Daily Devotional Scripture Meditations from Dynamis

St. Mark 10:46-52 (2/4) For Mon. of the 37th Week after Pentecost (Mon., 32nd Week)

Blind Beggars: St. Mark 10:46-52, especially vs. 46: “As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging.” Beloved of the Lord, like Bartimaeus of Jericho, we are all blind beggars. Who among us is not working a place that he believes will be propitious for making a living? After all, each one of us found our way to what seemed a potentially good method for coping with life’s demands. We did so to garner from the passing traffic what we believe we need to survive. Some of us found very comfortable, productive places along life’s roadway; for others, our spots have not proven so ideal. The son of Timaeus was used to working the Jerusalem roadway, especially during the high seasons when it was crowded with pilgrims - like Passover.

Bartimaeus was blind. According to the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemos, he was blind from birth, although the four Gospels don’t mention the fact. No matter - without social services in the naked way of the first century - he depended entirely on begging to earn his living, for blindness narrowed his options. Which of us, like this man, can say that he sees clearly all that is coming toward him in life? We do the best we can, discerning what is likely, learning to survive where we are, using what we have, and “making do” with what we hear. But like Bartimaeus there is a realm or dimension of life we miss by living outside our hearts - the things of the Spirit and Truth. Most of us are quite blind in that all-important realm.

Most who are blind - like Bartimaeus - have other senses finely tuned to changes occurring around them. He not only sensed that a greater than usual pilgrim crowd was passing, but he “heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth” Who was the epicenter and force that was stirring this large crowd moving past him (vs. 47). As a beggar, he had no shame in calling out to Jesus. There was nothing to lose and everything to gain (vss. 47,48). Learn to assert yourself toward the Savior; cry out to the Lord Jesus. He is our compassionate God. There is nothing to lose and everything to gain! You and I both know that Christ is renown for His lovingkindness, for His healing, and for hearing even the faintest cries of the poor and needy that others ignore. By all means, cry out to Him in faith and in longing. He draws near!

Notice the interaction between Bartimaeus and the Lord Jesus. Cries to the Lord Jesus are apt to cause Him to “stand still” and command us into His presence (vs. 49). Let us quit praying mindlessly, but from our need for healing. (And who of Adam’s kin does not yearn for healing from sin’s blight on his life?) Also, “be of good cheer,” knowing that “He is calling you” (vs. 49). Why not freely cast off the layers of personal protection. For a first-century beggar, it was his “himation,” the upper covering or mantle wrapped against weather and sun (vs. 50). For you and me, it probably is pride, the desire “to look good,” or some craving that has us begging.

Observe: when the son of Timaeus came before Jesus, His Creator asked him, “What do you want Me to do for you?” (vs. 51). What, indeed! It was simple for a blind man - his sight! Let us be straightforward: “Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of David, have mercy upon me a sinner, a blind beggar before Thee.” And Jesus healed Bartimaeus’ physical and spiritual sight.

So come trusting in the same Lord, yearn to receive His healing for all your blindnesses. The power of the Lord is extraordinary. He is able to transform any beggar into a disciple (vs. 52) - any disabled person into one able to pull the hard, uphill climb to Jerusalem and the Cross. Yes even you and I, mired down as we are in darkness and in need, we can be transformed.

O Christ our God, Who didst lighten the eyes of the beggar Bartimaeus, lighten Thou the eyes of our souls, and reveal us as sons of the day, that we may cry out to Thee in faith!

St. Luke 22:39-42, 45-23:1 (3/4) Gospel for Tuesday of the Week of Cheesefare

Fasting II ~ Strength: St. Luke 22:39-42, 45-23:1, especially vs. 69: “Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God.” Beaten, blindfolded, blasphemed, and mocked, the Lord Jesus stands among those trying Him (and before us), and He declares that He soon will possess the full “power of God.” Already His restraint, confidence, and assuredness manifest a remarkable human strength of will, heart, and soul. Be attentive! He is offering such strength to you and me now and the “power of God...hereafter.” Fasting is a means to strength.

