Homily for the Feast of the Annunciation to Mary, 25 March 2015--"Nothing is Impossible With God"

Homily for the Feast of the Annunciation to Mary

25 March 2015 /2012

Epistle:  Hebrews 2:11-18                                Gospel:  Luke 1:24-38

 

When Mary asks the Archangel Gabriel how it will be possible for her to become pregnant without having sexual relations with a man, the angel doesn’t answer her directly.  To make his point, he tells her that her cousin Elizabeth has “conceived a son in her old age.”  She was called barren, but now she’s six months pregnant.  And this proves that “nothing will be impossible with God.”

This same idea is proclaimed four or five time in the Gospels—in slightly different ways—nothing is impossible for God—what is impossible for people is possible for God—and so on.

Naturally, we love to hear this.  It gives us hope when life seems hopeless.  It gives us strength when we are weak.  It encourages us when we are discouraged.

But there is a danger in this idea, too.  We can use it as a crutch, or as a replacement for our own efforts.  “Nothing is impossible with God” can come to mean, in our minds, “Nothing is impossible with God, so I don’t have to do anything.”  “Nothing is impossible with God, so let God handle it.”  Or even, “Nothing is impossible with God, so if God wants it to happen, it will happen.  I’ll just wait and see.”

When people think like that, they are missing the whole point of the statement that “Nothing is impossible with God.”

Today’s Gospel reading makes clear that nothing is impossible with God, but human cooperation is required.

When Mary hears the angel’s greeting—“Hail, full of grace.  The Lord is with you.”—she is “greatly troubled” and wonders what this means.  She’s not just a little bit bothered.  She doesn’t just think, “Whoa, this is weird.”  She is “greatly” troubled.

When Gabriel then explains about her conceiving a son who will be called Son of the Most High, whom God will give the throne of David, who will rule over the House of Jacob forever, and whose kingdom will have no end, Mary has more questions.  She wants to understand God’s plan, as much as she can.

And when she does understand, she proclaims her faith and agrees to cooperate with God’s plan:  “I am the handmaid of the Lord.  Let it be done to me according to your word.”  In other words, “I am the servant of God.  I agree to the plan you have explained to me.”

The lesson for us is that when we hold onto “Nothing will be impossible with God,” we also have to be willing, in faith, to cooperate with God.  We have to seek understanding of how God wants to use us to accomplish God’s will.  Then we have to profess that we are the servants of the Lord, ready to let God’s will be done in us and through us and by us.

Mary didn’t say, “Well, I’d like to be the Mother of God, but I don’t want to spend any money or put out any effort, so I’ll just wait to see what God does for me, since nothing is impossible with God.”

In the same way, a parish cannot say, “Well, we’d like to grow and flourish, but we don’t want to spend any money or put out any effort, so we’ll just wait to see what God does for us through the bishop, or the priest, or maybe a new priest.  After all, nothing is impossible with God.”

If we want to conceive the Son of God in our parish, as the Son of God was conceived in Mary’s womb, we have to say, “We are your servants, Lord; we’re ready to do whatever it takes to cooperate with your will and accomplish your plan.  We’ll spend whatever it takes and put out whatever effort is required.  For nothing is impossible with You and nothing is impossible for us when we work with You.  And so we give You thanks and praise and glory, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages.  Amen.”

Homily for 22 March 2015--Fifth Sunday of Great Lent: "Relationship with the Living God"

Homily for Fifth Sunday of Great Lent—St Mary of Egypt

22 March 2015 10 April 2011

Epistle:  Hebrews 9:11-14                                Gospel:  Mark 10:32-45

 

In today’s reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, the author tells us that “the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God, will cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God.”

By sacrificing His own life, Christ takes away our sins so that we can worship the living God.

Like so much of our Christian faith, this seems to be a contradiction or a paradox:  Christ, who as God is immortal, dies so that we mortals, who are dead because of sin, can worship the living God.

What is eternal and immortal dies . . .

What is dead comes to life . . .

