Who is Worthy of the Kingdom?

When our Lord Jesus Christ, during the time of His ministry on earth, returned to his home town of Nazareth, word of the miracles and healings He had performed to that time had reached the people who knew His family, and had known Him as a boy growing up in their midst. “Is this not the carpenter’s son?” they asked; suggesting that they wondered how someone who had come from such a humble beginning could do such marvelous things elsewhere. Knowing their hearts, He said to them, “You will undoubtedly say to Me, ‘Do here at home the marvelous things You have done in Capernaum; yet a prophet is not acceptable in his own town.” Because they thought they knew Him, they required Him to give them a sigh; but when He responded by telling them about the holy prophets Elijah and Elisha, they were moved to anger, even hatred, and tried to take him to the cliff at the edge of town, to throw Him to His death.

Today we commemorate the holy prophet of God, Elijah (or Elias, as he is also called). His name means, “The Lord is my God”; and he was sent by God to the northern kingdom of Israel as a sign of God’s presence in a land whose king, Ahab, and important leaders had turned away from God to worship Ba’al, believed to be a god of fertility who lived in the rain clouds.

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Elijah’s zeal for the Lord was great; at one point, he believed that he was the only prophet of God – indeed, the only follower of God – who remained in the land of Israel. Elijah prophesied a drought that would come upon the land and would last for three and a half years; and during this time he challenged 450 priests of Ba’al and 400 priests of Asherah to offer a sacrifice to Ba’al to bring an end to the drought; at which time he would make a sacrifice to the God of the covenants with Adam, Noah, Moses, and David – with the people pledged to worship the one revealed to be truly God. The priests of the idols performed their rites of sacrifice from morning until the time to offer the sacrifice had come. At that time, Elijah prepared the sacrifice he would offer on its altar, giving orders that the sacrifice itself, and the wood that would be set aflame by the action of God alone, be soaked with water; so much water that a trench he had ordered dug around the altar was filled with water. Then Elijah prayed, and the Lord sent fire from heaven that burned not only the wood and the sacrifice, but also the water, as well. In his zeal, Elijah ordered the people to seize the false priests, and had them put to death. This action caused Ahab’s queen, Jezebel, to swear that she would have him put to death. This is but one action that was carried out by the holy prophet of God.

What made the people of Nazareth so angry? When our Lord said that the prophet Elijah, during the time of the famine caused by the drought, did not minister to any of the many widows in Israel, but instead brought God’s help to a widow from a foreign land; and that the prophet Elisha – Elijah’s follower and successor as prophet in the northern kingdom – healed a leper from another land, but not one of the lepers in Israel, though there were many who needed such a healing, He was, in effect, telling them that these foreigners, who were not people of the covenant, as were the Jews, were more deserving than the people who were supposed to be the people of God. By connecting the people of His home town with those who needed God’s blessing but did not seek it, He was saying that the same is true for those who lived where He had grown up. Jesus the Messiah, promised by God to His people from the time that Adam and Eve were expelled from Paradise, had come – but the people who were supposed to have been watching and waiting for Him did not recognize Him, and thought they knew who He was.

This should make us stop and think. After all, we say of ourselves that we are the people of God, the inheritors of the New Covenant, the covenant of the Cross, of the Blood shed by the offering of the Lamb of God for our sake. We also say that He will come, as the people in our Lord’s home town said that the Messiah would come, establishing His kingdom. But do we live as His people should live? Or do we say one thing, but do another? And if we were to learn that there will be those who, without entering into the Orthodox Church, will be worthy of a place in the kingdom of heaven, while there is the very real possibility that some Orthodox Christians will not receive the same blessing, would that make you angry, as the people of Nazareth were angered?

