WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.620 Glory to Jesus Christ, in the name of the Father, 00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:08.960 and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 00:00:12.339 --> 00:00:16.339 I'm grateful to God for gathering us together, 00:00:16.620 --> 00:00:21.239 for assembling us. I'm grateful to God for this 00:00:21.239 --> 00:00:26.260 marvelous parable that the Lord told that man 00:00:26.260 --> 00:00:28.920 that was trying to trip him up on a legality. 00:00:29.370 --> 00:00:32.670 religious legality such a well -known parable 00:00:32.670 --> 00:00:35.409 you know there's even a law in some states called 00:00:35.409 --> 00:00:39.049 the good samaritan law in which following which 00:00:39.049 --> 00:00:42.710 you must stop to help somebody that is in distress 00:00:42.710 --> 00:00:47.810 but beyond that further the church gives us this 00:00:47.810 --> 00:00:52.149 parable in her wisdom providentially it's recorded 00:00:52.149 --> 00:00:56.679 in chapter 10 of the gospel of luke We're given 00:00:56.679 --> 00:00:59.600 it at the beginning of the fast for Christmas. 00:01:00.939 --> 00:01:04.859 I think it helps us examine our love for God, 00:01:05.019 --> 00:01:08.980 our love for our neighbor. You heard the Lord. 00:01:09.099 --> 00:01:12.780 What is the greatest commandment? The man answered 00:01:12.780 --> 00:01:17.980 this, do it. Do it. The story is, of course, 00:01:17.980 --> 00:01:23.409 about love for our neighbor. It is about... but 00:01:23.409 --> 00:01:26.189 not only, about doing a good deed for a person 00:01:26.189 --> 00:01:30.829 in need. We're Christians, of course we do that. 00:01:32.650 --> 00:01:36.769 For we are God's handiwork, says St. Paul. We're 00:01:36.769 --> 00:01:42.829 created in Christ Jesus to do good works. Not 00:01:42.829 --> 00:01:49.150 to just keep the joy to ourself. No, we're to 00:01:49.150 --> 00:01:54.040 be outwardly. View outwardly, not always just 00:01:54.040 --> 00:01:58.840 inwardly. And God has prepared us for this, it 00:01:58.840 --> 00:02:02.379 says, for us to do those good works. He has prepared 00:02:02.379 --> 00:02:05.519 us. He equips us to do it. So let's not be afraid. 00:02:06.120 --> 00:02:09.379 But the parable is more than doing good works. 00:02:09.419 --> 00:02:13.340 The good Samaritan cares for this man from Jerusalem 00:02:13.340 --> 00:02:18.400 who is dying and who hates the Samaritan. He 00:02:18.400 --> 00:02:24.250 hates him. He despises him. He's prejudiced in 00:02:24.250 --> 00:02:28.110 every way against him. Samaritan and Jew, they 00:02:28.110 --> 00:02:30.349 were at enmity. They hated each other. There's 00:02:30.349 --> 00:02:32.650 no need to go into Bible study questions about 00:02:32.650 --> 00:02:36.870 this. Now, why that is, they did. Leave it there. 00:02:37.310 --> 00:02:40.990 So yes, good deeds are a part of the story, but 00:02:40.990 --> 00:02:49.060 deeds, works of mercy, also for those who hate 00:02:49.060 --> 00:02:54.120 us and for whom we might not feel any warmth 00:02:54.120 --> 00:02:57.719 for. Because you know what the Lord says, not 00:02:57.719 --> 00:03:02.060 just love your neighbor, which we tend to take 00:03:02.060 --> 00:03:05.560 as ignore your neighbor as much as possible. 00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:09.419 And if he irritates you, then bring it to confession 00:03:09.419 --> 00:03:13.500 and wonder why you don't love him. I mean, that's 00:03:13.500 --> 00:03:18.870 the way I am. But love your enemies, bless them 00:03:18.870 --> 00:03:22.569 that curse you. How? How are we to love our enemy? 00:03:23.830 --> 00:03:28.689 By feeling good about it? No, because love in 00:03:28.689 --> 00:03:31.870 this instance, this kind of agape love, the kind 00:03:31.870 --> 00:03:34.569 of love that Christ shows us on the cross is 00:03:34.569 --> 00:03:38.530 not about how we feel. It's about what we do. 00:03:40.969 --> 00:03:44.150 And the Lord tells us how to love our enemy. 