4th Sunday in Great Lent : The Love of Jesus Christ in Action

Bishop Seraphim : Homily
The Love of Jesus Christ in Action
(Memory of Saint John of Sinai)
4th Sunday in Great Lent
2 April, 2006
Hebrews 6:13-20 ; Mark 9:17-31


In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Saint John, the abbot of Sinai, wrote The Ladder of Divine Ascent. The metaphor of the ladder describes our progress as Christians in our life towards God. However, this progression is not some sort of technique that we can acquire. Such a technique would tell us that if we simply do this thing, and this thing, and this thing, then God will reward us, and admit us into the heavenly Kingdom. That is not how it works, although many (including the naïve Muslim) believe that this is so.

If we had this sort of naïve, simple system which would give us the password for reception into the Kingdom of Heaven after we had lined our ducks up correctly, then that would be very much like bribing God. That is not how it works at all. Many parents try that with their children, and I have seen that that does not work either. It does not work with human beings, and it certainly does not work between God and us. Any system which presumes that God clearly wants to be placated is just plain blasphemous. God is not interested in correctly lined-up ducks. God is interested in our hearts and our love. A careful reading of the Book of Job will show that this is the truth.

The metaphor of the ladder in the book The Ladder of Divine Ascent is simply a description of how we grow in love for God. There is nothing in Christian life that does not have to do with the love of God. It is true that there are many details involved in the living of the Christian life, and yes, there are some rules. However, those details and those rules are only there to provide some sort of order. The foundation of everything is still only Jesus’ question to the Apostle Peter when He says : “‘Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?’” (John 21:15) That is what the Lord is asking you and me always : “Do you love Me ?” With the Apostle Peter, our answer naturally is : “‘Yes, Lord; You know that I love You’” (John 21:15). Afterwards, the Lord says to the apostle : “‘Feed My sheep’” (John 21:17).

The “ladder” is given to us to help us. If we love the Lord, then we will grow up in Him. Growing up in Him means that if we love Him, we have to show it by doing something about it. Some people pray. Some people spend their whole lives praying and interceding for other people. It is true, in fact, that if it were not for these people praying, then the world would have fallen in on itself a long time ago. It is because there are believers around the world interceding before God in love on behalf of everyone else, that we still have opportunities to repent. Imitating the Lord, some people do good things. Some people help other people. Some people encourage other people. Some people feed the hungry, and visit the sick, and clothe the naked, and go and help people in prison, just as we sing about the Lord every Sunday in Psalm 145.

The love of Jesus Christ in action means that we have to do something that is supportive and life-giving to people around us. Mostly, these are not the people we would choose, rather, the Lord sends to us those whom He knows that we can help : people at work, people at school, people on the street, people we bump into. We do not very often have the opportunity to choose who it is that we, like the Saviour, will serve. He gives them to us, and our heart tells us in His love how we are to serve.

In the Gospel reading today, we heard about a child who is possessed by a devil, tormented by a devil, and no-one can do anything about it. This child is brought to our Saviour, and His disciples could not help the child. They wanted to, but they did not know how. We would have to say that they did not yet have enough love. Our Saviour Himself tells the devil to come out, and the devil comes out. His disciples ask Him : “‘Why could we not cast it out?’” The Saviour says : “‘This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting’”. The apostles were not “grown-up” enough in the love of Jesus Christ to be able to do this. However, in the Acts of the Apostles (which we will be reading very soon after Pascha) there will be many evidences of the apostles doing precisely that, and more, because they had been filled with the Grace of the Holy Spirit. By this time, they were overflowing with love. The power of the Grace of the Holy Spirit was acting in them, and they were healing people in the love of Jesus Christ. Sometimes they were even raising them from the dead in the love of Jesus Christ. It was not that the apostles were employing some technique to raise someone from the dead or heal them from their diseases. It was their love of Jesus Christ, their compassion in Jesus Christ, which enabled the Lord Himself to do this. Through their intercession and their presence, the Lord raised the dead and healed the sick. It was the love of Jesus Christ that was acting and that was giving life.

If we are going to grow up in Jesus Christ, we cannot expect that we should be so different from those disciples and apostles 2,000 years ago. The Saviour calls every one of us to be holy as were the apostles ; He has shown us in the course of the last 2,000 years all sorts of ordinary Orthodox believers who became holy just like them. We have such examples of holiness even into the last century, and probably in this century as well. There are people who love Jesus Christ, who have grown up in Him, and through their prayers, people are healed from their diseases and even raised from the dead.

Those things that are spoken of in the Gospel today and in the Epistle are not merely something for 2,000 years ago. They are not limited only to those apostles. As the writer to the Hebrews says, and I love this phrase (I have heard it and remembered it since I was five because other believers repeated it many times) : “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, He works the same amongst us now in His love as He did in those days with His apostles. What He requires from us, and what we need to give, is the “Yes” : the “Yes” of those apostles, the “Yes” of the Mother of God. I have not with my own eyes seen people raised from the dead, but I have heard in my lifetime of people who prayed, and as a result of this prayer, people were raised. In my lifetime this has happened in the world. People have been healed many times from diseases, and this I have seen with my own eyes. At the prayers of faithful people, many have been healed from all sorts of diseases since those people who love Jesus Christ, because of compassion, fast and pray, and the Lord blesses. Growing up in Jesus Christ means growing up into His love, so that we are at one with His love. In unity and harmony with His love, we act in accordance with His love. We bring the healing love of Jesus Christ to people near us, and to our environment.

The love of Jesus Christ is not a thing that just sits there on a shelf, and we look at it, and say : “Isn’t that nice !” Rather, His love is life. His love is alive. We are alive in His love. If we do not use this gift of love that Jesus Christ gives to us, if we hold on to it, the same thing happens to that love in us as happens to a pansy or to any other flower. How many times has a child brought freshly-picked flowers to his mother, held tightly in the hand. The child says : “Here Mama, look ! These are for you !” What is left of those flowers ? Some sort of squashed pulp is all that is left of those flowers. A flower is delicate, and has to be held loosely in the hand.

Human beings are like those flowers. They have to be held carefully and loosely in the hand. The love of Jesus Christ can only live and grow if it is offered and shared with an open hand and with an open heart. When we give the love of Jesus Christ to other people, when we share the love of Jesus Christ with other people and with creatures, God renews this love in us. The more we give, the more He gives us to give. That is why the Cross and the “ladder” come to us, and also examples of great repentance, like Saint Mary of Egypt next week. By God’s mercy and His love these examples come to us to remind us that, as difficult as life is, God is with us. He loves us. He gives us the strength that we need. Nevertheless, we have to say “Yes” to Him.

In the few weeks that remain in Great Lent, let us offer our abstinence from food, and our extra time in church (which should actually be the usual time in church). Let us offer all this to Him, asking Him to renew His love in our hearts, so that when we arrive at Pascha, we will be able to rejoice with true Paschal rejoicing. When we arrive at Pascha and we exult in this true Paschal joy, let us ask Him to let this love continue to grow as we offer to Him our abstinences and our co-suffering labour with Him. Thus, may everything about us glorify Him, together with the unoriginate Father, and the all-holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now, and ever, and unto the ages of ages.