Necessarily, we must look beyond any incidental weakening of the body and soul brought about when abstaining and fasting. All ascesis is carried out, first and foremost, as a means of attaining the strength of “the Kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Mt. 6:33). As Bishop Kallistos Ware says, fasting “is directed not against the body, but against the flesh. Its aim is not destructively to weaken the body, but creatively to render the body more spiritual.” The strength we seek in fasting is a restoration of the natural powers that God intends for our spirits, souls, and bodies, a gaining of power and restraint over uncontrolled lusts, appetites, and provocations.

This passage from St. Mark portrays the Lord Jesus in His final hours starting in the Garden of Gethsemane and concluding with the Sanhedrin’s decision to gain an order of execution from Pontius Pilate. By observing our Lord in the early stages of His Passion, we may discern the power that God intends for us to gain by many means including fasting: strength to pray for victory over temptation, strength to meet the powers of darkness from meekness and that spiritual health that enabled Jesus, as a man, to stand before the opponents of God. We too may witness in Faith to the human potential that God gives as His life floods into ours.

Coming into the Garden, the Lord Jesus urges us and all His disciples to “pray that you may not enter into temptation” (Lk. 22:40). The Eleven were not able to sustain their prayers at this critical time, even when the Lord kindly repeated His admonition (vs. 46). The Evangelist explains why: “He found them sleeping from sorrow” (vs. 45). Perhaps as a result of the Lord Jesus’ warnings, the Disciples were overcome with sorrow at His predictions of His blood being shed (Lk. 22:20), of His betrayal (Lk. 22:21-22), of their own imminent failure to stand with Him (Lk. 22:31-34), and of His being “numbered with the transgressors” (Lk. 22:37).

All right, since we aim to empower our spirituality by fasting, the failure of the Eleven then reminds us that strength finally comes by God and for His glory and purposes. So let us moderate our desires with much confidence - God is in charge and is using the events of the present. Temptation and sorrow will weaken before us as the strength of God grows in us.

Indeed, fasting strengthens our spirits to meet the power of darkness with the same God-given meekness and inner strength that the Lord Jesus displayed when the authorities arrested Him (Lk. 22:47-54). He permits Judas’ kiss (vss. 47,48). He stops all resistance by a command (vs. 51). He immediately heals the servant of the High Priest (vs. 51). He quietly allows the officials to arrest Him and to lead Him to the High Priest’s house (vs. 54). The strong in spirit, those whose hearts are empowered through union with Christ, who know God’s infinite love for them, are able to stand pure and strong in all circumstances. Now, that’s strength!

Fasting reveals human weakness, but, more, it shows Christ’s almighty strength. Fasting can help make us indomitable before our opponents. At Jesus’ arrest, Peter failed. But, in time, by the Lord’s power, we can attain the strength to face Christ-hating assaults calmly as Peter did.

O Compassionate One, help us to hasten to the subjugation of the flesh by abstinence as we approach the divine battlefield of blameless fasting, and shower us with Thy strength.

Genesis 12:1-7 (4/4) 1st Reading at Vespers on Friday of the 4th Week of the Great Fast

The Patriarch Abraham I ~ Call and Promise: Genesis 12:1-7, especially vss. 1, 2: “And the Lord said to Abram, Go forth out of thy land and out of thy kindred, and out of the house of thy father, and come into the land which I shall shew thee. And I will make thee a great nation.” With this present reading from Genesis, we begin a series of five weekday lessons concerning the Patriarch Abraham, the standard and shining example of faith. In these readings we may observe the faith of Abraham, a faith that obeys God although uncertain of the outcome, a faith that is open to whatever God wills, a faith that discovers God’s faithfulness, a faith willing to make change deep within one’s self, and a faith that trusts God without reservation.