We say we know the Lord is God, our Savior and Redeemer. But do we live like Him? Are we patient and forgiving, as He is? Are we striving to turn away from our attachments to this world, and to live as citizens of His kingdom? Do we love God more than we love ourselves, and the pleasures of this world, and of our flesh? If you want to know whether or not you love God, consider how you live with the person who cuts in line in front of you on the highway, or at the store. Do you lose your peace? Or do you forgive, and pray for that person? What about the person – maybe even here, in the house of God – who, because of the way they are dressed, or where they stand, may not be following exactly the manners of the Orthodox way of life? What about the person who does thing that irritate you, maybe even someone in your own household? Do you love them? Do you forgive them? Do you pray for them? Do you try to change who you are, what you say, what you do, in order to help them, while forgiving them for their faults and weaknesses? If you love them, as Christ loves us; if you forgive them, as we are forgiven; and if you give of yourself for them, gently, humbly, patiently, expecting no thanks, or anything at all in return – then be encouraged, brothers and sisters: for if we love those around us, even those who hate and scorn us, even those who might kill us – if we love them, we may also say that we love God. Then we will not be like the people of Nazareth who became angry when our Lord came into their midst; rather, we will be like Him Who, for love of us, unlovely sinners, gave Himself for us, that we might live in Him, and He in us.

Holy prophet of God, Elijah, pray to God for us!

Who Do >You< Look Like?

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

In the reading today from the Gospel According to St. Matthew, our Lord asks His disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” Their replies make a list of holy men, prophets of God, including Elijah, and Jeremiah, and even John the Baptizer, who had been executed only a short time before. Then our Lord asks them directly, “Who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replies, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Remember that, by the time this conversation between Jesus and His disciples takes place, He has given the Sermon on the Mount; He has healed many who were sick; He has cast out demons; He has worked other miracles – the feeding of the five thousand, for one – and has taught them far more than He has publically proclaimed. Remember also that, by this time, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law of Moses have accused Him of breaking the Law of Moses and of casting out demons by the prince of demons, and have already started plotting to kill Him. In the midst of all this, the common people have recognized Him as being holy, but have not perceived Him to be the Messiah, the Anointed One of God whose coming had been promised by God and foretold through the prophets. Remember that Nathanael, at the time of his being called to follow Jesus, had exclaimed, “You are the Son of God!” Remember that those who were in the boat when our Lord calmed the storm and Peter had walked on the water had also declared, “You are truly the Son of God!” What was different about what St. Peter had said, that earned him a blessing?

Have you ever noticed how children look like their parents? In some cases, the resemblance is there, although not always clearly; while in other cases, the resemblance is so strong as to be striking. This is true not only of appearances, but in mannerisms, such as sounding alike, walking alike, and other in other ways as well. So it is with all the previous declarations that had been made, saying that Jesus is the Son of God – for we are all sons of God, in that we are made in His image, and after His likeness. St. Peter’s declaration went beyond that, when he said, not just that Jesus is the Son of God, but that He is the Christ, the Anointed One, the Deliverer promised by God, and proclaimed by St. John the Baptizer as the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world. Human senses were not sufficient to perceive as deeply as St. Peter did when he made this statement of faith. God the Father revealed this truth to the saint, so that His Son might be made known – and not just then, but, through the testimony of St. Peter, to all who hear the Gospel, at all times, and in all places. The loop of resemblance between the Father and the Son is completed, in a way, when, at the Last Supper, Philip asks Jesus to show them the Father. He replies, “Have you not known that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? He who has seen me has seen the Father.”

What about us? If the question was put to us, what would we say? Of course, because we have heard the Gospel, we know the correct response to give – but does that mean we also are blessed, as St. Peter was blessed? Or is there more to it for us than that?

Everyone has heard this bit of “folk wisdom” – “Talk is cheap.” Everyone knows this one as well: “Actions speak louder than words.” We who have been privileged to live in this time, with the Gospels written and the Church well established and a God-pleasing way of life taught to us; we who have been privileged to have been buried with Christ in our baptism, and empowered with the Holy Spirit as we were chrismated, and have received the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ – how do we truly proclaim that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God? Do our lives reveal Him through what we say and what we do, and what we do not say and do not do? Can He be seen in us, in who we are, in how we live? Or do we look just like everyone else, indistinguishable from all the rest of those in the world who do not say that Jesus is Lord and Savior? Brothers and sisters, this should not be!

