WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.960 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 00:00:02.960 --> 00:00:08.839 of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Today we have, as we 00:00:08.839 --> 00:00:12.339 frequently do, two epistles and two gospels. 00:00:13.380 --> 00:00:17.079 The first one is for the regular lectionary, 00:00:17.079 --> 00:00:21.800 Sundays of the forefathers as we approach the 00:00:21.800 --> 00:00:25.620 Nativity of our Lord. And the other epistle and 00:00:25.620 --> 00:00:29.440 gospel are... appointed for St. Herman of Alaska, 00:00:29.739 --> 00:00:34.700 one of our special patron saints here in America. 00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:41.939 Today is the anniversary of his repose. But I'll 00:00:41.939 --> 00:00:45.899 focus our attention this morning on the regular 00:00:45.899 --> 00:00:49.299 Sunday lectionary, the Epistle and Gospel for 00:00:49.299 --> 00:01:00.640 that. the supper, the banquet. It actually is 00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:03.820 found in two places. The one, the reading we 00:01:03.820 --> 00:01:08.219 have today, is from St. Luke, and then we hear 00:01:08.219 --> 00:01:14.959 it again when this parable is read later in the 00:01:14.959 --> 00:01:20.200 year, and it's taken from chapter 22 of St. Matthew's 00:01:20.200 --> 00:01:25.870 Gospel. The basic facts are the same in both 00:01:25.870 --> 00:01:30.409 parables. St. Matthew, his version, expands on 00:01:30.409 --> 00:01:34.230 this a bit, especially the one that has one of 00:01:34.230 --> 00:01:42.269 my favorite themes. Excuse me, the man who held 00:01:42.269 --> 00:01:45.189 the banquet asks why one of the guests doesn't 00:01:45.189 --> 00:01:48.629 have a wedding garment, and the wedding garment 00:01:48.629 --> 00:01:54.069 being baptism or... faith, baptism, or good works. 00:01:54.629 --> 00:01:59.090 But the thoughts that I have to share with you 00:01:59.090 --> 00:02:04.810 on today's gospel version from St. Luke, the 00:02:04.810 --> 00:02:09.330 fundamental inspiration for much of what I say 00:02:09.330 --> 00:02:14.490 is taken from a sermon by St. Cyril of Alexandria 00:02:14.490 --> 00:02:21.840 on this particular gospel. St. Cyril reposed 00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:27.560 in the year 444, right between two crucial councils 00:02:27.560 --> 00:02:30.379 in the history of the Church in the 5th century. 00:02:30.479 --> 00:02:35.300 The Council of Ephesus in 431, and then the Council 00:02:35.300 --> 00:02:39.599 of Chalcedon 20 years later in 451. And these 00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:43.560 two councils were devoted to the question of 00:02:43.560 --> 00:02:47.340 who is Jesus Christ? And of course, we know the 00:02:47.340 --> 00:02:51.310 ultimate resolution of this. is that Jesus is 00:02:51.310 --> 00:02:55.729 one person, one divine person, who assumed our 00:02:55.729 --> 00:03:00.849 human nature, so he's one person in two natures. 00:03:01.069 --> 00:03:07.650 And St. Cyril of Alexandria was crucial in the 00:03:07.650 --> 00:03:10.969 articulation of this theology at the two councils. 00:03:12.780 --> 00:03:15.780 He also happens to be a favorite saint of mine, 00:03:15.819 --> 00:03:19.039 too, because I wrote my Master of Divinity thesis 00:03:19.039 --> 00:03:22.039 on his Christology, his teaching about Christ, 00:03:22.280 --> 00:03:26.020 when I graduated from St. Vladimir's way, way 00:03:26.020 --> 00:03:33.060 back in 1969. So if you're good at arithmetic, 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:38.659 that makes me about 77 years old. But at any 00:03:38.659 --> 00:03:43.710 rate, St. Cyril tells us, that those who made 00:03:43.710 --> 00:03:50.349 excuses focused on earthly things and not heavenly 00:03:50.349 --> 00:03:55.050 things. And the theme among the fathers is a 00:03:55.050 --> 00:03:59.849 very consistent idea, that God, or the Father, 00:04:00.030 --> 00:04:04.050 is the person who invites the banquet. The banquet 00:04:04.050 --> 00:04:09.770 stands for the church. It stands for the Eucharist. 