of the Holy Spirit. Glory to Jesus Christ. This
is the second Sunday before Christmas, before
Nativity. We're almost there. And it is chosen
by the Orthodox Church to honor the holy ancestors
of Christ. It is fitting and right that we do
remember these faithful servants of God who listened
to the Lord God and did His will that a way of
salvation for all humanity might be established
and that path to sanctification, it has been
built. And the way of salvation is available
to every one of us. And the question for us all
is, will we walk upon it? In today's Gospel reading,
the Lord Jesus tells a parable of a great feast,
where many are called by the host to attend,
but they all began to make excuses. Excuses to
not attend this grand event. I have purchased
some property and must go and see it. I have
purchased five yoke of oxen, and I am going to
test them. I have married a new wife. Certainly,
none of these things has anything wrong to it,
but it did keep them from the feast. The Lord
of the feast therefore told his servant, Go out
quickly into the streets and lanes of the city
and bring in here the poor and the maimed and
the lame and the blind. And the servant did so,
and still there was more room at the feast. So
the Lord said, Go out into the highways and the
hedges and compel them to come in that my house
may be filled. And so it happened, a feast for
all those who agreed to attend. The feast represented
in this parable is God's kingdom. What a wonderful
invitation that is given to all, to you, to me,
to all of us, to eat bread in the kingdom of
God. And yet, some will choose not to go. Why?
Worldly entanglements. They're called elsewhere
by these worldly entanglements that they value
more. It could be property. It could be new fleet
trucks that you have to go get launched for your
business. It could be any issue that you would
make more important than reaching heaven. and
the kingdom of God. And this leads to the questions
each one of us must ask ourselves. Which way
am I walking? Am I headed to the great feast?
Are my life choices taking me towards heaven
or away from heaven? Are temporary worldly distractions
keeping me entangled Unable to move forward on
the narrow road of salvation and sanctification.
And today's epistle, it lays out for us some
of the things to look for in answering these
questions for ourselves. It says to avoid fornication,
uncleanness, passion, evil desire, covetousness,
which is idolatry, anger, wrath, malice. blasphemy,
filthy language, lying. And we need to look at
ourselves and see, is any of this a part of our
lives? And if so, confess it and move back to
that right path. It says we are to put off the
old man and to put on the new man. The old man
serves the passions of the flesh. the things
that call us in this world. And the new man seeks
God and walks in the Spirit. The new man humbles
himself before God, confesses his sins, repents
of past mistakes or present mistakes, asks God
for forgiveness, depends on the Lord for salvation
and sanctification, not on himself. The new man
desires to go to that great feast and says yes
to the invitation. You are invited. What is your
answer? Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk says this. The
hope which is laid up for Christians in heaven
has power to move Christians to piety and patience,
to confirm them in it with God's help. and to
turn them away from sin by which that hope is
destroyed. There is the heavenly Father's house,
and in his house are many mansions. There is
the holy city, the new Jerusalem, mentioned in
Revelation, which St. John saw, and there shall
be no night there, and they need no candle, neither
light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them
light. There, the good things are prepared for
them that love God, which eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man. There, God's elect see him face
to face. There, the Son of Righteousness, that
is Christ, the Son of God, is shining in his
glory. And that sun never sets. nor is he covered
with clouds, but he is always shining, enlightening,
warming, gladdening his elect, and they themselves
shine as the sun in the kingdom of their father.
There the great supper is made, at which many
that have come from the east and the west sit
with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. You are invited.
What is your answer? Have you ever worked with
string or perhaps even electronic wires? Or perhaps
with rope? And somehow, someway, it always gets
twisted up in knots and tangled. No matter how
you try to keep it. Perhaps yarn. But any of
these things, they seem to get all entangled,
and it is very, very difficult to untangle them
by pulling the lines back and forth and getting
it through to properly straighten it. Well, our
lives can be like that string. We get all entangled
because of worldly desires. and passions that
pull us in wrong directions and get us all tied
up in knots, and we don't know what to do, and
we can't seem to untie it. And when we are entangled
like that, it's difficult to walk on the narrow
path to the feast that we're invited to. But
God is ready and willing to help us untangle
those knots. All we have to do is ask. We just
need to ask and then let him do it. To say, Lord,
help me, untangle me, sanctify me, lead me to
the heavenly feast. You are invited. Let your
answer be yes and walk on that path to salvation
and sanctification and we will... We will celebrate
at that great feast if we can keep our feet on
the path trusting in God. Let us do so. Glory
to Jesus Christ.