Homily for the Sixth Sunday of Matthew with Commemoration of the Glorious Prophet Elijah in the Orthodox Church

James 5:10-20: Matthew 9: 1-8

Many people think of Christianity as a collection of religious rules that tell us what to do and what not to do.  The problem with a religion of law is that, while it points us in the direction of how we should behave, it does not give us the spiritual strength necessary to follow the rules. A faith that is simply a form of legalism leads inevitably to the frustration of never being able to fulfill its commandments.  A common way of coping with that frustration is to turn the focus away from our own failings by hypocritically condemning others for theirs.  It is no wonder that those who encounter such distorted forms of the faith typically have little interest in it.  It is not surprising that those who distort the faith in this way do not find healing for their spiritual infirmities.

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus Christ demonstrated that He did not come simply to give us a new set of laws to obey according to our own moral strength.  He showed that He did not come merely to deliver us from the guilt of falling short of obeying divine commandments.  He forgave the sins of the paralyzed man, thus manifesting His divinity in a way that scandalized religious leaders.   But He also revealed that His salvation is not defined in legalistic terms, as though the whole point of the Christian life were to be declared innocent in a court of law for certain offenses.  If that were the case, there would have been no point in healing the paralyzed man, for he could have been acquitted of his sins while remaining unable to move. 

The man’s paralysis is a vivid icon of the state of humanity cast out of Paradise, corrupted by our refusal to pursue the fulfillment of our calling to become like God in holiness.  By disorienting ourselves from our true vocation and looking for fulfillment through gratifying our self-centered desires, we have diminished ourselves to the point of becoming as weak as the man unable to get up off the ground.  Christ responded to him with healing mercy, granting the poor man strength and restoration beyond what he could ever have given himself, no matter how hard he tried.  In response to the Savior’s gracious therapy, the man obeyed the command to stand up, pick up his bed, and walk home.  Apart from this personal encounter with the Lord, the man would have remained enslaved to debilitating weakness, but the Savior’s healing restored his ability to move forward in a life suitable for a person who bears the image and likeness of God.

Whenever we ask for the Lord’s mercy, we are asking for the same therapy that He extended to the paralyzed man.  We ask Him to heal our wounds, restore our strength, and help us become participants in the eternal joy for which He created us.  We ask Him to deliver us from the wretched, corrupt state of being so weak before our passions that we feel helpless before our familiar temptations, no matter how much we despise them. We ask Him to help us find healing from the ingrained habits of thought, word, and deed that serve only to make us and our neighbors miserable.  We even dare to ask Him to make us “partakers of the divine nature” who share by grace in His victory over death, which is the wages of sin.  

To rise up, take up our beds, and walk home requires obedience to Christ’s commands, but not a legalistic obedience in the sense of following a code for its own sake.  Instead, this obedience is like following the guidance of a physician or therapist who makes clear to us what we must do in order to regain health and function for our bodies.  Christ embodies true humanity and has made us participants in His restoration and fulfillment of our vocation to become like God in holiness.  His commandments are not arbitrary or superficial but go to the heart and require our healing as whole persons in communion with God.

The Saints are inspirational examples of what it looks like for people to become healed of the paralysis of sin amidst all the temptations and problems presented by this world of corruption.  Today we commemorate the glorious Prophet Elijah who gained the strength to speak so boldly in opposition to the idolatry of Ahab and Jezebel, to cause a drought for three years and six months by his prayers, and to call down fire from heaven in a confrontation with the pagan priests of Baal. Elijah miraculously multiplied the flour and oil of the widow of Zarephath and raised her son from the dead.  When he passed his mantle of prophecy to Elisha, he divided the Jordan river and then was taken up into heaven in a fiery chariot.  He appeared with Moses at the Transfiguration of the Lord on Mount Tabor. 