Beloved, honor this man; for, having only the barest grasp of what was implied in the call he received, he obeyed God. He left a well-known life for a vaguely defined outcome, a result stated in generalities. And keep in mind: open-ended obedience to God’s call is the nature of genuine faith. First, one obeys, and only afterwards, may one grasp what God intended all along. Faith is stepping into the unknown in order to learn and experience directly the mind of God. True faith, of the sort that Abram reveals, continues to believe in God through the years filled with contradictions. Faith trusts God for the outcomes He promises.

God certainly makes impressive promises to those whom He calls to serve Him. In Abram’s case, the Lord said, “I will make thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and magnify thy name, and thou shalt be blessed. And I will bless those that bless thee, and curse those that curse thee, and in thee shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed” (vss. 2,3). These promises of God are magnificent, yet the content of the words is not specifically measurable, tangible, or defined. Faith means acting obediently, with open-ended trust in God, not knowing the outcome.

God’s call confronts every Orthodox Christian similarly. His call is majestically stated to all the Faithful in the inspiring promises of the Baptismal Mystery. Therein, God assures each one who presents himself for Holy Baptism that he shall “find life,” be inscribed in God’s “Book of Life,” be united to the “flock of [God’s] inheritance,” be regarded by God “with mercy,” be heard in “his supplication,” and enabled “to rejoice in the works of his hands and in all his generation.” Note that the words are suggestive, but not specific. A Christian obeys in faith and only later discovers the details of what God promises.

The life in Christ is a series of choices and actions undertaken after the manner of Abram. It is a “journey” away from the measurable and familiar toward new “life.” One learns this life through sustained obedience through the years. God establishes His priorities, and these detach the Faithful from elevating family, property, friends, career, or pleasure into absolutes for living.

The Baptismal Liturgy outlines both what to expect as outcomes as well as the route to this “inheritance.” We anticipate more illumination from the Holy Spirit. We expect to defeat “every snare of enemies...visible and invisible;” but we know that we have to prove ourselves as children of the Light, to “partake of the death and resurrection” of Christ through choices, to accept God’s direction at every turn along the way, always obeying His commandments.

From the call of God to the fulfillment of His promises, Abram’s experience teaches one to expect contradictions. Arriving in the Promised Land, “Abram traversed the land” (vs. 6), but only to discover that it was occupied. The “life” we are promised in Baptism is only partially realized in our present existence. “This life” is inhabited with cares and riches ready to snare us and to choke out God’s “life.” Expect contradictions, but keep trusting God - He is true life!

May we live the remainder of our life undefiled before Thy face, and worthily hymn Thee.

St. John 20:19-31 (5/4) CHRIST IS RISEN! Gospel for the Sunday of Thomas

Avoiding Christ: St. John 20:19-31, especially vs. 31: “...but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His Name.”

It is worth the effort to examine closely our willingness to believe in the Lord Jesus as the One in Whose Name is Life. The Forerunner John challenged men to accept Jesus as God, as the One Who is above all men by nature, the living Truth of God embodied as man. (Jn. 1:15-18).

The present passage is from the end of St. John’s Gospel and records events from the final days of the Lord’s physical presence, but the Forerunner’s challenge remains and is for us: will we commit ourselves to Jesus as Thomas did, crying out “My Lord and my God” (vs. 28)? The Forerunner’s challenge came before the healings, the teachings, the Cross and the glorious Resurrection. On the other hand, Thomas had time to “think over” the issue. Thus, his confession of the risen Lord faces us. The One Who was dead stands before you and me, challenging us: look at My wounds, touch Me. I have trampled down death by My death. “Do not be unbelieving, but believing” (vs. 27). What will it be - acceptance or avoidance?

How easy it is to avoid Christ, to evade His claim on one’s life: stay away from the Church and her worship. Out of sight, out of mind! It is the “method of choice” for many. The disciple Thomas “was not with them when Jesus came” (vs. 24). What did he know of the gladness, the joy when Life touched and renewed them (vs. 20)? Their story was “all right for them,” but Thomas demanded tangible proof (vs. 25). When he rejoined the other Disciples, the Resurrection was for him hearsay - the experience of others and without personal vitality.

