WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.859 the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Glory to Jesus 00:00:03.859 --> 00:00:10.140 Christ. In the Old Testament book of Genesis, 00:00:10.519 --> 00:00:19.280 in chapter 25, we are told of how Isaac, the 00:00:19.280 --> 00:00:23.239 son of Abraham, marries Rebekah and how Isaac 00:00:23.239 --> 00:00:28.300 and Rebekah have twins. And these twins are named 00:00:28.300 --> 00:00:32.600 Jacob, and Esau. And Esau was the firstborn, 00:00:32.740 --> 00:00:37.579 and thus owned the birthright, the inheritance. 00:00:38.539 --> 00:00:42.960 And just as Isaac had inherited all that Abraham 00:00:42.960 --> 00:00:47.939 had, so Esau would also inherit, because of his 00:00:47.939 --> 00:00:53.520 birthright, being the firstborn, all that his 00:00:53.520 --> 00:00:57.420 father had. This birthright was something of 00:00:57.420 --> 00:01:05.400 great value. And we are told that somehow Esau 00:01:05.400 --> 00:01:12.459 sells his birthright to his brother Jacob for 00:01:12.459 --> 00:01:17.980 a bowl of stew. That's right, one bowl of stew. 00:01:18.140 --> 00:01:21.120 It must have tasted fantastic, or at least I 00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:25.640 hope it did, because I would say that's probably... 00:01:26.040 --> 00:01:32.140 the epic fail of bartering. Why would he do this? 00:01:32.260 --> 00:01:36.840 Why would Esau sell his birthright? How could 00:01:36.840 --> 00:01:41.719 anyone make this deal? Well, he was an outdoorsman, 00:01:41.799 --> 00:01:47.239 a hunter. He survived on his own, a real man's 00:01:47.239 --> 00:01:51.459 man, survivalist, who came back from one of his 00:01:51.459 --> 00:01:55.969 outdoors, adventures, exhausted, tired. hungry. 00:01:56.890 --> 00:02:01.390 And Jacob had that stew. And he said, sell me 00:02:01.390 --> 00:02:07.209 your birthright. And Esau replied, look, I am 00:02:07.209 --> 00:02:11.250 about to die. What good is that birthright then 00:02:11.250 --> 00:02:16.250 to me? And he made the trade. He was afraid of 00:02:16.250 --> 00:02:21.310 dying. He feared the harm that would come from 00:02:21.310 --> 00:02:24.789 starving or the physical pain of starvation. 00:02:26.090 --> 00:02:29.550 And he sold his birthright for a bowl of stew. 00:02:29.689 --> 00:02:33.750 He forfeited the future for short -term gain. 00:02:36.469 --> 00:02:41.389 His physical needs outweighed the more important 00:02:41.389 --> 00:02:48.909 big picture. And we see that his vision is failing. 00:02:49.050 --> 00:02:54.430 He is blind. He does not value things correctly. 00:02:55.500 --> 00:02:58.960 And you and I, we can be blind like that, hopefully 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:02.719 not to that extent, but we can be blind and sometimes 00:03:02.719 --> 00:03:09.259 value the pleasures of this world, the visual 00:03:09.259 --> 00:03:13.159 temporal world, more than the invisible, eternal 00:03:13.159 --> 00:03:18.120 good things that God has for us. And sometimes 00:03:18.120 --> 00:03:23.900 we consider, we may even consider trading, well, 00:03:24.360 --> 00:03:27.439 Maybe we don't think we will trade it, but we 00:03:27.439 --> 00:03:31.759 might trade our spiritual inheritance for something 00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:35.979 like a bowl of stew. May God heal us of such 00:03:35.979 --> 00:03:40.419 blindness. And in today's gospel, there is a 00:03:40.419 --> 00:03:43.139 blind man who approaches the Lord Jesus saying, 00:03:43.400 --> 00:03:47.780 Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus asks 00:03:47.780 --> 00:03:50.969 him, what do you want me to do for you? And he 00:03:50.969 --> 00:03:55.669 said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. And 00:03:55.669 --> 00:03:58.289 then Jesus said to him, receive your sight. Your 00:03:58.289 --> 00:04:02.210 faith has made you well. And what a great example 00:04:02.210 --> 00:04:06.550 this man is. This blind man is an example for 00:04:06.550 --> 00:04:09.789 us today, for he demonstrates what we need to 00:04:09.789 --> 00:04:14.210 do. In faith, we ask the Lord Jesus Christ for 00:04:14.210 --> 00:04:18.889 mercy. We say to him, Lord, heal me of my spiritual 00:04:19.500 --> 00:04:23.920 blindness that causes me to misvalue things. 