WEBVTT

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First Sunday of Advent, after we've heard the

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parable last week of the Good Samaritan, you

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see the church has taken us to think about the

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interior life and the life of charity, the life

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of prayer, the life of being rich with God. Let

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me start with a little background, back up a

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few verses that you did not hear the deacon read.

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It's not appointed to be read, these verses.

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And what do we find there? Well, we find Jesus

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preaching, and he's preaching deep and profound

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things about the Holy Spirit, about the spiritual

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life. And a man in the crowd is elbowing his

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way forward in order to get close enough to Jesus

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to get his attention. He thinks, now this rabbi

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is going to tell me what I need to do. And when

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he got close, he cries out, and he says to Jesus,

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I have an inheritance. My brother is not sharing

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it. Tell him to divide it up with me. He demands

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that Jesus do a rabbinic thing. Work out this

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dispute in the family. It's an all too frequent

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situation even now, isn't it? What did Jesus

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say? Sure, I'll take care of that for you. No,

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no. He said, who appointed me? to be a judge

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or an arbiter between you two. Who appointed

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me, O man? And then he issued not a ruling, because

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he's not that rabbi, but he offers a warning.

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Take heed. Be on guard. Watch. Beware of covetousness,

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for one's life does not consist in the abundance

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of the things he possesses. Then the Lord says

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this parable. There was a certain rich man, and

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on and on, you just heard it. Now please understand

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that those listening to Jesus at the time were

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ordinary people like us. They weren't wealthy

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people. He's not slamming the rich people. These

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people would have believed that this industrious

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and wealthy man was extremely blessed. Otherwise,

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how could he have this wealth? He was doing something

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right. He worked hard. He planned for the future.

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Both things are good. Work hard, plan for the

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future, take care of your church, take care of

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your family, be a good citizen. Of course those

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are good things. He was industrious. He was like

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the man in Proverbs. He was steady. He was like

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the ant. He did all this work. He just kept going.

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He understood the fragile nature of life. He

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understood that the threats posed to our security,

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poverty, illness. He didn't think. He did plan

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for the future, just not far enough. This parable,

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we hear the man say something like 13 times,

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I will do this with my things, me, mine, and

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I, over and over again. I'll eat, drink, be merry,

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relax. Here we are in the Christmas fast. We're

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told to not relax, but be watchful. Be careful

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what you eat. Watch what you drink. And don't

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be merry. Be joyful. Because the Lord's coming

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at Christmas to us. Suddenly, as this man is,

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there's a great painting. It's by Rembrandt,

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right? Shows this guy with all this stuff on

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his desk and piles of papers and money, money

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bags. And suddenly, this man hears the voice

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of God. What would you like God to say to you

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if you heard his voice? Well done, good and faithful

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servant. You'd like to hear that. But this man,

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what does God say? He says, fool, fool, this

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night your soul is required of you. He's a fool.

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Keep in mind, Jesus says, for us, call no one

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a fool. That's Matthew chapter 5. But here God

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calls the man a fool. Well, God can do that because

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he knows the situation, doesn't he? Imagine the

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mourners at this man's funeral. He was a good

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man. He was an industrious man. He was someone

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to emulate words of admiration, but he's a fool.

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Why? Point number one, brothers and sisters,

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the fool, says Proverbs, believes that no one

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is more trustworthy or wise or reliable than

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himself. It says, he who trusts in his own heart

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is a fool. Because the heart is fickle. He planned

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ahead, as I said, just not far enough. He lost

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sight of God with the piles of stuff in front

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of him. This fool was not really a good man of

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business because he didn't look at all the ledgers.

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He missed one. He imagined his soul was worth

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less than his possessions. He was also wrong

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about his expiration date. We don't know the

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date of our departure from this life. We go along

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thinking it might be sometime in the future.

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Even when you hit 66, like me, you think, well,

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80s maybe. You know, I'm good till then. Really?

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We don't know. It's coming. These are huge business

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mistakes that this man made. Point number two.

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Notice how the parable begins. It says this.

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The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.

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He thought to himself, this I will do with my

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things. which I have of my own power. He thought.

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He became a victim of his own fantasy, which

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came out of his heart because his heart was corrupt.

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Today, well, last night, Father Nicholas spoke

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about peace, the peace of God. Today, you heard

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the choir and the readers saying, the Lord will

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give strength to his people. The Lord will grant

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his people with peace. And then you heard the

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epistle immediately. Christ is our peace. This

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is what he forgot to acquire the peace of God,

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to acquire Christ himself. His heart did not

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have Christ in it. And so he was disturbed by

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demonic suggestions through thoughts and enticing

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images of a possible and beautiful future. Devoid

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and forgetful of the grace of God and his responsibility

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to the poor. Very many people, including Orthodox

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Christians, do not realize that all our thoughts

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and our feelings actually come not from our true

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selves or from the Lord, that some of these thoughts

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and feelings are temptations. They come from

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our own fallenness. They come from outside. We

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call them logismi. They are negative passions,

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directly sometimes from the evil one. whom our

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tradition warns us about so much, so we will

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not be ignorant of the wiles of the devil, says

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St. Paul. This is why we are to be on guard and

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watch. God sows his word richly in all places

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and all times. We heard about that weeks ago

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with the seed and the sower. What matters is

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the condition of the heart. This man believed

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his thoughts. And his thoughts were like drawn

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as if his money and his possessions were a magnet.

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They were a magnet. We are given this gospel

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reading today, brothers and sisters, for a couple

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of reasons. Let's ask ourselves a question. Who

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is this directed to, this parable? Do any of

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us think that it's not for me personally? Do

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any of us think that we don't suffer from covetousness?

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Raise your hand, but then you can take over.

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We all suffer from this. Otherwise, why would

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the gospel be given to us today? Why would Christ

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speak to us? It's he that is speaking to us.

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Beware of covetousness, he says. A person's life

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does not consist in what they own. We may think

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of that intellectually, but be challenged. This

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requires a response from us. Take heed. Be on

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guard. Watch. What does covetousness mean? Well,

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I looked it up. Merriam -Webster says, It means

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the condition of having a craving for possessions,

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for your own time, for things, for people. A

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craving. I would say the spiritual condition

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of having a misplaced, misdirected desire. St.

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Paul says in Colossians that covetousness is

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idolatry. Yes. The wonderful thing about church.

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And the gospel is that a word can be given to

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us which challenges us, which afflicts us, which

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might even insult us. But you know, most of us

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walk out the door without being touched by it.

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We should take these words of the Lord seriously

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and examine the condition of our heart and our

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thoughts. Because coveting is number 10. on the

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list of the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not

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cover. It also means robbing God by being stingy

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with either the church or the poor. Now, again,

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hearing this parable, we might think, oh yes,

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I know so -and -so. That's the person this parable

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fits. It's directed to you and me. Are we aware

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of this sin in our hearts on this first Sunday?

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On the other hand, are we aware, do we have a

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desire to be, as St. Peter says, as St. Paul

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says, to be rich in God? What does that mean?

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I'll leave you with the words of St. Peter of

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Damascus from the Philokalia. He says, rich in

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God, to the extent that a person thanks God and

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labors out of love for God. shall God come near

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him with his gifts, and God will desire to comfort

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him. That's rich. Amen.