00:03:44.229 --> 00:03:48.030 It's very simple. He gives us one short phrase. 00:03:49.370 --> 00:03:54.969 Do good. That's it. Do good. You may not feel 00:03:54.969 --> 00:03:58.909 good, but do good to those who hate you. Pray 00:03:58.909 --> 00:04:03.830 for them which despitefully use you and persecute 00:04:03.830 --> 00:04:10.229 you. This is the call for the Christian. Why? 00:04:10.389 --> 00:04:15.250 That you may be the children. Of your father. 00:04:16.170 --> 00:04:21.430 Which is in heaven. Children. Following God. 00:04:22.149 --> 00:04:27.129 Like God. And we're invited. We're called. We're 00:04:27.129 --> 00:04:30.170 equipped to do godly deeds. That's the story. 00:04:30.189 --> 00:04:32.829 Like Christ. Even for those that hate Christ. 00:04:32.990 --> 00:04:36.870 This gospel. The fast are calling me to reorientate. 00:04:36.889 --> 00:04:41.930 My love away from myself. To recalibrate. And 00:04:41.930 --> 00:04:45.389 revitalize it. with the three pillars of the 00:04:45.389 --> 00:04:56.610 fast. To fast, to pray, and to do alms. The gospel 00:04:56.610 --> 00:05:00.230 is calling me to do that. But how am I to do 00:05:00.230 --> 00:05:03.389 this? It's against my nature. It's not something 00:05:03.389 --> 00:05:08.670 I am naturally inclined to do. Perhaps we should 00:05:08.670 --> 00:05:13.149 for a moment just consider that maybe Let us 00:05:13.149 --> 00:05:17.430 see ourselves not as the good Samaritan, the 00:05:17.430 --> 00:05:21.550 one who's doing good on the road, the guy that 00:05:21.550 --> 00:05:24.790 has the flat tire, or for the woman in need in 00:05:24.790 --> 00:05:27.670 the parking lot or at the store. Maybe we're 00:05:27.670 --> 00:05:31.850 not the good Samaritan here. Maybe we're the 00:05:31.850 --> 00:05:34.769 man that went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. 00:05:35.550 --> 00:05:38.930 And we heard St. Paul's words today, and that 00:05:38.930 --> 00:05:43.060 changes our perspective. He said, God, God who 00:05:43.060 --> 00:05:47.459 is rich in mercy. You know, we may be sinners 00:05:47.459 --> 00:05:50.319 and not worthy to stand before the Lord, but 00:05:50.319 --> 00:05:53.959 we are precious before him, each one of us. God 00:05:53.959 --> 00:05:56.240 who is rich in mercy because of his great love 00:05:56.240 --> 00:06:00.300 with which he loved us, even when we were dead 00:06:00.300 --> 00:06:03.759 in trespasses, hadn't done a thing good, not 00:06:03.759 --> 00:06:07.199 a thing. He still loves us, made us alive together 00:06:07.199 --> 00:06:10.310 with Christ. What St. Paul says here is what 00:06:10.310 --> 00:06:13.670 the parable describes. We're dead in trespasses. 00:06:13.889 --> 00:06:17.889 We have been made alive. The parable says a man 00:06:17.889 --> 00:06:20.689 went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. Jerusalem 00:06:20.689 --> 00:06:27.009 is 2 ,500 feet above sea level. That height implies 00:06:27.009 --> 00:06:31.230 holiness. It implies the mountain of God, the 00:06:31.230 --> 00:06:33.569 place of goodness, peace, the city of peace. 