As preached by Brother Luke
Holy Wisdom Church
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
It is a common sight to see people enter an Orthodox church, approach an icon of Christ and then bend over and reach down to touch the ground before kissing the icon. The individual will often be offering a prayer at the same time. For people who are new to the Orthodox church, this pious act may be mysterious and even perplexing. These actions may very well be traced back to historic cultural customs in various societies. However, they also have a scriptural pedigree that is on display in today's gospel reading.
Notice what Jairus, the president of the synagogue, does as he approaches Jesus: "He fell at Jesus' feet and pleaded with him to come to his house." [LK8:41] And as Jesus was walking toward Jairus' house, he encounters another person seeking healing from him and the evangelist relates that: "The woman came forward trembling, and falling at his feet explained in front of all the people why she had touched him." [LK8:47]
We have on display next to the Golgotha an icon of Christ that is known as "Extreme Humility" and it is the image connected to Jesus' passion. We often say that Jesus, by his life, passion and death, modeled for us a way of being that runs contrary to that which is expected in modern society. After all, popular culture is all about self expression and self promotion, the current understanding of the idea of freedom. Humility, not to mention "extreme humility," are not part of our modern lexicon. And yet this is what Jesus modeled to us.
Jesus humility goes beyond any physical posture or expression. In both healings in today's gospel Jesus does not take credit for anything and does not point to himself as savior. What he does say to the woman with the hemorrhage is: "Your faith has saved you, go in peace." [LK8:48] When word of Jairus' daughter's passing reaches Jesus, he says to Jairus: "Do not be afraid, only have faith and she will be saved."[LK8:50].
Once the healing has taken place, he cautions Jairus and his family, as he does so often in the gospels, not to tell others what has happened. [LK8:56] His goal is not self promotion, but rather to teach, by example, those who come to him, what faith looks like. Over and over he encourages people: "Do not be afraid. Only have faith."
It's a hard call when tragedy is on one's doorstep. The individuals in today's gospel will live, but they will also die, as will we all. When Jesus' says "only have faith, do not be afraid," he is teaching us about more than just this life. It is about life eternal. Is is faith in the resurrection. A faith that transcends any earthly sorrow. It is the ultimate joy that brings us through sorrow to a place that abolishes all sorrow. It is why Isaiah says to us: "Do not fear." [Is41:13] It is the gospel St Paul preached. It is the lifeline we receive in Holy Communion. It is why we are Christians.
Glory be to Jesus Christ
Monday, November 28, 2022
Tuesday, November 1, 2022
Our Lady of the Sign October 30, 2022 Isaiah 7:13-17, Hebrews 9:1-11, Matthew 1:20-23
As preached by Sister Cecelia
Holy Wisdom Chapel
The first tabernacle mentioned in the Epistle this morning
was a symbol of the divinity always with us. In Exodus, God said to Moses: “Make
me a sanctuary that I may dwell in their midst.” Today’s feast commemorates the
symbol of Mary, the Mother of God—the sanctuary of Emmanuel in our midst.
What does it mean that Jesus—God—is in our midst? When
Joseph heard that the Child had been conceived by the work of the Holy Spirit,
what might that have meant to Joseph? The Jewish idea was that the Holy Spirit
brought God’s truth to humanity. It was the Holy Spirit who told the
prophets what to say and holy ones what to do. The name “Jesus” is the Greek
form of “Joshua,” the savior of his people. Jesus came to save us by telling us
the truth about God and the truth about ourselves. Jesus assured his disciples
that those who had seen Him had seen the Father. The truth about the Father is
that God is love, compassion, and mercy.
Mary’s role is to bring us in worship into contact with
Divinity. Her arms raised in prayer are a symbol that she is praying for and
with the whole church—which is all of us. As members of the body of Christ we
are no longer strangers and sojourners; we are fellow citizens with the holy
ones and are members of God’s household. It is essential that we understand and
embody what that means.
We sometimes believe that we are not worthy and do not
matter. Yet, the apostles, as flawed as they might have been, were the first
living stones of the church. We follow in their footsteps. We are necessary for
the being that is the church, the body of Christ. While Christ is the capstone,
God is the Great Builder, who calls us to be part of what makes the Body sacred
and whole.
If we examine the life of a human being as it appears
externally, we find in that life—as in all things—a common trait of being bound
up with and limited by time. Every earthly thing lives for only a moment,
joining one tiny interval to the next, just as one breath follows the other
that life may continue. Everything we do, whether in the inner life or the
external work of the body, takes place in time. We are born, and we die.
Everything that has a beginning must come to an end in time. Both the wine of
joy and the bitter wave of suffering end in death.
Still, there is something in these things that does not pass
away. In the indifference of all coming and going, there mysteriously lives
something full of meaning, something eternal. Each moment of time, and each
human deed, leaves what is eternal in it—the good or the evil. Is it not both a
comforting and a frightful mystery—that our deeds sink into nothingness, but
before they do, they give birth to something eternal that does not disappear?
The fluctuation of time ceases and sets free the ground of the soul that until
now was seen by God alone. This means that an individual travels the path of
their life through time into an eternity that is no longer time.
Mary traveled this path, as well as we. With her as with all
of us on this earth, life was a restless coming to be and passing away. Her
life began quietly and then ended. In between those two points, her life was
filled with the changes that constitute life. It was filled with the cares
common to all. Hers was filled with hours of utmost joy in God her Savior,
joined with many routine, ordinary hours and of heart-breaking grief. Such a
life did not come to an end. Her whole life entered eternity. Every joy and
every pain, the great and the small, lives on in the eternal goodness of the
one passing into eternity.
Mary’s role is to remind us that God is the Great Builder
who calls us to be part of what makes the Body sacred and whole while we live
in time. It is essential that we understand and embody what that means.
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