WEBVTT 00:00:00.680 --> 00:00:03.520 Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory to God forever. 00:00:07.900 --> 00:00:12.140 It occurred to me that this is the first Sunday 00:00:12.140 --> 00:00:17.339 since probably January where we're not commemorating 00:00:17.339 --> 00:00:21.899 some special occasion. Prodigal son, Republican 00:00:21.899 --> 00:00:28.239 and Pharisee, Mary of Egypt, Sundays after Pascha, 00:00:28.339 --> 00:00:32.429 Sundays after Pentecost. All saints. We're kind 00:00:32.429 --> 00:00:35.490 of just in maybe we could say ordinary time. 00:00:35.729 --> 00:00:39.229 And now we can focus just on the resurrection. 00:00:39.409 --> 00:00:46.070 The Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. You heard 00:00:46.070 --> 00:00:49.210 the gospel. You're well acquainted with it. I 00:00:49.210 --> 00:00:55.570 don't need to review in detail. There's wine. 00:00:55.890 --> 00:01:00.799 There's demons. Possessed people. Villagers who 00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:06.260 don't want Christ. When someone's been prepared 00:01:06.260 --> 00:01:11.480 for baptism by the church, chrismation, and note 00:01:11.480 --> 00:01:17.760 that phrase, the church prepares us, gives us 00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:23.340 faith. Yes, faith is passed on. We don't generate 00:01:23.340 --> 00:01:27.799 it. It's given to us. We're given trust in God. 00:01:29.290 --> 00:01:32.250 Because we learn the sacred stories of God's 00:01:32.250 --> 00:01:36.230 saving works. We're told what's the best way 00:01:36.230 --> 00:01:40.549 to pray. How to live righteously. How to overcome 00:01:40.549 --> 00:01:47.430 sin. Not to partake in idolatry and sexual immorality 00:01:47.430 --> 00:01:52.810 of the world. But to nurture the paradise of 00:01:52.810 --> 00:01:57.109 the kingdom of God in our own heart. And someone's 00:01:57.109 --> 00:02:01.609 being prepared for that, for baptism. The church 00:02:01.609 --> 00:02:05.590 also gives words of exorcisms. There's four. 00:02:07.510 --> 00:02:11.870 And the candidate and the godparents, they face 00:02:11.870 --> 00:02:15.330 the West, which is to say they face the demonic 00:02:15.330 --> 00:02:18.250 power itself. The sun goes down in the West. 00:02:18.310 --> 00:02:22.189 It's the symbol of spiritual darkness. And Satan 00:02:22.189 --> 00:02:25.229 is renounced with three questions and three answers. 00:02:25.689 --> 00:02:27.590 to renounce Satan and all his angels and all 00:02:27.590 --> 00:02:31.870 his service and all his pride. And then the candidate, 00:02:32.110 --> 00:02:37.189 the godparents, they spit on the devil. They 00:02:37.189 --> 00:02:41.729 spit on those demonic beasts. Should you be afraid 00:02:41.729 --> 00:02:49.389 at that point? Well, yes, but also no. One of 00:02:49.389 --> 00:02:52.409 the prayers at the baptism says, We have called 00:02:52.409 --> 00:02:56.280 upon thy name, O Lord. Which is wonderful and 00:02:56.280 --> 00:03:01.360 glorious and terrible to adversaries. Because 00:03:01.360 --> 00:03:05.659 we say we unite ourselves to Christ. We have 00:03:05.659 --> 00:03:09.180 united ourselves to Christ. I believe in him. 00:03:09.199 --> 00:03:16.240 How? I believe in him as king and God. The story 00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:19.199 today in Matthew tells us that even the devils 00:03:19.199 --> 00:03:23.560 believe in God. Did you notice that? They recognize 00:03:23.560 --> 00:03:27.259 the divinity of Jesus. They ask the wrong question. 00:03:28.479 --> 00:03:31.460 Why are you here now? Have you come to torment 00:03:31.460 --> 00:03:34.379 us before the time? Note, they know the truth. 00:03:34.460 --> 00:03:37.900 They're not heretics. They know the truth. They 00:03:37.900 --> 00:03:42.400 refuse to be affected by the truth. Have you 00:03:42.400 --> 00:03:44.900 come to torment us before the time? And they 00:03:44.900 --> 00:03:50.020 also know when the judgment, not when, but that 00:03:50.020 --> 00:03:55.000 the judgment is coming. And after these exorcisms 00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:57.400 and after the baptism, the believer in Christ 00:03:57.400 --> 00:04:01.639 becomes a disciple. This person becomes a small 00:04:01.639 --> 00:04:08.979 Christ. A christened one. An anointed one. And 00:04:08.979 --> 00:04:13.400 is also fearful and terrible to the demonic adversaries. 00:04:13.800 --> 00:04:17.860 Not because of themselves. Not at all. But because 00:04:17.860 --> 00:04:22.800 of God's word. His name. The name of Christ. 