Beloved, the undistorted, living presence of the Lord in His fulness occurs when the Orthodox Faithful gather for the Liturgy. When we stay away, the clamor and claims of the world deaden our hearts to the Lord Jesus’ presence. Of course He is everywhere, yet how shall we hear Him fully, or how shall we truly “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Ps. 33:8), apart from the Liturgy? The world promotes not being with the Church, not being forgiven (vs. 23), not hearing His peace (vs. 21), not being filled with the life-giving Spirit (vs. 22), not receiving His true Body (vs. 27).

Instead, the world offers pleasures in ample abundance: sleeping in, sports, travel, work, hobbies, entertainment, family-time, and chores. One chooses whether or not to join in the action of the Body of Christ, a decision avoided once, and then repeatedly. St. Ignatius said clearly: “Unless a man is within the sanctuary, he lacks the Bread of God...Therefore he who does not come to the assembly is already proud.” The world corrupts. The Lord heals and cleanses.

There is another way to avoid the Lord’s claim. The technique is to set up one’s own conditions for submission to Christ as God: “Unless I see...and put my hand into His side, I will not believe” (vs. 25). Such an assertion is fueled by self-assurance and pride. The demand for objective, verifiable evidence sounds entirely reasonable at first blush, but it is human “wisdom.” The contemporary world is filled with people who brush the Lord aside with this demand.

Be advised: God does not stop anyone who tosses aside the claim of the Person and ministry of the Lord Jesus. He allows us to set our standards of evaluation, to “reduce the size of the playing field,” and to “prove” what pleases us at the moment. The results are materialism, self-indulgence, and the passions. When God is addressed as another hypothesis, where is the mystery that humanizes life? Listen to St. Paul: “Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” (1 Cor. 1:20). Beloved, join Thomas and say:

Turn the obstinacy of my soul into fervent faith, that I may cry out from the depths of my soul, Thou art my Master and God, Who didst arise from the dead. Glory to Thee!

St. John 12:36-47 (6/4) CHRIST IS RISEN! Gospel for the Leave-taking of Pascha

Who Has Believed? St. John 12:36-47, especially vs. 38: “I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.” Beloved, as you read this passage, consider God’s commitment to our poor human race and to His creation bound in futility: His earnest desire “is not to judge the world, but to save the world” (vs. 47). “Salvation,” as the Lord Jesus uses the term, holds center place in God’s plan for mankind. Saving us from sin and death is the character of the Divine agenda, God’s design from eternity. It is His commitment to use the course of history to transform as many men and women as will confess Him and labor with Him in the fulfilling of His purpose for His entire creation.

While salvation is that which God is accomplishing in Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:19), still not everyone may be saved. That sad, negative truth also is declared very plainly in this present passage (vss. 37,40,48). God requires a right response to His initiative in Christ. The right response He seeks is belief in Jesus as King and God evidenced in (obeying) His words (vs. 46).

However, on every side, we see those who do not believe, make no effort to live by the Lord Jesus’ teaching (vs. 47). Why? Because resistance to God is the major problem of men and women from the dawn of time. This problem, when considered by the Evangelist John (vss. 37-43), led him to reiterate the Prophet Isaiah’s question: “Lord, who has believed our report?” (vs. 38).

In vs. 40, St. John provides the first part of the answer with another quote from Isaiah (Is. 6:9,10): God would heal us if we would see the truth of His way. He will help in softening our hearts, and we may turn and obey. A caution here: a hasty reading of this verse might lead to the conclusion that God actually prevents us from seeing the truth, that He hardens our hearts, guaranteeing that we cannot turn to Him and be healed. Thankfully, the Lord explicitly rejects this false notion: “I did not come to judge...but to save...” (vs. 47).

