WEBVTT

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And maybe the Father, and the Son, and the Holy

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Spirit. Glory to Jesus Christ. Most everyone

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knows the phrase, the Good Samaritan. It's even

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on law, named after this parable. Good Samaritan,

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all here in California. You can look that up

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on your own. Perhaps the parable of the prodigal

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son is the most beloved and certainly the most

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well -known. You could say if it's American,

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most people have sort of an idea of what that

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means. Just a short word of background on it.

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A lawyer, don't think of an attorney. It's not

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like that. A lawyer of the Jewish law. some of

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whom spent this entire day studying the law of

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Moses and then teaching. St. Luke says he came

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up to trick Jesus, to tempt Jesus, to try and

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prove Jesus wrong. He wanted to justify himself,

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make Jesus wrong, and he's right. So he comes

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with these questions, and Jesus kind of gives

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it back to him. Well, you said it. What's it

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say in the law? You're the teacher. You know,

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Jesus could have just said, Love everyone. Love

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your brother. Love your neighbor. Do good to

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everyone. But he needed to put it in a story.

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The most amazing story. Jesus was the consummate

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storyteller. Because of course he is the word

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of God. So he didn't let this man justify himself.

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But he wanted to show This man, that in his heart,

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he had dislike, disdain, indifference, I won't

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say hatred, for a certain category of people,

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namely the Samaritans. Again, you can look that

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up, that's Bible study stuff. So the church in

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her wisdom gives, and her care for us, gives

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us this parable. now, today, just before we begin

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fasting, the 40 -day fast before Christmas. What's

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the connection? You've all heard this verse from

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St. John's Epistle. If anyone says, I love God,

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but hates his brother, and you see, the parable

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to this man is to show that everyone is your

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brother, even those that hate you. that seek

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your destruction, that you probably hate. If

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anyone says I love God and he's his brother,

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he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother

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whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has

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not seen. And this commandment we have from him,

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whoever loves God must also love his brother.

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This would be the answer to everything in this

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world. When we look around. But in my mind, it's

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easier to love God. He can be distant. We cannot

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see Him. Much easier than it is to love our neighbor.

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Especially the neighbors that irritate us. Those

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that we look down upon. Or those that look down

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upon us. Those that we see on the news. causing

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destruction and anguish and pain and suffering.

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Those that we criticize, those that criticize

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us, those that we find evil, sinful, offensive,

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hateful, or smelly. Love your enemy, Jesus says.

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Not just your neighbor. There are lots of enemies

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around. But of course, we're indifferent to them.

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We don't love them. We keep them far. And we

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can be indifferent to them. More or less. Why

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is it impossible to love God, says St. John,

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unless I love my neighbor? Why is that impossible?

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Why does he say, you're a liar? That's strong

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language. In order to love God, we first have

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to know him. Isn't that true? You can't love

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something or someone you don't know. And the

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way to do this, the way to love God, to learn

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how to love God, to learn to know Him, is found

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in this parable of the Good Samaritan. It's the

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same as St. John has said in that epistle. It's

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the same as the Lord says in the parable of the

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last judgment. To know Him, we have to meet Him.

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We have to encounter Him. We have to spend time

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with God by being with the icons, the images

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of God that we are surrounded by all the time.

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Each person, that kind of icon, every human being,

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even that enemy that hates us that you see doing

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terrible things. If I can't bring myself to love

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like that Samaritan did going to that man, Actually,

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I have two other guys passing by. I can go through

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my entire life wondering why God is absent from

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me. Distant. Not truly needing Him. Despite what

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I believe, what I confess, how I serve, how I

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recite the creed in the liturgy, and so forth.

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If I have not met Him, I don't know Him. And

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if I don't know Him, I can't love Him. This kind

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of Samaritan love, let's call it, is not about

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our feelings. Our feelings don't do anything

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for the needy person if we just think we're sorry

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for their condition. Perhaps the priest and the

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Levi thought that as they passed on the other

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side. I wish I could help, but I can't get involved.

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I have to go to the temple. I don't want to be

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defiled if this man is dead. I'll be defiled.

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I can't do anything. This kind of Samaritan love

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is not about our feelings. So forget how you

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feel about your enemy. Love here in this case

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is action. Action. On the other hand, when I

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realize that every interaction with others, all

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those idols of God that I'm surrounded with,

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that's time getting to know God. Because there

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he seems. The image may be severely broken in

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some. It may be distorted in others. It may be

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smudged and disfigured in most of us. But that's

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the path over and over and over again in my life's

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journey that God has set out for us. Getting

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to know God in His images. I can truly love Him

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the way He wants me to love Him and the way He

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wants to love me. It's not the way I would have

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preferred. But it's the way, the hard way, that

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God has given us. Go do likewise, Jesus tells

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the man. How is it possible to do this? Because

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we don't like spending time in these ways. But

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it is possible. I understand finally in my life

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that it is indeed possible. It's possible because,

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in fact, we are the ones that Christ has come

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to save. We heard St. Paul's words in the epistle.

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God who is rich in mercy because of his great

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love with which he loved us, even when we were

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dead in our trespasses, our soul dead, unable

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to do anything, despite what good we might have

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done in this world, there would be no eternal

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value in it whatsoever, doesn't matter how beautiful,

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how epic it might be. Without God, it's nothing.

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And we were dead in trespasses. He made us alive

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together with Christ. By grace you have been

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saved and raised us up together and made us sit

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together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

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Think about where you're sitting right now. Isn't

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this one of the heavenly places in Christ Jesus?

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You're here, brothers and sisters. Just as St.

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Paul said. He has made us sit together in the

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heavenly places in Christ Jesus. The liturgy

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is his place. When we were dead, being dead in

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our sins, our soul dead, he made us alive. And

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we have the wine and the oil that that Samaritan

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poured on that man to heal him. The chrismation

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and the Eucharist, the body and blood. The gift

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of the Spirit. We have the church, the inn, where

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we may be, if we want, healed by the Savior and

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be seated in the heavenly places together. And

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we become like the Samaritan who is Christ himself.

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Wonderful book called By Elder Thaddeus of Serbia.

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Thoughts determine our lives. He says, we are

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the children of light and love. The children

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of God. his sons and daughters. As such, we must

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have his qualities and his attributes of love,

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peace, and kindness toward all. That's the connection

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with the Christmas dice. Advent means coming.

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Christ's coming. He came to us. He continues

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to come to us. He continues to hold out the healing

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touch. Metropolitan Anthony Bloom said this in

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his sermon on this day. We're going to leave

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the church after the week. We will meet more

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than one person perhaps today and during the

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course of the coming week. Are we prepared to

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love our neighbor as Christ has taught us? The

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Lord knows our capabilities, our limits, our

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blessings. And those blessings that we have neglected

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and become poorer for that in life. Maybe we

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won't reach that level of love of the Samaritan,

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which is the gift of God, but at least let us

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think of this parable as our itinerary, our agenda,

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our spiritual outline. And act upon that as we

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journey, not from Jerusalem to the old city,

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a thousand feet below, literally, Jericho, as

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we have in the parable, but to the cave in Bethlehem

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and to the incredible revelation of God to us

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at Christmas. Amen. So be it.