00:06:33.750 --> 00:06:37.740 It may not be that in reality. But in the story, 00:06:37.819 --> 00:06:42.480 that's what it means. It implies the kingdom 00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:47.839 of God. And Jericho, you don't have to raise 00:06:47.839 --> 00:06:50.040 your hands, but who's been to the Holy Land? 00:06:50.379 --> 00:06:57.579 Jericho is 950 feet below sea level. Way down 00:06:57.579 --> 00:07:01.920 there near the Dead Sea. And that depth, along 00:07:01.920 --> 00:07:05.860 with what we read in the book of Joshua, implies 00:07:05.860 --> 00:07:10.000 a place of sin, a place of forgetfulness, a place 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:13.839 of shameful and harmful things. And the way from 00:07:13.839 --> 00:07:17.360 Jerusalem to Jericho is fraught with dangers, 00:07:17.480 --> 00:07:24.639 with demons, with sinful things. And the man 00:07:24.639 --> 00:07:28.560 is beat up and left for dead, naked. He's lost 00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:31.990 his clothes. He's lost everything. It's like 00:07:31.990 --> 00:07:34.509 what St. Paul says. We were dead in our sins, 00:07:34.550 --> 00:07:37.230 yet he made us alive. What do I mean? What I 00:07:37.230 --> 00:07:41.829 mean is that when the parable says the Samaritan 00:07:41.829 --> 00:07:46.750 brought the wounded man to the inn, a special 00:07:46.750 --> 00:07:52.209 place, it means for me that I was brought to 00:07:52.209 --> 00:07:55.810 the church, the inn, which is his body. I was 00:07:55.810 --> 00:07:59.399 baptized. I was clothed. I was healed. I'm in 00:07:59.399 --> 00:08:02.240 the process of being healed. I received the power 00:08:02.240 --> 00:08:06.459 of the cross of Christ within me. I received 00:08:06.459 --> 00:08:09.139 communion. I received the gift of the Holy Spirit. 00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:12.500 And we have the forgiveness of sins. The inn 00:08:12.500 --> 00:08:17.199 in the story, my friends, is a key point. For 00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:19.660 us, it means the church. It means a place of 00:08:19.660 --> 00:08:24.819 healing. That's to say, it's the church. The 00:08:24.819 --> 00:08:28.180 mystical. Divine reality. The body of Christ. 00:08:28.360 --> 00:08:31.439 Not just a human organization which has institutions. 00:08:31.500 --> 00:08:36.320 No. It's the assembly of God. It's the people 00:08:36.320 --> 00:08:38.899 of God. Bless ye God and the churches we hear 00:08:38.899 --> 00:08:42.120 at Pascha. The Lord from the wellsprings of Israel. 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:48.019 The church. The church is the renewal of all 00:08:48.019 --> 00:08:50.909 of that. the wellsprings of Israel. It's the 00:08:50.909 --> 00:08:53.789 assembly that God called from the beginning when 00:08:53.789 --> 00:08:58.509 he called Abraham. And then it grows into this 00:08:58.509 --> 00:09:03.490 amazing and wonderful and beautiful organism, 00:09:03.649 --> 00:09:06.830 the body of Christ, which we become members on 00:09:06.830 --> 00:09:13.350 Pentecost, of which we each have shared. And 00:09:13.350 --> 00:09:18.179 we see the spiritual medicine given to us. In 00:09:18.179 --> 00:09:23.200 so many different ways. Which we cannot acquire 00:09:23.200 --> 00:09:28.399 anywhere else. Anywhere else, not by our own 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:31.039 merit, that's for sure. Not by my so -called 00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:36.480 virtues or that I am a good person. As if that's 00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:40.600 going to save me from anything. What did we hear 00:09:40.600 --> 00:09:45.159 Jesus say? When the Pharisees said to his disciples, 00:09:45.279 --> 00:09:47.139 your teacher, he's eating with sinful people. 00:09:48.320 --> 00:09:50.720 Of course, these sinful people change and become 00:09:50.720 --> 00:09:54.059 saints. They don't stay sinful once they're with 00:09:54.059 --> 00:09:59.259 Christ. Jesus said, those who are well have no 00:09:59.259 --> 00:10:02.340 need of a physician, but those who are sick. 00:10:03.659 --> 00:10:06.100 But go and learn what this means. I desire mercy, 00:10:06.279 --> 00:10:08.659 not sacrifice. I did not come to call the righteous 00:10:08.659 --> 00:10:12.700 so -called righteous. but sinners to repentance. 