You may move beyond what appears to be a contradiction by observing the distinction between God’s active will and His permissive will. God does not actively blind us to prevent right perception - as vs. 40 might be wrongly read. Rather, He permits us freely to resist and fight against Him, allowing us to say “No” to Him or to turn to Him freely. We blind ourselves. That is the meaning of verse 40. There are predictable consequences with God (Rom. 1:21).

The second part of St. John’s answer emerges when one sees the “positive” truth in verse 40: there are individuals who do see – i.e., understand with their hearts, and turn to God. These He heals. An excellent commentary on vs. 40 is Deuteronomy 4:9: “Take heed to thyself, and keep thy heart diligently: forget not any of the things, which thine eyes have seen, and let them not depart from thine heart all the days of thy life.....” This harmonizes with the Lord’s point about keeping His words (Jn. 12:47). When you “see,” you make deliberate and God-pleasing efforts to obey.

However, we are weak-willed because of our sins. So can we diligently keep at those godly efforts that are required for salvation? The Lord Jesus here teaches us one simple habit for strengthening the resolve to obey: confession (vs. 42). This is not “confession of our sins” but living for the Lord Jesus publicly, openly, not hiding our commitment to Him (Mk. 8:38). True belief in Christ is lived as an “open secret,” because one sees and understands. Then, in interaction with others, the great mercy of salvation in manifested. Note: the Lord never suggests we “push” faith on other people, but neither are we to hide it. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Mt. 5:16).

O Lord, may we preserve our baptismal garment and the earnest of the Spirit pure and undefiled unto the dread Day of Christ our God and prove ourselves children of the Light.

St. Luke 6:17-23 (6/4) Gospel, the Feast of Metrophanes, 1st Patriarch of Constantinople

Hearing and Touching: St. Luke 6:17-23, especially vs.19,

“And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.” The Evangelist Luke repeats his description of the impact of the Lord Jesus’ presence amongst a great, mixed “...multitude of people...who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases...” (vs. 17). He never quite says that the Lord Jesus healed the diseased and demoniacally tormented. Rather, he notes that the multitude “sought” healing by touching Jesus because power manifestly went out from Him to which healing could be traced - “And they were healed” (vs. 18). Though St. Luke’s wording is indirect, its implication is that the Lord controlled the power that effected the healing (vs. 19).

Additionally, do not overlook the fact that the multitude also “...came to hear Him...” (vs. 17). This same note about the crowd is even spoken of by the Evangelist prior to his observation that the people “...sought to touch Him...” (in vs. 19). From the very start of the Lord Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, this combination of a teaching-to-be-heard and of evident healing power were present, so that our Lord was “...glorified by all” (see Lk. 4:14,15). It is no surprise that people sought to hear Christ because “...His word was with authority” (Lk. 4:32), amazing the populace to the extent that they said, “...What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out” (Lk. 4:36).

When we truly are in the presence of the Lord Jesus there is a powerful congruence between what we hear from Him and what He accomplishes within us, upon us, and for us. What happens personally for a Christian accounts for the desire to hear and touch the Lord, as fearsome as actually touching Him can be. Consider the experience of the fisherman, Simon Peter, who heard Jesus teach from his boat just off shore (Lk. 5:3). At a word from Jesus against experience, Peter launched out into the deep, and let down his nets (Lk. 5:4-7). The catch of fish was so enormous that Simon was cast into the depths of sin in his own soul. He confronted the terrifying power and holiness of the God-Man in his boat (Lk. 5:8). The hearing followed resulted in far more than a huge catch of fish. It turned into a revelation of sinfulness before utter holiness. Remember, we are speaking here of hearing and touching our God and King.

You and I hear and touch many people in this life. Their words and all the effects of all these people on us varies considerably - from inconsequential to profound. Beloved in Christ, consider this: we have been taught that, when we hear the Lord Jesus and we come and receive Him, we are right to say, “have pity on me, a sinner, as I approach and touch Thee.” There is a qualitative leap in our hearing and touching when we approach Christ Jesus. While He is a man like us in every respect, except for His being sin-free, He also is God Incarnate. To hear Him and touch Him goes beyond even the most profound contact we have with any other human being. Do not confuse the hearing and touching of Christ with contact with others. It is incomparable!

