Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“[B]ut glory, honor, and peace to every man who worketh good, . . . For there is no respect of persons with God.”
The Church, beloved, has been living a festal ecstasy at least since Great and Holy Pascha. Indeed, we might even say that since the start of Great and Holy Lent, She has been living an extraordinary life. We have been with Jesus on the mountain for several months now, seemingly having built tabernacles for each of us. However, like our Lord and His Disciples, we, too, must descend the glory we have been inhabiting and return, as they did, to the world and persons and circumstances that dwell at the base of the mountain, if you recall the story of His holy Transfiguration and the chaos that greeted them upon their return (Mt. 17:1-21; Mk.9:2-29; Lk. 9:28-42). Some in liturgical circles refer to this as the “ordinary” days of life. Some have inferred from this that the ordinary days are mundane, lackluster, where God’s divine Presence to save and sanctify is, not necessarily absent, but greatly blunted in power and effect.
I would contend, on the other hand – and I believe Orthodoxy would too overall – that these days are indeed full of the Presence of God to save and sanctify all who allow themselves to enter into the ordinariness of life where most all of us dwell, remembering always that the Holy Spirit is “everywhere present and fillest all things, Treasury of blessings and Giver of Life” in these days pregnant with the uncreated grace of God. Coming off of Great and Holy Pentecost and its joy, the Holy Spirit doesn’t ditch us, but tabernacles with us in the Church and presides over the orchestration of the divine in this world. We may depart from Him, but He does not depart from us, so to speak, though Sacred Scripture does use that language to reinforce for us the seriousness of our emptiness when we leave the Spirit of holiness behind. It is the task of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ, the Comforter, to make Christians of us, to transfigure us with His grace that we might be made saints – sons of God – for that is our calling and our destiny in Jesus Christ should we persevere to the end, that is to say, should we keep the Faith (Jn. 1:12; Rm. 1:7; 1 Cr. 1:2). And, the Holy Spirit does His purifying and sanctifying work here in the Church in the midst of the ordinary days of our lives, so that sinners are made into saints by the divine work and power of the Spirit of God, transforming little by little the likes of men and women and children, mothers and fathers, fishermen, tax collectors, shepherds, soldiers, farmers, kings and queens, Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, prostitutes, drug addicts, alcoholics, white collar and blue collar, the good and the bad, Jews and Gentiles – anyone and everyone who has been called by God to come and follow this Jesus (Mt. 4:18-23). Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
St. Paul in today’s Epistle lays before us some of the very basics, reminding us that status is meaningless in the eyes of the Almighty, whether we are Jew or Gentile, that is, people of God’s Covenant or outsiders to it (Ep. 2:11-12; 1 Pe. 2:9-10). Perhaps much to the chagrin of this world with its unbiblical and distorted image of God (because it has lost the divine revelation by neglect or outright rejection, as the Apostle indicates today), Sacred Scripture is not apologetic to say that, although God is the Father and Creator of all tribes, nations, and tongues, He and He alone has chosen from among them all a very special and specific people whom He has called out and enlightened with His divine revelation (Ex. 19:5-6; Dt. 5:2-3; 7:6-11; 10:12-22; Rm. 9:1-11:36). This Covenant, then, passed or was renewed in Jesus Christ the Son of God and the Church is its fruit, the New Israel of God, in Whom is the fulfillment of all the promises (Ga. 6:16).
And yet, this status divinely bestowed does not relieve any of us from being Christians and becoming saints – a holy people set apart by divine favor (known and understood solely by God), to become a holy people by God’s grace in the power of the Holy Spirit; to become like God as He heals, restores, and reconciles His image in us through His Son Jesus Christ. This is basic to our ordinary life: God fills all in all each and every day (Ep. 1:23).
And, the Apostle reminds us that each of us, Jew and Gentile, believer or unbeliever, will face the Judgment of God Who judges all souls impartially. The Church reminds us that we live – and die – with a destiny: to stand before the dread Judgment Seat of Christ for which we pray to have a good defense on that Day (Great Entrance Litany of Supplication; Our Father Litany). Just as an aside: it is interesting, at least to me, that liturgically we don’t begin to implore God for this good defense at the dread Judgment Seat until we prepare to come before the very Throne of God with the Gifts. The closer God draws to us the more we need to implore His mercy to “complete the remaining time of our life in peace and repentance” and that we may be granted “a Christian ending to our life, painless, blameless, and peaceful, and a good defense before the dread Judgment Seat of Christ.” Of course, as I said, this is just a personal musing on my part.