00:10:14.899 --> 00:10:18.620 This is what we receive in the church. Can we 00:10:18.620 --> 00:10:24.039 identify ourselves as that man in the ditch? 00:10:24.919 --> 00:10:28.700 Because if we can't, we won't receive healing. 00:10:29.240 --> 00:10:35.139 Can we see ourselves as broken and wounded and 00:10:35.139 --> 00:10:39.539 need of all this glorious medicine? If we can, 00:10:40.269 --> 00:10:43.250 We will be lifted up. We will become saints. 00:10:44.929 --> 00:10:47.929 And it happens in the church. Not just in any 00:10:47.929 --> 00:10:51.750 place. No. The church founded by Christ and the 00:10:51.750 --> 00:10:54.750 apostles. And continues even to this day. Here 00:10:54.750 --> 00:10:59.210 in Santa Rosa. In this place. And in all over 00:10:59.210 --> 00:11:01.830 the world. And St. John of Kronstadt tells us 00:11:01.830 --> 00:11:04.169 how important that is. He says the church is 00:11:04.169 --> 00:11:10.340 one and the same with the Lord. His body. His 00:11:10.340 --> 00:11:15.639 flesh, his bones. The church is the living vine, 00:11:15.899 --> 00:11:20.460 nourished by him, growing in him. Never think 00:11:20.460 --> 00:11:23.360 of the church apart from Jesus Christ, from the 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:26.259 Father and the Holy Spirit. This is a weakness 00:11:26.259 --> 00:11:29.059 in our own time. People feel like, well, the 00:11:29.059 --> 00:11:32.039 church has these rules, a lot I don't agree with, 00:11:32.139 --> 00:11:36.059 and they're obsolete, and I know so much better. 00:11:37.080 --> 00:11:40.769 The church gives us the wisdom, To the path of 00:11:40.769 --> 00:11:44.309 holiness. We can accept it and walk that way. 00:11:44.409 --> 00:11:48.009 We can reject some things we don't like. And 00:11:48.009 --> 00:11:52.149 we will never know. We'll never know. The end 00:11:52.149 --> 00:11:55.809 of the parable of the church. Finally, it's where 00:11:55.809 --> 00:12:00.870 I can safely entrust my life, my whole life to 00:12:00.870 --> 00:12:05.649 Christ. Unsuccessful and sinful as it is. Because 00:12:05.649 --> 00:12:10.549 I know I'm precious before God. Here in the church, 00:12:10.669 --> 00:12:13.590 the inn, we can walk in repentance, which is 00:12:13.590 --> 00:12:17.809 to change the way I live, the way I think, and 00:12:17.809 --> 00:12:20.950 have my being. I can stop trusting. I can stop 00:12:20.950 --> 00:12:25.330 trusting in my own individuality. I'm safe here. 00:12:26.490 --> 00:12:30.490 This is why we are in the church, the new creation, 00:12:30.710 --> 00:12:34.309 the renewal of the covenant, where you and I 00:12:34.309 --> 00:12:38.779 exist as someone who can love. And someone who 00:12:38.779 --> 00:12:42.639 is loved. Loved by the saints who give each one 00:12:42.639 --> 00:12:46.080 of us a name. They know you, brothers and sisters. 00:12:46.460 --> 00:12:51.620 The saints know you. We have to extend a little 00:12:51.620 --> 00:12:56.940 bit of ourselves to know them. And then, then, 00:12:57.039 --> 00:13:01.419 like the good Samaritan, we learn how to love 00:13:01.419 --> 00:13:06.159 others despite their sinfulness. We learn to 00:13:06.159 --> 00:13:08.600 measure up to the love of Christ and the saints 00:13:08.600 --> 00:13:12.740 and to do good even to those that hate us. Then 00:13:12.740 --> 00:13:14.980 it becomes possible to fulfill this commandment. 00:13:15.039 --> 00:13:18.419 You shall love the Lord your God with all your 00:13:18.419 --> 00:13:22.139 heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, 00:13:22.340 --> 00:13:25.899 with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself. 00:13:26.059 --> 00:13:29.059 May the Lord bless us during this time of the 00:13:29.059 --> 00:13:32.740 fast and grant us the healing so that we can 00:13:32.740 --> 00:13:33.960 do that. Amen.