But God is living, now and always and forever . . .

This is what is important.  This is what saves us.  This is the great Truth we celebrate at Pascha and in every liturgy and every day.  Our God is the Living God who gives us eternal life.

It’s interesting that “dead works” is the phrase used to describe sins—which Christ’s death takes away so that we can properly worship the living God.

What does “dead works” mean?  Works are our actions, our efforts, our deeds—the things that we do on our own, by our own motivation, for our own purposes.  They are dead because they don’t come from God and they don’t lead us back to God.  When we try to do things on our own—by me, to me, for me—then we’re acting without God; we’re acting as if we don’t need God.  Ultimately, we’re acting as though we believe we can save ourselves.  And that is a dangerous delusion.

Sometimes we do this even when we are trying to be good and religious and holy.  For example, sometimes people want to do something good for the church, but it has to be done their way, on their terms, without the help of anyone else—even if doing it that way causes disagreement or resentment or offense.

Similarly, sometimes people insist on being married in church or having their baby baptized—even though they never come to church or have no intention of being part of the church.

They want to do the works without, it seems, having a relationship with the Living God.  And so those works are dead.  If we focus on the actions or the rules or the appearances rather than on how they connect us to God, they become just empty shells.

This is what Jesus means when He tells James and John that they don’t know what they’re asking for when they ask to be seated beside Him in Paradise.  They don’t see beyond the position, the privilege, the prestige, to the sacrifice, the suffering, the relationship involved.

The relationship with the Living God must come first.  We have to value it and want it.  We have to know that we can’t get it on our own, by our own efforts.  We have to do what Jesus did—we have to put other people first, to serve rather than be served—so that we will come to know the Living God in living people, who are made in God’s image and likeness and who show God’s face to us.

Jesus invites us to this relationship with the Living God.  He has already made it possible, and continues to make it possible, because He gave His life as a ransom for many, cleansing us of our dead works and teaching us to worship the Living God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages.  Amen.

Homily for 15 March 2015--Fourth Sunday of Great Lent

The Power of God and the Importance of Faith

Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Great Lent (15 Mar. 2015, 26 Mar. 2006)

Hebrews 6:13-20           Mark 9:17-31

 

Today’s Gospel story of the man whose son was possessed by an unclean spirit teaches us about the power of God and the importance of faith.

The boy whose father brings him to Jesus is possessed by a demon or spirit that tries to destroy him.  It makes him unable to speak; it takes control of his body and throws him around, even into the fire and into water.  Actually, it sounds a lot like what we would call epilepsy.  We now understand that epilepsy and other diseases are not caused by evil spirits, but they still cause pain and destruction, and need healing.

In fact, we can look at this Gospel story as a metaphor or image for any kind of affliction over which we have no control and which works to destroy us and to affect those around us.  This could be illness of the body, such as cancer or diabetes or heart disease or AIDS.  It could be illness of the mind, such as severe depression or schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.  It could be an addiction, such as to gambling or drugs or alcohol.

Every human being has some sort of affliction or addiction, and every human being also knows and loves someone else who also is afflicted or addicted.  We all know how destructive these afflictions are; truly they do seem to come from evil or unclean spirits.

In the Gospel story, the spirit attacks the boy, which also hurts the father.  It is as though the Devil is trying to destroy the father’s faith in God by attacking his son.

When the demon sees Jesus, it immediately attacks the boy:  it knows that Jesus has power over it, so it tries to scare the father away from asking Jesus to heal his son.  But the father is desperate and determined.  He pleads with Jesus:  “If you are able, have pity and help us.”

At this point, he is not fully aware of Jesus’ power as the Son of God, so he says, “If you are able.”  Jesus notices the father’s uncertainty and tells him, “All things can be done for those who believe.”  This leaves no doubt of God’s power—“All things can be done.”  But at the same time it emphasizes the need for our faith—“for those who believe.”  So the father cries out, “I do believe, but help my unbelief.”