00:04:10.110 --> 00:04:13.250 and ultimately it stands for the kingdom of heaven. 00:04:13.389 --> 00:04:17.569 So this is the fourfold nature of the banquet 00:04:17.569 --> 00:04:21.490 to which these guests were called and to which 00:04:21.490 --> 00:04:26.790 we are called. St. Cyril says, all things are 00:04:26.790 --> 00:04:31.110 made ready. Now he says what this means is that 00:04:31.110 --> 00:04:36.930 through Christ, God bestows on us forgiveness 00:04:36.930 --> 00:04:45.120 of sins. cleansing of all defilement, the communion 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:48.800 of the Holy Spirit, and the glorious adoption 00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:53.360 as children of God. These are the things, this 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:56.160 is what he means by all things have been made 00:04:56.160 --> 00:04:59.420 ready for those of us who are called to this 00:04:59.420 --> 00:05:04.500 banquet. Of course, Christ invited Israel before 00:05:04.500 --> 00:05:09.189 all others, before all other nations. by the 00:05:09.189 --> 00:05:11.850 commandments of God through the Old Testament, 00:05:12.009 --> 00:05:16.149 by the prophets, and St. Cyril even happens to 00:05:16.149 --> 00:05:20.009 quote Psalm 2, which is a very important one 00:05:20.009 --> 00:05:27.449 in the nativity services. It is where, I have 00:05:27.449 --> 00:05:32.680 set my king on Zion, my holy hill. So that's 00:05:32.680 --> 00:05:36.199 God speaking about the king that he set on the 00:05:36.199 --> 00:05:40.620 holy hill of Zion, which is Jerusalem. God set 00:05:40.620 --> 00:05:46.180 his son as king on the holy city of Jerusalem. 00:05:51.100 --> 00:05:58.379 The epistle of St. Paul I think ties in closely 00:05:58.379 --> 00:06:05.509 to this what is spoken about in the gospel, that 00:06:05.509 --> 00:06:10.870 we've been called and we make excuses. What are 00:06:10.870 --> 00:06:15.290 the kinds of excuses that we could have when 00:06:15.290 --> 00:06:20.310 we don't accept this invitation? And St. Paul 00:06:20.310 --> 00:06:27.389 says, when Christ who is our life appears, when 00:06:27.389 --> 00:06:30.699 is Christ going to appear? Well, what St. Paul 00:06:30.699 --> 00:06:34.720 is talking about fundamentally here is when Jesus 00:06:34.720 --> 00:06:38.199 comes again in glory at the end of the world. 00:06:38.839 --> 00:06:41.699 Christ, our life, and our light appears then. 00:06:41.860 --> 00:06:47.160 But you know, he's about to appear when we celebrate 00:06:47.160 --> 00:06:52.259 his birth, right? The nativity. And he's also 00:06:52.259 --> 00:06:57.560 about to appear today, here and now, in our presence. 00:06:58.480 --> 00:07:01.959 when at the Divine Liturgy he comes to us in 00:07:01.959 --> 00:07:05.639 Holy Communion as his body and blood under the 00:07:05.639 --> 00:07:10.779 form of bread and wine. So Christ, our life, 00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:16.079 is about to appear. Therefore, St. Paul says, 00:07:16.439 --> 00:07:21.040 put to death in your members the things that 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:24.779 are on this earth, like St. Cyril said, earthly 00:07:24.779 --> 00:07:29.589 things rather than spiritual things. And St. 00:07:29.750 --> 00:07:37.550 Paul gives, of course, it isn't an entire list 00:07:37.550 --> 00:07:42.829 of sins in their entirety. But he does single 00:07:42.829 --> 00:07:46.089 out, and these I think are important, especially 00:07:46.089 --> 00:07:52.329 you look around nowadays. Fornication. You know, 00:07:52.370 --> 00:07:56.519 it's common nowadays for... Young couples just 00:07:56.519 --> 00:07:59.060 to live together and not bother getting married. 00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:03.519 That's what fornication is. Fornicators shall 00:08:03.519 --> 00:08:06.680 not enter the kingdom of heaven unless they repent. 