,
there remains much within us that would rather hide from the light of
Christ. In contrast to His brilliance,
we do not want our darkness to be exposed.
Consequently, we often would rather that He were merely a great
religious personality, moral teacher, or political leader than the God-Man. Then we could more easily convince ourselves
that we are already holy because we serve some cause that operates according to
the corrupt standards of our world of darkness.
Or we could rest easy that we have this virtue or have done that good
deed, which at least makes us better than whoever we view as our enemies. How dangerous and subtle is the temptation to
blind ourselves to the truth about where we stand before God by convincing
ourselves that we are on the side of the angels because we have built ourselves
up by putting others down. If there is
no higher standard than how we think we compare to others or how we serve what
is popular in our time and place, then it will not be hard to convince
ourselves that we really do not need much of a Savior.
If we go down
that road, however, we will never become the light of the world. Our lives will not be different from what is
conventional in our society. Instead of
becoming radiant with the holy light of Christ, we will simply embody the
darkness that the world already knows all too well. There is already too much so-called
Christianity that does precisely that. No matter what we say we believe, we
must unite ourselves to Christ in holiness in order to avoid turning the faith
into some kind self-serving religious ideology that will illumine no one.
In complete
contrast to such idolatry, the Savior called His disciples to embody a righteousness
that exceeded that of the hypocritical religious legalists who had distorted
the faith of Israel in order build up their own worldly power. He fulfilled the Old Testament law in a way
that demanded purity of heart, that invited people to become “perfect as your
Heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matt.
5:48) Instead of congratulating
themselves for not murdering others, His disciples were to find healing for the
anger and hatred that are at the root of broken human relationships. Instead of resting content with avoiding
physical adultery, they were to turn away from lust and all unholy sexual
desire. Instead of believing they were
justified in responding in kind to their enemies, they were to love and forgive
them.
Christ could speak
to His disciples in this way because He is not simply a teacher giving them a code
of conduct that they could interpret according to conventional standards. No, He is the God-Man and described what it
means to share personally in His life, to be become radiant with His holy light
like an iron left in the fire of the divine glory. Our Savior, fully divine and fully human,
invites us to nothing less than that.
No wonder, then,
that as we see ourselves more clearly in His light, we will become more aware
of the darkness that remains within us.
That experience often presents the temptation to distract ourselves from
the uncomfortable truth that we need healing beyond what we had previously
imagined and that we cannot give ourselves.
Some abandon the spiritual life at this point, thinking that there is no
hope for them at all. Others fill their
minds with “stupid controversies” that “are unprofitable and futile” as ways of
taking their attention off their own brokenness. For example, being constantly angry at others
or identifying the faith with worldly agendas that do not require the healing
of the soul are appealing ways of ignoring our need for growth in holiness.
Far better,
however, is to use every glimpse of the darkness in our souls for our salvation
by opening ourselves more fully to the healing light of Christ. Frequent use of the Jesus Prayer, regular
Confession, and embracing the humility expressed in the prayers of preparation
to receive the Eucharist are powerful means of gaining the strength to offer
our brokenness to the Lord for healing. The
same is true of asking forgiveness of those we have wronged, forgiving those
who have wronged us, fasting according to our spiritual and physical strength,
and going out of our way to serve the lonely, sick, and needy.
Ultimately, our
choice is either to remain in the darkness or to enter more fully into the
light of the God-Man. He alone can
transform us from those blinded by our usual distractions to those who shine like
an illumined city on a hill as a sign of the world’s salvation. So instead of finding ways to excuse or
justify ourselves, let us have the courage to see our darkness in His light and
to refuse to let anything hold us back from being illumined until we shine
brightly with the Light of the world, our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ.
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