The Orthodoxy of the ‘Super-Correct’

(Luke 13:10-17) (December 21, 2003)

Anyone who has spent any time reading the Orthodox bulleting boards on the Internet is familiar with what we might call, “The Orthodoxy of the ‘super-correct’.” It is possible to take all the instructions and rules given for living the Orthodox life, and to construct from these a “checklist” or set of “rules and regulations” - and anyone who does not live up to each and every one of these is subject to being judged, even condemned, as not being an Orthodox Christian.

We see this “holier than thou” attitude in today’s Gospel reading. Our Lord heals a woman who has been suffering from a crippling physical ailment for 18 years. He does so on the Sabbath. The ruler of the synagogue, remembering - rightly - the commandment given by God to Moses, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy,” rebukes the people who have beheld the miraculous healing of the suffering woman by our Lord. But, while correctly recalling the words of the commandment, the ruler of the synagogue has no idea of the purpose at its core: that the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath. That is, our lives are not meant to be consumed by the cares and labors of the world exclusively; but we are meant to make time to remember God, and to contemplate Him - to spend time with Him, worshipping, praying, and giving of ourselves to Him. The “sabbath rest” is to lay aside all earthly cares; and to refrain from thoughts and acts of evil.

We need to understand the instructions and directions of the Orthodox life in the same way. These are not so much rules and regulations or laws to be obeyed for their own sake - after all, we have been set free from the law. Rather, all of these are meant to guide us to a way of life in which we do indeed rest from our sins and passions, and instead seek that which is pleasing to God - for what is pleasing to God is also saving to our souls. The rules of prayer, and fasting, and alms-giving, and of the spiritual struggle against our sins and weaknesses are not standards by which we judge ourselves, much less judging others - these are tools to be used by each of us to construct a new life, in which we are being rebuilt, our labors directed and strengthened by God, to reveal more and more the image of God, and the life of Christ, that are already ours by virtue of our baptism and chrismation. It’s not the rules; it’s the life.

Brothers and sisters, let us not seek to be super-correct about keeping every little rule and regulation of the Orthodox life. Let us not be so scrupulous in fasting, for example, that, when we read the label of the product in the store, and find that the second to last ingredient of 27 or 28 different things is sodium caseinate, which is derived from the stomach of a cow, and so not “lenten” - even though everything else is acceptable - that we put it back and buy something else instead. There’s nothing wrong with this, mind you; but we must ask ourselves at such moments whether we are bringing the same energy and effort to bear in refraining from our sins - especially those that we must repeat each time we make our confession. There’s no point in avoiding gelatin - made by boiling cow hooves, and so “not lenten” - if we continue to be filled with pride, or greed, or lust, or envy, or jealousy, or gluttony, or sloth. There’s no point in reading our prayers each morning and evening if we don’t hear the words, if our only goal is to “get it over with.” There’s no point in being “correct” about all the details if our hearts remain unchanged; if we do not love the Lord with all our heart and soul and mind and strength, and if we do not love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Yes, we must keep the sabbath - but we must understand that we do so rightly not by adherence to the list of rules, but by adhering to the list of rules for the love of God; that we might make a sabbath rest of refraining from evil. When we do so, confessing our faults, and striving (by God’s grace) to be transformed, we are set free from the crippling affliction of our sins, as the suffering woman was set free. Our Lord Jesus heals us, and puts His hands on us, to empower us to do, with Him, the works of virtue.

Brothers and sisters, let us truly be Orthodox - not by worrying about whether we are keeping all the rules, but rather by focusing on doing what is pleasing to God, and beneficial to others. Let us renew each day our commitment to the disciplines of the Orthodox life, so that we might be transformed from who we are to become the people God wants us to be - sharing with God and each other in a relationship of love, so that, by saving our souls, we might enter the sabbath rest of the kingdom of heaven.