00:08:08.199 --> 00:08:14.740 Uncleanness. Uncleanness of mind. Passion. Passions 00:08:14.740 --> 00:08:17.560 for anything. Anything that is an inordinate 00:08:17.560 --> 00:08:22.660 desire is a passion. Evil desire. Covetousness, 00:08:22.860 --> 00:08:26.730 which is idolatry. when we want more than we 00:08:26.730 --> 00:08:29.829 really need. Some people are never satisfied, 00:08:30.250 --> 00:08:34.649 never satisfied, and especially those whose things 00:08:34.649 --> 00:08:40.629 are on this earth, material things. And we shouldn't 00:08:40.629 --> 00:08:43.210 throw stones because this same kind of an attitude 00:08:43.210 --> 00:08:46.309 affects each and every one of us in one way or 00:08:46.309 --> 00:08:51.000 another. Because the wrath of God is coming upon 00:08:51.000 --> 00:08:55.019 the sons of disobedience in which you used to 00:08:55.019 --> 00:08:58.899 walk. St. Paul's implying we don't behave like 00:08:58.899 --> 00:09:04.940 that anymore. And so now he goes on to say, now 00:09:04.940 --> 00:09:09.259 put off all these things, and he enumerates them, 00:09:09.340 --> 00:09:16.740 anger, losing our temper, wrath, malice. Blasphemy, 00:09:16.740 --> 00:09:21.120 filthy language. Boy, how rampant that is nowadays. 00:09:21.919 --> 00:09:26.480 You hear that. The language that everyday people 00:09:26.480 --> 00:09:30.519 use, and I lose my temper once in a while, too. 00:09:30.600 --> 00:09:33.500 I'm sure that all of you do. But some of this 00:09:33.500 --> 00:09:39.399 filthy language is so rampant, and you have this 00:09:39.399 --> 00:09:45.299 gratuitous sex and bad language. It's so... You 00:09:45.299 --> 00:09:48.299 can't even watch a decent movie nowadays on television. 00:09:50.139 --> 00:09:52.840 Put away all of these things out of your mouth. 00:09:53.639 --> 00:09:56.519 I was debating whether or not to say this, but 00:09:56.519 --> 00:09:58.860 I'm going to say it anyway, speaking about movies. 00:10:01.519 --> 00:10:05.480 One of the classic movies is Gone with the Wind. 00:10:06.500 --> 00:10:09.600 Of course, that's come under fire nowadays for 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:13.440 different reasons, but be that as it may. When 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:17.740 at the conclusion of the movie, Brett says to 00:10:17.740 --> 00:10:22.600 Scarlett, Clark Gable, of course, speaking, and 00:10:22.600 --> 00:10:24.480 what are you going to do now? He says, frankly, 00:10:24.580 --> 00:10:29.340 my dear, I don't give a damn. Oh, at that time 00:10:29.340 --> 00:10:33.899 in 1969, that was a real shocker to hear that 00:10:33.899 --> 00:10:37.340 kind of language on the silver screen. Nowadays, 00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:42.679 that's nothing. And so you see how... I don't 00:10:42.679 --> 00:10:47.100 want to keep throwing stones at the movie and 00:10:47.100 --> 00:10:50.080 entertainment industry, but that's what influences 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:53.960 people's lives so much nowadays. And so St. Paul 00:10:53.960 --> 00:10:56.679 says, we've got to keep this kind of stuff out 00:10:56.679 --> 00:11:01.159 of our mouths and out of our minds. Why? Because 00:11:01.159 --> 00:11:04.720 he tells us, you have put off the old man with 00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:08.519 his deeds and have put on the new man who is 00:11:08.519 --> 00:11:12.539 renewed in knowledge. according to the image 00:11:12.539 --> 00:11:17.460 of him who created him. So St. Paul reminds us 00:11:17.460 --> 00:11:21.500 once again, and we remind ourselves that we have 00:11:21.500 --> 00:11:25.259 been renewed. We are in Christ new creatures. 00:11:25.679 --> 00:11:30.320 We are looking forward to his coming, that heavenly 00:11:30.320 --> 00:11:35.779 banquet at the end of time, but also to his coming 00:11:35.779 --> 00:11:41.100 at his nativity today and to his coming. to nourish 00:11:41.100 --> 00:11:44.759 us today at the divine liturgy with his precious 00:11:44.759 --> 00:11:48.340 body and precious blood. So to our Lord Jesus 00:11:48.340 --> 00:11:52.639 Christ, who is our life and our life, who appears 00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:56.899 to us, be glory and honor forever and ever. Amen.