READINGS: John 21:1-14 (10), Titus 3:8-15, and Luke 8:5-15
Harmony is always preferred, but that is not always the case. We the Orthodox Christians, must not, ever confuse ‘unity’ with ‘uniformity’. Today, we celebrate the Fathers of the Second Council of Nicea, who attempted to resolve the Iconoclastic Controversy initiated in 726 when Byzantine Emperor Leo III issued a decree against the honoring of icons.The council contradicted his decreed and declared that icons deserve reverence and veneration; but not adoration, which is reserved for God, It was also decreed that every altar should contain a relic, a tradition that has been retained in both modern Catholic and Orthodox churches.
I quote these inspired words from the Council of 787, 60 years after the decree against icons:
”We are the God-spoken teaching of our Holy Fathers and the tradition of the Catholic Church, for we recognize that this tradition comes from the holy Spirit who dwells in her, we decree with full precision and care that, like the figure of the honored and life-giving cross, the revered and holy images, whether painted or made of mosaic or of other suitable material, are to be exposed in the holy churches of God, on sacred instruments and vestments, on walls and panels, in houses and by public ways, these are the images of our Lord, God and savior, Jesus Christ, and of our Lady without blemish, the holy God-bearer, and of the revered angels and of any of the saintly holy men. The more frequently they are seen in representational art, the more are those who see them drawn to remember and long for those who serve as models, and to pay these images the tribute of salutation and respectful veneration.
Further, people are drawn tohonoring these images with the offering of incense and lights, as was piously established by ancient custom. Indeed, the honor paid to an image traverses it, reaching the model, and he who venerates the image, venerates the person represented in that image. So it is that the teaching of our holy fathers is strengthened, namely, the tradition of the Catholic Church which has received the gospel from one end of the earth to the other. So it is that we really follow Paul, who spoke in Christ, and the entire divine apostolic group and the holiness of the fathers, clinging fast to the traditions which we have received.“
The Second Council of Nicea echoed Paul’s words to Titus, demanding orderly conduct and confronting the disorderly. Titus was to communicate and lead so that the truth would not be compromised by arguments, curious teachings, or conflicts over power.
As Paul explained, the Works of the law of Moses, such as circumcision, kosher laws, and the rest, do not save. Titus and the future leaders; are directed to obedience, holding fast to the resurrected Christ. Again, Harmony is always preferred but that is not always what happens. Some people in the Church will not listen and will not follow even when patiently and repeatedly corrected by Church leadership. Those people (define: Judiazers, roadblock people, …) would lead others a stray and cause division in the church …and you heard Paul telling Titus don’t put up with it. Titus…was not to tolerate their divisive behavior, he after several corrections would have to put those people out of the church. Suppose sound teaching and good deeds are beneficial. In that case, foolish discussions are useless. A waste of time…as a leader of the Church in Crete, Paul tells us today that the Orthodox Christian teachers of the time should be an example to other believers and non-believers: hospitality and financial assistance are essential for them to provide so that the new missionaries Paul sent; would be helped with their trip and given everything they need stressing the importance of learning to do good by helping others is where Paul’s message rests with us today. Paul urged them to focus their good works on providing for urgent needs, not for the sake of being saved but that the spirit of God dwelling in them / should move their heart to help others….if Christ dwells in you, the Holy Spirit will drive you to do good works. (this Church needs help and we as one community are reaching out to help make all this happen, but more is going to be needed over the next few years)
But, at times, we lose sight of the need for daily devotion and forget to keep our lamps burning constantly. We heard the Gospel, and we have known the working of Christ in our lives. So what surface are we? Today is the question of the gospel and the need to be prepared ….never to compromise. This act of preparation has a few distinguishing characteristics. First, the process isn’t always easy. Being broken up and turned like soil must, by its very nature, be painful, but it is also necessary for us to be better able to receive God’s seeds; and yield good fruit.
If we are hardened, like the soil on the path, we will encounter trying situations that remind us that we alone are not enough and underscore our need for more obedience.
If we are shallow soil with rocks lurking beneath a seemingly fertile plot, we might need to be challenged to break down our defenses and allow God in.
If we are riddled with the thorns of anxiety or the desire for wealth, we might need to recognize them for what they are—idols / false gods/set up in opposition to God.
In any case, the desired effect of such preparation /is a movement away from dependence on ourselves, a shattering of that false sense of security that tells us we’re doing just fine on our own, and a progression toward complete and utter dependence on God.
Obviously, we have heard the Word of God –Are we like the wayside, barely listening, barely paying attention, allowing the devil to come and snatch the word from our ears so that /we never grow in Christ? This is a tragic position to be in – and in our Lord’s explanation of the parable, He says these people will not believe and will not be saved. We must take the Word within us, nurture it, and allow it to grow. This is a place where many Christians find themselves. We grow, pray, read, and nurture our relationship with Christ, but in times of temptation or hardship, instead of running to Christ, we take care of things in our own way and almost always end up falling away from devotion and Christ. Eventually, most of us return to Christ again – so we get stuck in this pendulum swinging of growing and falling. We’re certainly trying – but God has called us to do so much more. In maturity and steadfastness, God can give us so much more.
Practically speaking, this means we may need to revisit the preparation process multiple times / in order to maintain our readiness to receive God’s blessings and yield to his holy inspirations. But if we respond to these periods with an attitude of trustful surrender and expectation, such encounters / will slowly but surely / strip away our desire for individuality, gradually leading us to embrace that attitude of obedience to the word of God and of child-like dependence on our heavenly Father.
Closing:
The more we rely on ourselves, the less need we believe we have of God, and the less able we are to receive his holy inspirations and respond accordingly. We might even run the risk of becoming like those who, “seeing, they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand” (Matthew 13:13).
But in turning to God and casting ourselves upon him, we soften, break, and become ready and willing to receive and cooperate with God’s seeds of grace.
Finally, it is important to note that these preparation periods are not inflicted on us as some punishment but rather bestowed on us in love.
When borne with humility, they produce endurance, character, and hope in us—and this hope does not disappoint! (Romans 5:4-5)
God, who is Love itself, is incapable of cruelty. Though he may allow trials to afflict us for a time, his intention is always to draw us deeper into a loving communion with him. With this end in mind, we can willingly yield to hardships, placing our trust in the one who cares for us and knowing that he is preparing to bless us soon in ways we have yet to imagine.
So the next time you find yourself in a time of preparation, hold fast to Christ and yield to his invitation, knowing that he wants to pour out graces upon you in abundance and that, if you let them, those graces will yield growth — thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold!
I leave you with these seeds of inspiration from the 2nd Council of Nicea:
“So it is that we sing out with the prophets the hymns of victory to the church: Rejoice exceedingly O daughter of Zion, proclaim O daughter of Jerusalem; enjoy your happiness and gladness with a full heart. The Lord has removed away from you the injustices of your enemies, you have been redeemed from the hand of your foes. The Lord the king is in your midst, you will never more see evil, and peace will be upon you for time eternal.”
May God grant to us all the grace to be the good soil, rich with grace. And the desire to nurture the Word of God within us, and so for life of the world and for its salvation. Amen