St. John the Evangelist places this qualitative difference in hearing and touching the Lord Jesus very plainly in his report of the attempt of the Pharisees and the chief priests to arrest Christ. They “...sent officers to take Him” (Jn. 7:32); but when the officers returned to the chief priests and Pharisees empty-handed, they could only answer “...No man ever spoke like this Man” (Jn. 7:46). May God give us ears to hear and grace to touch the living Lord Who meets us in the Scriptures, in the Liturgy of the Church, in the Holy Mysteries, and - pray God - in our hearts.

“I tremble in taking this fire lest I should be consumed as wax and grass. O dread mystery! O the Compassion of God! How is it that I an earthly creature, partake of the divine Body and Blood and am made incorruptible. O taste and see that the Lord is goo

St. Matthew 10:32-36; 11:1 (7/4) Gospel for Friday of the Third Week after Pentecost

God bestows His ultimate gift on us when we submit all that we are and have to Christ “as King and God.” Such surrender heals us - brings the inestimable, ultimate gift of God, His Holy and Life-giving Spirit to indwell, guide, and enrich us heart, soul, and body.

Discipleship Requirements IV ~ God’s Ultimate Provision: St. Matthew 10:32-36; 11:1, especially vs. 32: “Whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father Who is in heaven.” The Holy and Life-giving Spirit of God, indwelling our heart, soul, and body, is the ultimate gift that every Christian requires if he would rightly remain united to Christ Jesus our Savior. God the Holy Trinity provides the gift of the Holy Spirit to each of us, sealing His Presence in us - as the inestimable Divine gift within - when we submit all that we are and all that we have to Christ “as King and God.”

This provision of the Holy Spirit occurred at our initiation into the Christian Mystery, at which time we are required to declare: “I believe in [Christ] as King and God.” In that declaration, we hand over - we deliver - to the Lord Jesus full, unqualified rule over our life. St. Nikolai of Zica describes the implications of this submission thus: “What, then, my brethren, follows from the Holy Spirit’s taking up His abode in us? It follows that we are no longer our own. When the Holy Spirit takes up His abode in our bodies, then He becomes Lord over us, and not we over ourselves. Then, my brethren, we are the property of God the Holy Spirit.”

Note: the unqualified surrender of primary control over one’s life runs totally against the grain of the “great American value” - against independence, against “doing one’s own thing,” against self-actualization, against self-expression. How many of us Orthodox Christians - having long ago committed our self to Christ - fail to remember that we are submitted to Him and hence have little regard for His total claim over our lives! So often, this means that we mindlessly live with vague or no awareness of the inestimable value of complete submission. So, we rarely place our decisions, activities, and relationships under the deliberate scrutiny and direction of God the Holy Spirit Who waits - yes, Who yearns - to guide us to the very highest and best that could be ours.

Is it not obvious that most of us who confess Christ as Lord often default in our confession? Listen again to St. Nikolai: “the Holy Spirit is not constrained to remain with us, but does so according to our disposition. If we sin against Him, He leaves us and Satan comes in His place, and our bodily temple turns into a pigsty.” May God sound an alarm in our hearts before He withdraws, for the departure of the Holy Spirit takes away the true “gyro-control system” of one’s life, and control passes into the enemy’s hands. Truly, we become the “play thing” of the Devil, and though we say, “Our Father Who art in Heaven,” Christ denies us before the Father (Mt. 10:33). We are bereft and victimized as Satan wishes us to be.

What then? St. Symeon the New Theologian, reveals how the gift of the Holy Spirit may be restored: “let us not deceive ourselves: before we have experienced inward grief and tears there is no true repentance or change of mind in us, nor is there any fear of God in our hearts, nor have we passed sentence on ourselves, nor has our soul become conscious of the coming judgment and eternal torments. Had we accused ourselves...we would have immediately shed tears; for without tears our hardened hearts cannot be mollified, our souls cannot acquire spiritual humility, and we cannot be humble. If we do not attain such a state we cannot be united with the Holy Spirit. And if we have not been united with the Holy Spirit through purification, we cannot have either vision or knowledge of God, or be initiated into the hidden virtues of humility.”

