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Corinthians 9:2-12; Matthew 18:23-35
There is a lot going on the life
of the Church this time of year. Even as
we continue to celebrate our Lord’s Transfiguration, we prepare by fasting to
observe the Feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos during the coming
week. In order to enter into the good
news proclaimed through these feasts, the eyes of our souls must be cleansed so
that we will be able to behold and participate in the brilliant divine glory of
our Lord. We must become radiant with
God’s gracious divine energies as we follow the Theotokos in uniting ourselves
more fully to the Lord in holiness. She
was the first to receive Christ when she said, “Behold the handmaid of the
Lord; let it be to me according to your word” in response to the message of the
Archangel that God had chosen her to become the virgin mother of His Son. As we celebrate at her Dormition or “falling
asleep,” she was also the first to follow Him as a whole, embodied person into
the Kingdom of Heaven, for her tomb was found empty three days after her
death.
Unfortunately, the world has too
much religion that does not lead people to transfiguration in holiness. If we think that Christianity provides simply
theological ideas, moral precepts, or directions about how to conduct religious
services, then we will fail to behold and participate in the glory of our Lord.
For all of those aspects of religion, as
laudable as they may be, can be affirmed and practiced in ways that do not make
us “partakers of the divine nature” by grace.
Christ revealed His divine glory to Peter, James, and John on Mount
Tabor so that they would know He is truly God and the fulfillment of the Law
and Prophets of the Old Testament. The
voice of the Father proclaimed, “This is my beloved Son in Whom I am well-pleased. Hear Him.”
(Matt. 17:5)
The point of our faith is not, then,
simply to gain forgiveness for ourselves or anything else that we might want. Like the wicked servant in today’s gospel
reading, we will shut ourselves off from participating in the gracious mercy of
the Lord if we think that forgiveness is something we may receive without being
transformed personally. That fellow
begged for more time to pay his unbelievably large debt, and his master responded
with shocking mercy, for he forgave the debt completely. But instead of sharing the mercy that he had
received, the servant then refused even to show patience with a fellow slave
who owed him much less. He then had the
second fellow put into prison until he could pay. When word of his actions reached the master,
he had the first servant put in jail until he could repay the entirety of the
massive amount he owed. Christ concludes
the parable with these challenging words, “So also My heavenly Father will do to every one of you,
if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
The Lord said that because refusing
to forgive others is a clear sign of our refusal to become like God in
holiness. If we ask forgiveness for
ourselves without extending it to others, we show that we are not interested in
sharing in the life of our Lord by grace.
We demonstrate that we are not offering ourselves for transfiguration in
holiness. Instead, we become idolaters
who worship a god in our own image who we think will give us what we want and
make no demands that do not suit us.
Such corrupt views of religion will bring only greater darkness to our
souls and enslave us further to passions such as hatred, judgement, and the
refusal to forgive. They make it
impossible for us to be transfigured in holiness.
This
temptation is especially dangerous because it is often appealing to convince
ourselves that religion and the rest of life are entirely separate realms. We
like to think that we meet our obligation to God by doing explicitly religious
things at church or keeping a rule of prayer, fasting, and other spiritual
disciplines. Of course, we should offer
ourselves to God in these ways. They are
vital means of opening ourselves to greater participation in the life of our
Lord. We will err grievously, however,
if we hypocritically seek the mercy of the Savior while refusing to embody His
mercy toward others whom we encounter in everyday life. It is simply impossible to unite ourselves to
the One Who said “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” from the
Cross if we refuse to show mercy toward those who have offended us. If we try
to do that, we will be in the false position of those who want one thing from
God while giving the complete opposite to our neighbors.
The
illumination and healing of our souls is an eternal process, for our goal is very
high: to become like God in
holiness. We should not despair when memories
of the wrongs of others come to mind, when we have harsh feelings toward those
who have wounded us, or when we cannot imagine how we could be reconciled with
others with whom we have a broken relationship.
These are signs that we live in a world of corruption and need further
healing for our souls. Our choice is either
to open our hearts to Christ for greater participation in His mercy or to
harden them by embracing hatred and judgment.
The process of our transfiguration must begin by opening the darkened
places in our hearts to His brilliant light as best we presently can. We do that when we pray for God to bless our
enemies and to forgive our sins by their prayers. We do that when we mindfully refuse to dwell
on the wrongs of others or to speak ill of them. We do that when we go out of our way to help
them. As we struggle to show them the
same mercy that we ask of Christ, we will grow in humble awareness of our own
brokenness and dependence upon His grace for our healing.
This
is the path that we must all follow if we are to become transfigured in
holiness through personal participation in the life of our Savior. In her Dormition, the Theotokos shows us that
such a life leads to the eternal joy of the Kingdom of God. In order for us to
follow her holy example, we must begin with the humble forgiveness of those who
know that they are never in a position to condemn others. Instead, we must become living icons of the
brilliant mercy that we have received. That is how we may become truly human in
God’s image and likeness by participating personally in the Savior’s healing of
our corrupt humanity.
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