00:04:22.680 --> 00:04:27.220 power in the heart. Because that person then 00:04:27.220 --> 00:04:31.839 will have the remembrance of God all the day, 00:04:31.860 --> 00:04:36.459 every day, walking with him, struggling to guard 00:04:36.459 --> 00:04:40.040 the heart and the mind and the body from sinful 00:04:40.040 --> 00:04:44.579 acts. We remember that sin is always crouching 00:04:44.579 --> 00:04:48.620 at the door, we read in Genesis, the door of 00:04:48.620 --> 00:04:59.189 Cain. So we're careful. I've never seen a possessed 00:04:59.189 --> 00:05:04.769 person, two people in this story, described like 00:05:04.769 --> 00:05:10.389 that. Yes, perhaps the fentanyl crisis, the drug 00:05:10.389 --> 00:05:15.529 crisis, alcoholism, pornography, all that leads 00:05:15.529 --> 00:05:19.790 a person down to that path, and you can see such 00:05:19.790 --> 00:05:24.029 suffering and demonic influence. But I've never 00:05:24.029 --> 00:05:28.769 seen that. Personally, this kind of demonic possession. 00:05:29.649 --> 00:05:34.069 I'll tell you what I have seen. I have seen people 00:05:34.069 --> 00:05:39.709 say to Christ, go away. That I've seen in abundance. 00:05:40.889 --> 00:05:44.389 Even I myself, I've put Jesus in the waiting 00:05:44.389 --> 00:05:47.769 room in the morning. I get to the morning prayers, 00:05:47.970 --> 00:05:52.329 but then don't. Get to the evening prayers, but 00:05:52.329 --> 00:05:54.410 then don't. Jesus is left in my waiting room. 00:05:54.699 --> 00:05:59.079 But Jesus doesn't wait in waiting rooms. Jesus 00:05:59.079 --> 00:06:05.540 is master and Lord of all of creation. The local 00:06:05.540 --> 00:06:12.639 people were awestruck by what happened. The whole 00:06:12.639 --> 00:06:20.040 city came out to see Jesus. But they wanted no 00:06:20.040 --> 00:06:23.279 more of Jesus Christ. They were unrepentant. 00:06:23.870 --> 00:06:26.889 Jesus came not just for those two men to heal 00:06:26.889 --> 00:06:30.350 them, to make them human again, but he came for 00:06:30.350 --> 00:06:34.709 those other people as well. However, and in our 00:06:34.709 --> 00:06:39.589 own case, however much we might be impressed 00:06:39.589 --> 00:06:45.569 by the miracles of Jesus, the bottom line is 00:06:45.569 --> 00:06:52.649 that his presence is dangerous and disruptive. 00:06:54.829 --> 00:06:58.310 We're afraid he's going to change things further 00:06:58.310 --> 00:07:01.930 in our life. Not just to upset our morning schedule 00:07:01.930 --> 00:07:04.689 with prayer. Our evening schedule with prayer. 00:07:04.990 --> 00:07:08.449 Our Sunday morning. To be called to come and 00:07:08.449 --> 00:07:10.930 participate in the divine liturgy. To be called 00:07:10.930 --> 00:07:13.589 to come and make a confession so your heart is 00:07:13.589 --> 00:07:17.709 pure. We all have sins. They build up. To come 00:07:17.709 --> 00:07:19.949 and prepare to go to communion. All that can 00:07:19.949 --> 00:07:22.870 be extremely inconvenient. But if we love Christ. 00:07:24.170 --> 00:07:27.589 then none of this, while it may be a struggle, 00:07:27.810 --> 00:07:32.350 none of it is inconvenient. It's a joy. It's 00:07:32.350 --> 00:07:36.290 a struggle. But Christ comes to those people, 00:07:36.370 --> 00:07:40.750 and the gospel is given to us today to tell us 00:07:40.750 --> 00:07:44.689 we can't be afraid that he is going to change 00:07:44.689 --> 00:07:47.569 things further and still further, and it's going 00:07:47.569 --> 00:07:51.649 to cost us, just as it did the unfortunate owner 00:07:51.649 --> 00:07:58.449 of the pigs. On the other hand, St. Paul reminds 00:07:58.449 --> 00:08:01.209 us that the word is near you, the word of God, 00:08:01.329 --> 00:08:05.910 his holy name, in your mouth, in your heart. 00:08:06.889 --> 00:08:11.170 That's the core of your being. St. Paul says 00:08:11.170 --> 00:08:13.689 that is the word of faith which we preach, that 00:08:13.689 --> 00:08:16.750 if you confess, to confess doesn't mean to just 00:08:16.750 --> 00:08:20.410 say a word. Even the demons could say Jesus. 00:08:21.839 --> 00:08:23.920 Son of the Most High, why have you come to us? 00:08:24.019 --> 00:08:28.240 No, to confess means to stake your life on it 00:08:28.240 --> 00:08:33.940 and you have no plan B. It's all Jesus. And if 00:08:33.940 --> 00:08:36.700 you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and 00:08:36.700 --> 00:08:39.200 believe in your heart, which is to say, to follow 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:42.860 through, to do, that God has raised him from 00:08:42.860 --> 00:08:46.440 the dead, you will be saved. So brothers and 00:08:46.440 --> 00:08:49.779 sisters, let us commend our life unto Christ 00:08:49.779 --> 00:08:56.039 our God. Because it's a life or death decision. 00:08:56.480 --> 00:09:01.279 To our Lord be glory now and ever, to ages of 00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:02.379 ages. Amen.