There it is! The path homeward begins with a determined turning about, with full and hearty repentance. Then God the Holy Spirit will guide and enrich us heart, soul, and body.

Open to me the doors of repentance, O Life-giver; for my soul goeth early to the temple of Thy holiness, coming in my body, wholly polluted. Purify me by the compassion of Thy mercies!

St. John 15:17-16:2 (7/4) Gospel for the Feast of the Holy, Royal Martyrs of Russia

Pray to remain on the love side of the equation and not rejoin the world in the hate which we renounced along with Satan, and all his angels, and all his works; for having received “the Spirit of truth Who proceeds from the Father,” please, never turn back!

Love and Hate: St. John 15:17-16:2, especially vs. 24:

“'If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.'” On the night He was betrayed, Christ Jesus our Savior was acutely aware of the violent, imminent storm of hatred rushing toward Him - the terrible things we know as His Passion. This furious enmity He attributes to those whom He identifies simply as “the world” (vss. 18,19). Further, to all of us whom He has chosen “out of the world” (vs. 19), He adds another, solemn warning: “'...they will also persecute you'” (vs. 20). He earnestly desires that you and I be prepared for like fury. Why? “'...that you should not be made to stumble'” (vs. 1), for “'the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service'” (vs. 2).

Beloved, do not shrug off His warning because you have lived in a momentary lull. Our God has the vantage point above all history. He sees every bit of the hatreds, persecutions, and martyrdoms aimed at Him, His Father, and at us - His servants - through all time.

So, how does He begin this counsel? He commands us to “love one another” (vs. 17). Yes, from His vantage point, He has shown us how it really is: that we are not “of the world,” and that we urgently need to be kind, thoughtful, supportive, and loving to one another. Think about it: love is especially what we must have in the face of the sort of naked, implacable hatred of which He speaks and that will be ours because we “bear witness,” having been with Him “from the beginning” (vs. 27 ). Very simple: the world has “'seen and also hated both Me and My Father'” (vs. 24); and never forget that “the time is coming” for us (vs. 2). This is insider information that we are being given from the reliable One Who truly knows.

Oh, pray God that we will remain on the love side of the equation and not rejoin the world in the hate that we renounced along with “Satan, and all his angels, and all his works, and all his service, and all his pride.” Having received the seal of the gift of “1...the Spirit of truth Who proceeds from the Father...'” (vs. 26), please, may we never turn back. Listen to St. Seraphim of Sarov: “One must not nurse in one’s heart malice or hatred toward a neighbor who bears ill-will, but we must strive to love him and, as much as possible, do good, following the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ: Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you” (see Mt. 5:44).

You do not feel very loving? That is all right. It is not God’s highest and best, but the condition need not be fatal, principally because love is not foremost feelings, but choices, decisions, actions we can take whether or not we feel like doing them. Your eternal life and mine are at stake in this world. Listen, therefore, to the caution of St. Maximos the Confessor who had his tongue cut out for sticking by the truth: “strive to cleanse the nous (which the Lord calls ‘heart’) from hatred and dissipation. For these defile the nous and do not allow it to see Christ, who dwells in it by the grace of Holy Baptism.”

Love may be cultivated and nursed in a determined way just as hatred is harbored by those whom St. John of the Ladder identifies as the spiteful and slanderous: “they are piteously plunged in the spirit of hatred; and with pleasure and without a qualm, they slander the teaching or affairs or achievements of their neighbor.” St. John also knew that “a banquet of love dispels hatred, and sincere gifts soothe a soul.” We can choose to take our place at that banquet table of the Lord Jesus, feast on love, and share platters of kindness and bowls of support to those around us in their hunger. You have seen the Lord’s works. You have received the Heavenly Spirit. Now is the time. Sleepers, let us awake! Christ shall give us light! (see Eph. 5:14).