The Archangel Gabriel said to Zechariah that John the Baptist “will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Lk. 1:17) Christ affirmed the close association of Elijah and John the Forerunner, saying “To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” (Matt. 17: 11-12)

It may be tempting to think that a great saint like Elijah was a spiritual superhero who never struggled with fear, doubt, or any kind of weakness.  The truth is very different.  He literally ran for his life when told that Jezebel was out to kill him and then prayed that the Lord would take his life, despairing that “I am no better than my fathers!” (3 Kingdoms 19:4) In response to God’s question as to what he was doing hiding in a cave at Mount Horeb, Elijah complained that “I alone am left” as one faithful in Israel and that “they seek to take my life.”  Then there was a great wind, an earthquake, and a fire, but the Lord was not in any of them.  He spoke to Elijah, however, in a “gentle breeze” or a “still small voice,” asking again why he was there.  The Lord responded again to Elijah’s complaint that he was alone, saying “I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal…” (3 Kingdoms 19: 10-18) Even the great prophet Elijah had to be reminded not to fall into despair and self-pity and to keep his spiritual perception finely tuned to hear the Word of the Lord.

As St. James wrote, “Elijah was a man of like nature with ourselves and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again and the heavens gave rain, and the earth brought forth its fruit.”  That is precisely why he and all the Saints are such great examples for us of what it means to gain the spiritual strength to rise, take up our beds, and walk.  They experienced the weaknesses, challenges, and temptations that are our common lot in this world of corruption.  Nonetheless, the Old Testament saints took up the struggle to live in faith and hope for the fulfillment of God’s gracious promises that is ours in Jesus Christ.  As we read in Hebrews 11:39-40, “And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.”

As those who have become heirs to the fullness of the promise to Abraham by faith in Christ, we have no more business lying flat on our backs in spiritual paralysis than did Elijah hiding out in a cave and bemoaning how he alone had been faithful.  Like Elijah, we must cultivate the spiritual sensitivity to hear the “gentle breeze” or “still small voice” of the Lord and not to be distracted by the winds, the earthquakes, and the fires of our life and world.  We do not worship pagan deities like Baal, but it is so easy to corrupt our pursuit of the Christian life in ways that simply serve our passions and keep us paralyzed before them.  Our true calling is very different and requires the spiritual clarity gained by mindful prayer, fasting, and generosity to our neighbors.  As St. James wrote, we must confess our sins and “pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects.”  He also taught that “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” (Jas. 1:27) None of this is new, trendy, or easy, but it is how we must persistently struggle to live if we are to gain the spiritual strength to obey the command of the Lord to each and every one of us:  Rise, take up your bed, and go home. That is what Elijah the Prophet did and it is what we must all do for the salvation of our souls.

 

Homily for the Fourth Sunday After Pentecost & Fourth Sunday of Matthew in the Orthodox Church

 

Romans 6:18-23; Matthew 8: 5-13

Too many Christians are apparently blind to how radically Christ challenged the conventional social assumptions of first-century Palestine and of life as we know it today.   Contrary to all expectations for the Jewish Messiah, He asked for a drink of water from a Samaritan woman with a scandalous personal history, engaged in His longest recorded conversation with her, and then spent two days in a Samaritan village.  In doing so, He identified Himself with people viewed as heretical enemies and treated a woman who was a complete outcast as a beloved child of God.  He invited Himself to the home of Zacchaeus, a corrupt tax-collector for the Roman army of occupation.  And as we read today, He not only healed the servant of a Roman centurion, but said of this man, “Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”  The centurion was an officer of the pagan Roman Empire that controlled the Holy Land. The Jews expected the Messiah to destroy people like him, not to praise their faith.   

The Lord’s statement that the faith of this Roman soldier was superior to that of any of the Jews surely seemed foolish, treasonous, and blasphemous according to conventional standards.  With those words, He made clear that nationality and ethnicity are not spiritually determining factors, for “many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness…”  Though it was commonly overlooked at the time, God’s promises to Abraham were for the blessing of “all the nations,” not merely one group of people.  These promises have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ such that all with faith in Him are now heirs to their fulfillment as His beloved sons and daughters.  (Gen. 22:18; Gal. 3:8-9) 

Our Lord’s ministry had nothing at all to do with setting up an earthly kingdom in Palestine or anywhere else for any group of people.  Pursuing such worldly power was a temptation that He rejected.  Before the Savior began His public ministry, “the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, ‘All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.’  Then Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” (Matt. 4:8-10) The crowds welcomed Christ to Jerusalem as a conquering hero on Palm Sunday because they thought He was their military liberator from Roman rule.  When it became clear that He was an entirely different kind of Messiah with no interest in launching an armed rebellion, they yelled, “Crucify Him!  Crucify Him!” a few days later (Lk 23:21).   The Savior then told Pontius Pilate that His kingdom was not of this world, which is why His followers would not take up arms to defend Him. (Jn. 18:36)