00:04:24.399 --> 00:04:29.139 And then what happens next? For the blind man 00:04:29.139 --> 00:04:35.399 and immediately he received his sight and followed 00:04:35.399 --> 00:04:39.699 him glorifying God and all the people when they 00:04:39.699 --> 00:04:44.860 saw it gave praise to God and may it be so for 00:04:44.860 --> 00:04:50.540 each and every one of us. Saint Tikhon of Zidonsk 00:04:50.540 --> 00:04:57.019 says this, We fear the judgment of men, which 00:04:57.019 --> 00:05:01.220 concerns only our body. Why do we not fear God's 00:05:01.220 --> 00:05:04.600 judgment, which destroys both the body and the 00:05:04.600 --> 00:05:09.800 soul? We fear temporal death. Why do we not fear 00:05:09.800 --> 00:05:14.769 eternal death? We flee from temporal misfortune, 00:05:14.970 --> 00:05:19.230 dishonor, reproach, disgrace, poverty, captivity, 00:05:19.490 --> 00:05:23.029 suffering, sorrow, pain, and other adversities. 00:05:23.290 --> 00:05:27.389 Why do we not rather strive to flee from eternal 00:05:27.389 --> 00:05:30.689 misery which contains pain, sorrow, captivity, 00:05:30.949 --> 00:05:34.350 dishonor, reproach, poverty, and all torment 00:05:34.350 --> 00:05:39.790 and suffering? We wash our mortal body with water. 00:05:41.100 --> 00:05:45.540 Why do we not wash our immortal soul with repentance? 00:05:46.959 --> 00:05:50.699 We regret our lost wealth, honor, and glory, 00:05:50.860 --> 00:05:53.240 all of which we will be forced to leave behind 00:05:53.240 --> 00:05:57.339 together with this life. Why do we not regret 00:05:57.339 --> 00:06:01.860 the loss of that wealth, honor, and glory, which 00:06:01.860 --> 00:06:05.579 are the treasure that never departs from God's 00:06:05.579 --> 00:06:13.939 elect? and avoid temporal misery, all of which 00:06:13.939 --> 00:06:17.019 is like a dream departing from us as quickly 00:06:17.019 --> 00:06:21.560 as it has come. But why do we not seek eternal 00:06:21.560 --> 00:06:25.759 blessedness, which is unshakable? And why do 00:06:25.759 --> 00:06:30.360 we not strive to avoid eternal misery? Oh, the 00:06:30.360 --> 00:06:35.100 delusion. Oh, the vanity in which the blinded 00:06:35.100 --> 00:06:42.720 sinner is tangled. We have this day, we are honoring 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:47.759 the holy new martyrs of Russia. And just as the 00:06:47.759 --> 00:06:52.319 blind man is an example for us of valuing the 00:06:52.319 --> 00:06:57.019 kingdom of heaven and being in God's will and 00:06:57.019 --> 00:07:00.800 having sight, so the holy new martyrs of Russia 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:06.319 give us a great example of valuing correctly 00:07:07.920 --> 00:07:12.220 our eternal salvation, our inheritance, if you 00:07:12.220 --> 00:07:18.079 will. As Esau gave away for a bowl of stew, the 00:07:18.079 --> 00:07:23.220 new martyrs of Russia, they were willing to pay 00:07:23.220 --> 00:07:28.240 great prices. They endured persecution and suffering 00:07:28.240 --> 00:07:32.819 under the communist agenda. They gave their lives 00:07:32.819 --> 00:07:37.949 at a short moment in time in exchange. and obtained 00:07:37.949 --> 00:07:44.230 eternal life. Let us all ask God to heal any 00:07:44.230 --> 00:07:49.550 blindness that is upon us, the sight, spiritual 00:07:49.550 --> 00:07:54.829 sight, that we would not sell our inheritance 00:07:54.829 --> 00:07:59.269 in the kingdom for a bowl of stew. that instead 00:07:59.269 --> 00:08:02.170 let us follow the example of the blind man and 00:08:02.170 --> 00:08:05.649 the holy new martyrs of Russia and come to the 00:08:05.649 --> 00:08:09.050 Lord Jesus with faith, trusting in his love, 00:08:09.250 --> 00:08:13.370 walking in his commandments, glorifying God for 00:08:13.370 --> 00:08:18.250 all he has done, is doing, and will do for us. 00:08:18.610 --> 00:08:20.250 Glory to Jesus Christ.