O loving Christ, by Thy Holy Spirit reveal to us the mystery of the ways of salvation.

St. Matthew 16:1-6 (8/4) Gospel for Monday of the Eighth Week after Pentecost

The Lord Jesus declares that “the sign of Jonah” is appropriate for all who turn away from the Him, oppose His love, or are unreceptive when He calls out to them. Kind and merciful, He seeks to awaken everyone, but finally departs from those who will not listen.

Signs of the Kingdom: St. Matthew 16:1-6, especially vs. 4: At the ocean shore one may watch the rising tide advance in successive waves up the dry sand of the beach. Inexorably, the waves wash higher and higher until finally flood-tide is reached. Today’s lesson describes an advancing tide of social opposition to the Lord Jesus Christ that, in time, at its flood-tide, culminated in His Passion.

Earlier, a group of scribes and Pharisees came to the Lord Jesus and asked Him for a sign (Mt. 12:38). In the present passage, a new, larger “wave” of opponents comes: the same scribes and Pharisees, but now joined by rulers from the Temple, the Sadducees. These groups basically were hostile to each other; but, because resistance to the Lord was growing generally, they joined together against Him, now asking for a sign “from heaven.” (compare Mt. 12:38 and 16:1). By adding “from heaven” the Evangelist signals that a greater demonstration wonder working was being asked than in Matthew 12:38.

Both groups who asked a sign of Christ received the same answer: there is only one sign, the “sign of the Prophet Jonah” (Mt. 16:4). The Lord explained His reference to Jonah earlier (see Mt. 12:39-40); but on the latter occasion He identified the lack of spiritual depth in all who require signs (Mt. 16:2-4). Then He warned His disciples against the impoverished spiritual need that has to have miracles to believe (vss. 5 -11).

Ironically, these encounters with sign-seekers occurred in the midst of the most manifest evidence of the presence of the Kingdom of God: healing the sick and feeding the hungry (Mt. 15:29-38). Tragically, the Lord’s interrogators did not “discern the signs of the times” (vs. 3) nor see the spiritual realm He was introducing. The Kingdom was being disclosed for all to see, but these opponents, having rejected the obvious, were promised only “the sign of Jonah”- Jesus’ “departure.” Our Lord further foreshadows this greatest sign by walking away from them (vs. 4); for departure is God’s dread sign and warning. When we turn from Him, God effectively withdraws from us, even though actually He always is everywhere present.

How is “the sign of Jonah” a departure for those who oppose God? After all, the Faithful know His departure in association with the Resurrection. Consider: for the disdainful and resistant, the sign of Jonah was His “departure,” for when the Lord’s opponents crucified Him and saw Him buried, they beheld Him no more. Still, the Kingdom of God came and comes to the humble, the meek, the repentant, and the sorrowful. Having once come in the flesh, “meek and lowly,” the Lord mightily trampled down death by death, and after “three days and three nights in the heart of earth” (Mt. 12:40), He arose and appeared to His Faithful. The sign of Jonah is at once God’s departure and His greatest miracle - Resurrection and Eternal Life!

The sign of Jonah is appropriate for all of mankind. Too often we turn away from the Lord Jesus! Too often we oppose Him Who deeply loves us! The more active His Kingdom, the more unreceptive are the worldly. How often the Lord calls out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Mt. 11:15)! Kind and merciful, our Lord seeks to awaken all His interrogators, but finally, He departs from them, a warning of the great “Departure” (Lk. 9:31). Which will it be for us, Beloved - withdrawal or restoration to Him? Listen to St. John of Kronstadt: “Do not let there be any deceit or duplicity or coldness in your soul. Strive to have His Spirit, for ‘if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.’” May God never depart from any of us!

...cast me not utterly away, and forsake me not, O God my Savior! (Ps. 26:11).