Belief, or faith in God, is our decision to accept God’s power and authority and control of our lives.  Illness and pain and suffering can be used by the Devil to try to weaken or destroy our faith, so, like the possessed boy’s father, we also need to ask God to “help our unbelief” as well as to have pity and heal us and those we love.  “Help my unbelief” is another way of saying, “Strengthen my faith.”  The more we turn to God for help, the more God can help us, for “all things can be done for those who believe.”

Believing, and holding on to our belief, takes work.  As Jesus told the disciples, some spirits can be driven out only by prayer and fasting.  Keeping our faith requires discipline and determination.  And we have to keep on, even when what we hope and pray for doesn’t happen, or when we cannot understand what does happen.  When we have faith, all things can be done for us.  There is no guarantee that they will be done, or when or how we want them to be done.  We cannot dictate to God; we can only pray, “Have pity on us and help us, and help our unbelief!”

And we can always give thanks and praise and glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, One God, unto the ages of ages.  Amen.

Homily for 8 March 2015, Third Sunday of Great Lent--the Veneration of the Holy Cross

The Cross is a Gift, not a Burden

Homily for the Third Sunday of Great Lent (8 Mar. 2015, 19 Mar. 2006)

Hebrews 4:14-5:6           Mark 8:34-9:1

 

When we come to the end of the forty days of Great Lent and the end of Great and Holy Week, we look upon the Cross as the terrible instrument of the Lord’s suffering and death.  We see Him nailed and set up on the Cross like a common thief.  We take down His precious and wounded Body and lay Him with tears and flowers in the tomb, and we erect the empty cross as a sign of our grief—but also as a sign that the tomb will soon be empty, Christ will be risen from the dead, our grief will turn to joy, and defeat will turn into victory.

Today we are half-way through the forty days; half-way to the tragedy of the Crucifixion; half-way to the triumph of the Resurrection.  And today also we focus on the Cross.  It stands in the middle of Great Lent like a shady tree in the middle of the desert; like the Tree of Life in the middle of the Garden of Paradise.

In the Gospel reading for today, Jesus tells us that if we want to be His followers, we must deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him.  This reminds us that we have choices on life’s journey—but only one choice will lead us after our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ through death to everlasting life.

We can choose not to take up our cross and follow Jesus.  We can choose not to deny ourselves—in other words, we can choose to live for pleasure, or money, or power, or food, or drugs, or work, or whatever we want.  But that choice will not make us followers of Christ.

We can become followers of Christ only if we choose, as Christ chose, to take up our cross.  For us, the Holy Cross is like a staff or a walking stick that we use to support ourselves on our journey through life.  It is strong enough for us because it has already carried Jesus our Savior.  It will not fail to bring us back to Paradise.

At first, today’s reading from the Letter to the Hebrews might not seem to be about the Holy Cross.  But when we read it carefully and understand how the writer talks of Jesus’ sacrifice as High Priest, we realize that Jesus’ sacrifice for the sins of the people was His death for us on the Holy Cross.

The author shows us that every high priest chosen from among the people made sacrifices for the people and for himself—but Jesus, being God as well as Man, made a sacrifice of Himself, not of a lamb or some other animal.  He was the perfect sacrifice—the one who as God could offer Himself—the priest as well as the offering—so no more blood sacrifices have to be made.  In the Divine Liturgy, we refer several times to this “unbloody” or “bloodless” sacrifice—the bread and wine we offer become the Body and Blood of Christ that He offered once for all.

But because Jesus was human as well as divine, He understands how we feel.  He knows our self-doubt and self-contempt because of our sins.  He knows that we need a way to sacrifice something for our sins so that we can come closer to Him.  So He gives us His Cross to carry, so that we can share His sacrifice and follow Him to death and resurrection.

For us, then, the Holy Cross is a gift, not a burden.  It is a help, not an obstacle.  It is the way, not the destination.  It is not the end—it is the beginning of Eternal Life with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, One God, unto the ages of ages.  Amen.