Glory to Jesus Christ. You've heard the phrase,
when the times are tough, the tough get going.
When wildfires hit, when Restrictions come down
on us when people are getting sick, when national
politics is a dumpster fire. Christians don't
enter into the fray, at least not right away.
Christians go back, go back to listen and to
ponder. To contemplate the words of Christ. To
be immersed in the liturgy. To read the scriptures.
You heard a gospel that's about love. We don't
have it. It comes from God. We can't generate
it. And if you fake it, it's just hypocrisy.
Everything the Savior teaches, everything he
did as an example for us, because he did all
those things that he taught us, the healings,
the rebukes, everything he did was to lead us
to, as Paul would say, to perfect holiness in
the fear of God. So that, as you heard in this
epistle from 2 Corinthians, you are temples of
the Holy Spirit. Ponder that, brothers and sisters,
as you walk around, as you do your daily chores,
as you go to work, as you interact with people,
as you watch things that maybe you shouldn't
have even seen. Temple of the Holy Spirit. God's
gift to us. He leads us to perfect holiness in
the fear, the honor, the reverence, the beauty,
yes, the joy, truth, light, and love, which is
the most prominent thing available to us from
God, his love. And everything in the divine liturgy
leads up, up the road, not down the road, but
up the road. the same blessed path of holiness.
Notice at the beginning of the Divine Liturgy,
what do we say? In peace, let us pray to the
Lord. We ask for the peace from above. This tells
us, this is Christ himself, to dwell in our hearts
by the Holy Spirit. And I'll remind you again,
as I've been saying, Frequently, have I said
during this COVID time, week after week after
week, the commandments of Christ, our blessed
Orthodox Christian faith, is not, I must do this
and not do that. This is forbidden. This is permitted.
No. In peace, let us pray to the Lord. To be
a temple of the Spirit means we identify ourself
with our Father in heaven. To be children of
the Most High, as Jesus said. Like God. Everything
here, even standing outside with these tents
and the icons and all this temporary thing, is
to bring us so that peace, Christ, dwells within
us. really reveal ourselves to be temples of
the Holy Spirit. You know, what is natural is
for the eyes to see. When they don't work right,
we need some kind of corrective. Glasses. What
is natural is for the mouth to speak. For the
hands to give and to embrace. For the heart,
what is natural? To love our enemy. That's what's
natural. That's when we're healthy. To give without
thinking of getting back, as Jesus said. For
what credit is it to you if you give and you
expect it back? Even non -believers do that.
When the world meets a Christian, the world has
a right to expect someone, something out of the
ordinary, the temple of God. The profile of a
servant of the Savior is one of holiness. Yes,
perhaps we're slow in acquiring that, but anyway,
it's in the process. And anyway, it's not ordinary.
We follow the commandments. We become the friend
of God. We become a reflection of God. Children
of the Most High. A child looks like his parent
or her parent. A couple years ago, I was downtown
at one of my favorite coffee shops, Flying Goat,
and I went in to have coffee, and the guy behind
the counter, I didn't know him. I didn't know
the guy. He says, oh, your son was just here.
I said, really? How did you know? He says, well,
he looks just like you. You see, we are to look
like Christ in our actions, in our countenance.
We are to sound like Christ. This is why when
times are tough, we get going to the Lord so
we can be strengthened. Be Christians on purpose.
We may have been born, some of us, into the life
of the church and baptized as children, but we
have to be Christians on purpose or else our
faith is irrelevant to the person you meet. It's
irrelevant to this world. It will have zero power.
And what is that power? In peace, let us pray
to the Lord for the peace from above. The power
is the power of God's love. Jesus said, as Father
John pointed out in a sermon some time ago, he
gives some parables which need interpretation.
Sayings that are not quite understandable on
the surface, and then the preacher, Gets up and
he says, this is what it means. And after the
service, Father, I finally know what that means
now that you've explained it. But this doesn't
need any explanation today. It's straight ahead.
Love your enemy. Do good. Treat the other person
as you would want them to treat you. But let's
be honest with ourselves. Maybe we're having
a hard time forgiving an enemy. Probably most
of you have a couple of enemies that you see
on the television or on Facebook. You don't even
know these people. So this is a different category,
possibly. But we still have to love them. Are
you children of the Most High? Are you a temple
of the Holy Spirit? If you're having trouble
loving an enemy, somebody that's not lovable,
that you think is going to hurt you and has hurt
you, be like those 21 Egyptian martyrs in Libya
who stood and said, Lord Jesus Christ, before
they were martyred. They asked for forgiveness
of the people killing them. as Stephen did, and
guess who? Guess who else did that? Yes, the
Lord on the cross. Are we children of the Most
High? Maybe the difference between a disciple
of Christ and one who is only observing and has
not decided to live Christianity on purpose is
that the disciple says, Lord, I'm unable to do
this yet. Help me. And the observer, the one
on the outside, is afraid of trusting Christ
and says, well, I can't do this. Actually, I
don't even want to do it. St. Silouan the Athonite,
who died in 1938. So he saw plenty of the nightmare
of the early 20th century. He said something
that we would be wise to take heed of, to let
his words be like a stethoscope, listening to
the state of our spiritual heart like a thermometer
gauging our spiritual temperature, like a scale
that we might step on to show are we undernourished
in the love of God? Are we overweight with our
ego and love of self and fear? St. Silouan said
this, the good man thinks to himself in the following
way, everyone who has strayed from the truth
brings destruction upon himself and is therefore
to be pitied. But of course, the man who has
not learned the love of the Holy Spirit will
not pray for his enemies. The man who has learned
love from the Holy Spirit sorrows all his life
over those who are not saved. and sheds abundant
tears for all people. And the grace of God gives
him strength to love his enemies. Where there
is pride, there cannot be grace. And if we lose
grace, we also lose both love of God and assurance
in prayer. The soul is then tormented by evil
thoughts, does not understand that she must humble
herself. and love her enemies. The Christian
walks down the road with Christ, with his cross.
So yes, forgiving our enemies costs us something.
We don't give expecting a return. We don't love
hoping to receive back. This is a cross sometimes,
and it's a lot of sorrow. This is not karma.
Love your enemies, and then, boom, everything
good's going to happen to you. Give, and it'll
come back to you. Probably not. This is not karma.
Why should God care if you do something for someone,
giving something you have that he gave you? And
you expect something in return down the road.
That really is an investment. That's a business
proposition. Love isn't a means to get something.
It is the goal. And God gives it without measure.
He gives it without stinting. He gives it to
us, even us who are sinners. Love is the way
in which We imitate Christ, and it's the sign.
You hear the litmus test all the time, and this
Supreme Court hearing is going to come up soon,
and it's going to be litmus test after litmus
test. What's the litmus test for us? Do we love
our enemy? Love your enemies, do good, and lend,
expecting nothing in return. Your reward will
be great. When will it be great? Now! This is
the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven
is at hand, and God is sending his love to us
when we need it in the difficult times, and we
can share that with anyone. To our Lord, who
is gracious, who is kind, who said from the cross,
forgive them for they know not what they do.
To him be glory and honor and worship now and
ever to ages of ages. Amen. Can I hear amen?