"Actions Speak Louder than Words"

(25th Sunday after Pentecost) (Luke 10:25-37; Matt. 10:23-31)

At this time in the Church year, we are preparing to celebrate the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ. On the one hand, we celebrate His birth, His coming into the world. The victory of Pascha, when death is trampled down by death, is not possible without the Incarnation, without our Lord entering into the world, doing so in a way in which His divinity is perfectly joined to our humanity, without mixture, without confusion, without ceasing to be God, and without ceasing to be human.

So we have good reason to celebrate; but we must never forget that He has already come; and that, when He fulfills His promise and comes again, it will not be as it was the first time. He will not be born into the world, a baby in a manger. He will, as we recite in the Symbol of Faith, “come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead”; and of His kingdom there will be no end. We do well to remember that we need to prepare for His coming again, as much or more than we prepare to celebrate His birth in Bethlehem so many years ago.

With this in mind, the question that the lawyer asks our Lord becomes even more important: What must I do to inherit eternal life? We are all familiar with our Lord’s answer: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength; and love your neighbor as you love yourself. This makes sense. When we love ourselves more than we love God, it is easy for us to justify, in our own minds, allowing ourselves to indulge in whatever passion it is that brings us pleasure (even if only for a moment) in this world. This affects our human relationships as well. Think only of yourself, and soon there will be no one in your life except yourself. When we love someone else, when that person is more important to us than we are to ourselves, we are sensitive to the things this person we love likes and dislikes; and we do our best to change our words and deeds so that we maximize the positive responses of our beloved, and minimize the things that would displease or irritate or anger them. Our relationship with God is really no different. When we focus on ourselves, and our own desires, we are distant from God. When we endeavor to draw near to God, it becomes our desire, and then our delight, to do those things pleasing to God, and leave behind the things that would take us farther away. In a similar way, when we love ourselves more than we love our neighbor, it is then that we do them harm in thought or word or deed; from ignoring them, to neglecting them, to cursing them, to actively causing them harm. When we love them as we love ourselves, it is easier for us to be humble, patient, generous, and kind.

It is not enough for us to know these things. We must not only know them, we must do them. And it is not enough just to do them here. I am struck by what our Lord Jesus said to His disciples in the reading from St. Matthew’s Gospel today. He said, “What I have told you in darkness, speak in the light; and what I have whispered in your ear, preach this aloud from the rooftops.” The fathers tell us that this means that what we have seen and heard here, in the Church, we must proclaim in the world. How can we do this?

There’s a folk saying everyone is probably familiar with (and for which I’m sure there is an equivalent in Russian): “Actions speak louder than words.” We’ve probably all seen this happen enough to know the truth of it. When someone says one thing, and does another, we question whether that person can be relied upon; but when words and deeds agree, we can say that this is a reliable person. So it is with us. If we say that we love God, but do not walk in His ways, what message does that convey to those around us who need to know from us about God and His love? If we say that we love our neighbor are we love ourselves, but ignore or neglect or mistreat them –even if only in words – what do we say about the love of God in our midst?

Brothers and sisters, let us love God with the fullness of our being; and let us love each other as Christ loved us and gave Himself for us. Let us shine forth with the light of a holy life, through a life of prayer, and fasting, of giving, and of struggle against the passions. Let us shout from the rooftops with the love of God, as we labor to let Christ be seen in us, and as we love and care for those around us, in the Church, and in the world. If we will do so, we will make a powerful statement about the love of God; to the glory of His name, and the salvation of our souls.