The kingdom which Christ proclaimed may well appear just as foolish today according to conventional standards, for it has no geographical boundaries and is not a nation-state; it does not require any particular ethnicity, culture, or language for its citizens.  It is not focused on the interests of any faction or group.  Even as the promises to the descendants of Abraham have been extended to all with faith in Christ, the ancient hope for an earthly realm in a particular part of the world has been fulfilled in the Body of Christ in which all may participate even now as a foretaste of the blessedness of the kingdom of heaven, regardless of where they live or their cultural or ethnic heritage.  As St. Peter wrote to the early Christians, “You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.” (1 Pet. 2: 9-10) As Orthodox Christians, we know that we share in the life of our Lord by His grace, not by the power of any earthly realm or leader in any part of the world, including our own.

We pray for God’s blessings upon our nation and all the nations and peoples of the world.  We give thanks for all the blessings that are ours, especially our rights and freedoms, and we must be good stewards of them, not as ends in themselves, but as opportunities to offer all the good things of this life for purification and fulfillment in Christ.  Remember that the chief priests told Pilate “We have no king but Caesar!” as they called for the Messiah’s crucifixion (Jn. 19:15).  The pagan Romans later killed Christians because they would not worship the gods believed to preserve their empire, including Caesar.   Our Lord and His martyrs looked like fools, or worse, to those obsessed with serving the rulers of this world. We are certainly not immune today from the temptation to reject our Lord and His Cross by giving our primary allegiance to those who seem to serve our desires for power, domination, and vengeance.  This temptation, which is rooted in the fear of death, is all the more dangerous when we convince ourselves that we are actually serving Christ as we pursue the nationalistic and political paths that He so clearly rejected.       

Obviously, our Lord did not view the Roman centurion according to conventional earthly terms, even though He was well aware of the man’s role in serving the empire under the authority of which He would be crucified.  By all outward appearances, they would have been sworn enemies, but Christ did not see him that way or require him to quit the Roman army or become a Jew.  He simply marveled at the centurion’s faith, granted his request, and noted that “many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.”  

Our hope is to be among those “from east and west” who are gathered into the kingdom of heaven by our Lord’s gracious mercy, which we receive through faith in Him, regardless of our national, ethnic, or political identity.   Even as not all the descendants of Abraham fulfilled their calling to receive the Messiah in faith, we cannot blithely assume that being Orthodox Christians somehow guarantees us the blessedness of the kingdom or makes us justified in condemning anyone.  The greatest obstacle to the healing of our souls is pride, which often manifests itself in the belief that we are somehow better and more deserving of God’s favor than others.  Such pride is the deadly enemy of true faith, but the centurion somehow managed to avoid that trap, despite the high standing given to him by his rank in the armed forces of the mighty Roman Empire.  He humbled himself, saying, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.”  Even as Christ did not see him as an enemy, he did not see Christ as either a threat to the empire or someone inferior by worldly standards.  Quite the contrary, the centurion had somehow acquired the spiritual clarity to know where he stood before the Lord Who would heal his servant in such a miraculous fashion. Even as the centurion, tax-collectors, prostitutes, Samaritans, demon-possessed Gentiles, and other outcasts received Christ in humble faith, we must never presume to declare that anyone is beyond His love or cannot find healing in Him.   We must gain the spiritual health necessary to treat every person we encounter as a living icon of Christ, regardless of national identity, political affiliation, or any other human characteristic.  Any Christianity that does not call people to do so is unworthy of its name.

Like the Roman centurion, let us entrust ourselves to Christ with such humility that our passions do not keep us from knowing that we stand before Him in need of constant mercy, no less than everyone else.  Instead of fueling the pride that so easily blinds us spiritually and leads us to idolatry, let us unite ourselves so fully to Christ that His character becomes evident in us.  Then we will manifest His mercy and compassion in ways unconstrained by devotion to any of the false gods of this world as we learn to love even strangers and enemies as God loves us.  That is not and never has been the easy, popular, and conventional way of living, but it is clearly the way of the Savior Who conquered death itself through His Cross and glorious resurrection on the third day.  It is only by uniting ourselves to Him in faith and faithfulness that we may hope, along with that blessed centurion, to be among those who “come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven.”