And, lest we think any should escape or not be held culpable, the Apostle assures us that the Jews with the giving of the divinely inspired Mosaic Law as inscribed on the stone tablets – and that of the Church with Her divine revelation inscribed in Holy Tradition – along with the Gentiles who have not the Mosaic Law nor the divine revelation of the Church, but the natural law inscribed in their very beings by the Creator God called the conscience, shall all be equally judged by God, none escaping the divine scrutiny. God “’will render to each one according to his deeds’” (Ps. 61 [62]:12; Pr. 24:12; Rm. 2:6). Each will be held accountable to the light God has provided, be it in and through the Law of divine revelation or the divinely inscribed Law in the conscience. “For as many as have sinned without Law will also perish without Law, and as many as have sinned in the Law will be judged by the Law,” says the Apostle. St. Paul might say, “Ignorance of the Law, therefore, is no excuse.” Why? Because the Gentiles who have not the Law nor divine revelation such as the Jews have and the Church, nevertheless, are found to be doing by nature “the things of the Law.” The Church has long held that there is special or divine revelation inscribed in Her Holy Tradition (which includes Sacred Scripture) and general or natural revelation which is, by its very nature, limited by the Fall (that’s why God found it necessary to give divine revelation).
Although our conscience has been darkened by sin, it is nonetheless still functioning, not having been totally effaced or depraved in the Fall (unless we have deadened it through repeated abuses of sin called habitual sin at the expense of our conscience). The Apostle assures us in his first chapter that God has not abandoned us. Our creation by His hand with the imprint of His divine image, albeit blunted by our fall into sin, nevertheless continues to provide guidance. All of nature or creation bears witness to God so that none of us are excusable or can plead, “I didn’t know, Lord!” And, lest we question the veracity of the Apostle, we all can find the conscience at work in a statement such as this after transgressing a boundary: “You know in your heart that x, y and z are wrong” or “I knew I shouldn’t have done such and such!” We may not know the finer details (provided by divine revelation, let’s say), but God still operates within to “tell” us something is amiss, something isn’t quite right.
Although blunted by the Fall, it seems to me, our conscience is still better at discerning what’s wrong rather than what’s right. What do I mean? Too often in our culture we associate right with what “feels” right or what “feels” good – an emotionally-based decision immortalized in an old secular song that goes something to the effect of, “If it feels so right, how can it be so wrong?” We also know how much our emotions control us. In the heat of the moment, we may feel very right in giving someone a piece of our mind – and feel justified! – but afterwards we may very well feel that gnawing twinge of conscience (which is God’s Law at work in us). In retrospect, we felt a greater urge to set someone right or put them in their place instead of heeding the voice of our conscience that’s telling us it’s better to listen to Jesus and zip our lip. How many regrets could we have avoided in our life if we had paid attention to our conscience in this and other matters? That old image of an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other is very much true from the Fathers’ perspective. If we didn’t have a conscience, we wouldn’t sense or have a tug-of-war.
In our creation, God has crowned us “with glory and honor” (Ps. 8:5). We have been created to be immortal, just like God, and have been made “to be an image of His own eternity” (WS 2:23). What Paul says in the first chapter of Romans (which is the basis of what we heard today), we have exchanged our true glory and honor for something less, something far more less and false. As Fr. Farley notes in his commentary on Genesis, “Man chose to rebel against God’s sovereignty, choosing to deify himself, and setting up his own moral autonomy apart from God” (In the Beginning, 82). This has great ramifications for our current cultural debacle which Romans 1 addresses (go home and read it). By pushing God out, by neutering God, everything becomes tolerable, acceptable, and felt to be good. We have substituted the glory of God given to us and restored through Jesus Christ with our own cheap imitation glory, and we are found to be sorely wanting. The Apostle urges us to set before our eyes the glory that is beyond us to which we are being called, and to pursue it doggedly, determinedly, like a hound on a scent. Although God’s grace continues to enlighten us all (for Christ enlightens every man coming into the world, according to the Gospel), there will come a time when God will indulge us and allow us to fall to our “vile passions” and delusions, thus experiencing the consequences of our conscious choices to exchange God for falsehood (Jn. 1:9; Rm. 1:18-32).
The Sacred Scriptures urge us to endure in faith, hope, and love for God. We are to “Trust in the Lord and do good” and “delight [ourselves] in the Lord,” committing ourselves to Him, resting in Him and waiting patiently with the Lord (Ps. 36 [37]:1-40). Herein is the key to sainthood, to being Christian: salvation comes to those who do not give up but fight on, seeking the glory and honor and immortality of God which is our original design, to surrender ourselves to the light of Jesus Christ with which we have all been enlightened and to grow continually in His grace and knowledge no matter what (2 Pe. 3:18). No man, no woman, is without God and will be judged accordingly. Those who have been given much, says our Lord, “’from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more’” (Lk. 12:48).
“God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ,” says the Apostle, whether inside or outside the Faith. He
“’will render to each one according to his deeds’: Eternal Life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the Truth, but obey unrighteousness – indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish . . . [B]ut glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good . . . For there is no partiality with God.
Jesus came, beloved, to heal us of all our diseases, especially sin (Mt. 4:18-23).
Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
PROPERS:
Rm. 2:10-16
Mt. 4:18-23