Let us commit ourselves, and one another, and all our life unto Christ our God. We say this again and again in our prayers, both in the worship of the Church, and in the privacy of our prayer corner. Let us also ask God the Father for the grace we need to be transformed more and more into the likeness of His Son, so that what we say and what we do brings the knowledge of Jesus Christ to those trapped in the ways of the world, longing to be set free. May God grant us grace to show the world His Son in us; and may we show the world in word and deed that Jesus is truly the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, pray to God for us!

"You are the Christ!"

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

In the reading today from the Gospel according to St. Matthew, our Lord asks His disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” Their replies make a list of holy men, prophets of God, including Elijah, and Jeremiah, and even John the Baptizer, who had been executed only a short time before. Then our Lord asks them directly, “Who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replies, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Remember that, by the time this conversation between Jesus and His disciples takes place, He has given the Sermon on the Mount; He has healed many who were sick; He has cast out demons; He has worked other miracles – the feeding of the five thousand, for one – and has taught them far more than He has publically proclaimed. Remember also that, by this time, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law of Moses have accused Him of breaking the Law of Moses and of casting out demons by the prince of demons, and have already started plotting to kill Him. In the midst of all this, the common people have recognized Him as being holy, but have not perceived Him to be the Messiah, the Anointed One of God whose coming had been promised by God and foretold through the prophets. Remember that Nathanael, at the time of his being called to follow Jesus, had exclaimed, “You are the Son of God!” Remember that those who were in the boat when our Lord calmed the storm and Peter had walked on the water had also declared, “You are truly the Son of God!” What was different about what St. Peter had said, that earned him a blessing?

Have you ever noticed how children look like their parents? In some cases, the resemblance is there, although not always clearly; while in other cases, the resemblance is so strong as to be striking. This is true not only of appearances, but in mannerisms, such as sounding alike, walking alike, and other in other ways as well. So it is with all the previous declarations that had been made, saying that Jesus is the Son of God – for we are all sons of God, in that we are made in His image, and after His likeness. St. Peter’s declaration went beyond that, when he said, not just that Jesus is the Son of God, but that He is the Christ, the Anointed One, the Deliverer promised by God, and proclaimed by St. John the Baptizer as the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world. Human senses were not sufficient to perceive as deeply as St. Peter did when he made this statement of faith. God the Father revealed this truth to the saint, so that His Son might be made known – and not just then, but, through the testimony of St. Peter, to all who hear the Gospel, at all times, and in all places. The loop of resemblance between the Father and the Son is completed, in a way, when, at the Last Supper, Philip asks Jesus to show them the Father. He replies, “Have you not known that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? He who has seen me has seen the Father.”

What about us? If the question was put to us, what would we say? Of course, because we have heard the Gospel, we know the correct response to give – but does that mean we also are blessed, as St. Peter was blessed? Or is there more to it for us than that?

Everyone has heard this bit of “folk wisdom” – “Talk is cheap.” Everyone knows this one as well: “Actions speak louder than words.” We who have been privileged to live in this time, with the Gospels written and the Church well established and a God-pleasing way of life taught to us; we who have been privileged to have been buried with Christ in our baptism, and empowered with the Holy Spirit as we were chrismated, and have received the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ – how do we truly proclaim that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God? Do our lives reveal Him through what we say and what we do, and what we do not say and do not do? Can He be seen in us, in who we are, in how we live? Or do we look just like everyone else, indistinguishable from all the rest of those in the world who do not say that Jesus is Lord and Savior? Brothers and sisters, this should not be!

Let us commit ourselves, and one another, and all our life unto Christ our God. We say this again and again in our prayers, both in the worship of the Church, and in the privacy of our prayer corner. Let us also ask God the Father for the grace we need to be transformed more and more into the likeness of His Son, so that what we say and what we do brings the knowledge of Jesus Christ to those trapped in the ways of the world, longing to be set free. May God grant us grace to show the world His Son in us; and may we show the world in word and deed that Jesus is truly the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, pray to God for us!