the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Glory to Jesus
Christ. In the Old Testament book of Genesis,
in chapter 25, we are told of how Isaac, the
son of Abraham, marries Rebekah and how Isaac
and Rebekah have twins. And these twins are named
Jacob, and Esau. And Esau was the firstborn,
and thus owned the birthright, the inheritance.
And just as Isaac had inherited all that Abraham
had, so Esau would also inherit, because of his
birthright, being the firstborn, all that his
father had. This birthright was something of
great value. And we are told that somehow Esau
sells his birthright to his brother Jacob for
a bowl of stew. That's right, one bowl of stew.
It must have tasted fantastic, or at least I
hope it did, because I would say that's probably...
the epic fail of bartering. Why would he do this?
Why would Esau sell his birthright? How could
anyone make this deal? Well, he was an outdoorsman,
a hunter. He survived on his own, a real man's
man, survivalist, who came back from one of his
outdoors, adventures, exhausted, tired. hungry.
And Jacob had that stew. And he said, sell me
your birthright. And Esau replied, look, I am
about to die. What good is that birthright then
to me? And he made the trade. He was afraid of
dying. He feared the harm that would come from
starving or the physical pain of starvation.
And he sold his birthright for a bowl of stew.
He forfeited the future for short -term gain.
His physical needs outweighed the more important
big picture. And we see that his vision is failing.
He is blind. He does not value things correctly.
And you and I, we can be blind like that, hopefully
not to that extent, but we can be blind and sometimes
value the pleasures of this world, the visual
temporal world, more than the invisible, eternal
good things that God has for us. And sometimes
we consider, we may even consider trading, well,
Maybe we don't think we will trade it, but we
might trade our spiritual inheritance for something
like a bowl of stew. May God heal us of such
blindness. And in today's gospel, there is a
blind man who approaches the Lord Jesus saying,
Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus asks
him, what do you want me to do for you? And he
said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. And
then Jesus said to him, receive your sight. Your
faith has made you well. And what a great example
this man is. This blind man is an example for
us today, for he demonstrates what we need to
do. In faith, we ask the Lord Jesus Christ for
mercy. We say to him, Lord, heal me of my spiritual
blindness that causes me to misvalue things.
And then what happens next? For the blind man
and immediately he received his sight and followed
him glorifying God and all the people when they
saw it gave praise to God and may it be so for
each and every one of us. Saint Tikhon of Zidonsk
says this, We fear the judgment of men, which
concerns only our body. Why do we not fear God's
judgment, which destroys both the body and the
soul? We fear temporal death. Why do we not fear
eternal death? We flee from temporal misfortune,
dishonor, reproach, disgrace, poverty, captivity,
suffering, sorrow, pain, and other adversities.
Why do we not rather strive to flee from eternal
misery which contains pain, sorrow, captivity,
dishonor, reproach, poverty, and all torment
and suffering? We wash our mortal body with water.
Why do we not wash our immortal soul with repentance?
We regret our lost wealth, honor, and glory,
all of which we will be forced to leave behind
together with this life. Why do we not regret
the loss of that wealth, honor, and glory, which
are the treasure that never departs from God's
elect? and avoid temporal misery, all of which
is like a dream departing from us as quickly
as it has come. But why do we not seek eternal
blessedness, which is unshakable? And why do
we not strive to avoid eternal misery? Oh, the
delusion. Oh, the vanity in which the blinded
sinner is tangled. We have this day, we are honoring
the holy new martyrs of Russia. And just as the
blind man is an example for us of valuing the
kingdom of heaven and being in God's will and
having sight, so the holy new martyrs of Russia
give us a great example of valuing correctly
our eternal salvation, our inheritance, if you
will. As Esau gave away for a bowl of stew, the
new martyrs of Russia, they were willing to pay
great prices. They endured persecution and suffering
under the communist agenda. They gave their lives
at a short moment in time in exchange. and obtained
eternal life. Let us all ask God to heal any
blindness that is upon us, the sight, spiritual
sight, that we would not sell our inheritance
in the kingdom for a bowl of stew. that instead
let us follow the example of the blind man and
the holy new martyrs of Russia and come to the
Lord Jesus with faith, trusting in his love,
walking in his commandments, glorifying God for
all he has done, is doing, and will do for us.
Glory to Jesus Christ.