In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Christ is risen
All through the Paschal season, we are hearing readings from the Book of Acts, and readings from various Resurrection Gospels. Most of all, what we are hearing in these passages is what we heard this morning in the Gospel reading about the Samaritan Woman. In the Acts, we see how the communities in those early days were formed, how they were assembled, what their life was like and how they grew.
The Samaritan Woman gives us the perfect example. She meets Jesus at the well. Jesus reveals to her Who He truly is by the things that He says to her. Instantly she accepts what He has to say about Himself. She does not even question it because of the way He presents it to her. He presents Who He is directly, and even though she is a very sinful woman, she still has the eyes to perceive what is the truth. Right away she accepts it. Her immediate response is to ask a question. After she has the question answered in a way she really does not understand, then she runs to the town to tell everyone else : “‘Come and see a Man who told me all things that I ever did’”. The town came out. This town was full of people who by Jewish standards certainly were no good. However, by their own standards, they considered themselves to be better than the Jewish people of Jerusalem.
The people of this town came out. They saw Jesus. They met Him and accepted Him right away. Some of them believed in Him because of the words of the Samaritan Woman even before they had set eyes on Him. As soon as they could see Who He is, they begged Him to stay a little longer. Jesus was only passing through because He was on His way elsewhere. However, the people begged Him and He agreed to stay a little while. This was unprecedented because Jewish people did not even speak to Samaritans, let alone stay with them. He spoke to them. He taught them and He revealed the Kingdom to them. They received Him and they accepted the Kingdom. Instantly a believing community of people turning away from sin and turning towards the Lord was formed in this little Samaritan village called Sychar. Those villagers were ready to have the Holy Spirit living in their hearts.
In the reading from the Acts, we saw people running away from Jerusalem because of persecution. Wherever they went, they immediately established communities. They preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those around them and converted them to the true Faith of Jesus Christ. New communities grew up everywhere. As we are reminded, it was in the city of Antioch in Syria that the followers of Jesus were first called “Christians”. Our call is the same as that of the early Christians, because we here today are the same sort of people as all those that we have been hearing about. We are not any different, even though we do not live in the Middle East and we do not speak Aramaic, Hebrew or Arabic. We are the same sort of people. We are all children of God created by Him to live in the Kingdom. That is why we are the same as those people. Even if we live in the machine age where there are all sorts of gadgets, we are still essentially like all those people we hear about in the New Testament.
Jesus comes to us in the New Testament. When we read it, we meet Him. It is the duty of all Orthodox Christians to read the Bible all the time so that we can truly know Jesus and live the way He wants us to live. He meets us as He is meeting us right now in the Divine Liturgy. He comes to us in His Body and His Blood. As He gives Himself to us, He fills us with Himself. He gives us life and power to live in accordance with His will and to live the life of the Kingdom. He enables us to live that life which is full of love, full of strength, full of power, full of healing, full of light.
It is for you and for me to be like our spiritual ancestors. Our fathers and mothers hundreds and hundreds of years ago responded to Jesus Christ whom they met either in the flesh or in the lives of other people. You and I have met Jesus Christ in the Gospel, in the lives of each other, and in the lives of our mothers and fathers, or at least our spiritual mothers and fathers. We meet Him here, now, in the Divine Liturgy, as we do every time at the Divine Liturgy. We receive Him ; we accept Him into our hearts. Now we must live this life. We must live as the Samaritan Woman lived, as all those other disciples lived, and as the people of Sychar lived. We have to be ready to say : “Come and see. Come and meet Jesus Christ, who gives life to me and to all those who will receive life from Him. Come and see Him. Come and meet Him. Come and know the joy of living in Him as I do, and as we do here”.
That is what we are called to do. We are called to live as believers amongst ourselves so that when someone else comes to visit us, someone who has never met Jesus Christ, someone who has perhaps never even heard of Him, this person will be able to sense this love, this power, this life in our midst and be eager to share it with us. That is how we are called to live. We are called to live as our spiritual ancestors did, as we see in the New Testament. This has been the call to Orthodox Christians for the past 2,000 years : to live as these people in the New Testament lived, hearing about Jesus Christ, meeting Him, receiving Him, and living Him.
It is perhaps a little difficult to think of foreign and unbelieving people coming to meet us here where probably most people around the country are already somehow believers. I suppose that even in a country like Greece, which has been Christian right from the beginning of Christianity, there are occasionally some people who are not believers. It is our responsibility to strengthen each other, first of all in our living in Jesus Christ. If we see one who is not a believer, we are not supposed to run at him or her with our Bible, wave it and quote Scripture. We are not to shake our finger and ask : “Why aren’t you coming to church ?” We are supposed to live an example of love, invitation and acceptance. Thus, without our even having to speak about it, this person will sooner or later be able to see the love of the Lord working amongst us and living amongst us. If this person has fallen away, s/he will turn back to Christ. Or if s/he has never even been told about Christ, this person will come and ask why our lives are so powerful, why our lives are so full of joy, why our lives are so full of selflessness and true love.
Everyone on earth is thirsting for this love. Everyone on earth is parched and gasping for this love even if the person does not know it. Nothing else in the world will satisfy except the true Faith, the true love of Jesus Christ. Only we Orthodox Christians know about it ; only we know how to live it, and only we know how it can be given to such a person who does not know about it and who needs it. Of course, sometimes the Lord intervenes directly. As we come to receive Him this morning, let us ask the Lord to give us the courage to live without any fear this life of love, to share this love amongst ourselves freely, so that others may see and believe. Let us live with each other so that other people may see, believe, and desire to be part of this loving, life-giving, strengthening, healing community in the Kingdom which proclaims every single, solitary day of the year : “Christ is risen”. Likewise, may this community in every way, every day, glorify the all-holy Trinity : Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now, and ever, and unto the ages of ages.