Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory to God. It seems
to me that the theme that the church puts before
us on this day is ministry being a service. You
heard in the epistle, the words of St. Paul written
to the Romans. He said, you were servants of
sin and unrighteousness. Well, we know the Romans
had servants, but they mostly had slaves. The
word is fraught, and so we don't like it that
much because it brings back terrible things in
our history. But that's exactly what it says.
He says, you were slaves of sin. You had no freedom.
You did get a wage, but it was death. He says,
but now, because of baptism, and he had just
explained in the previous chapter, that we become
free in Christ. We die to sin. It has no power
over us in our repentance, in our confession,
in the washing away of our sin, in our baptism,
in receiving holy communion, in the life of the
church. God's love has overcome all of that.
He says, now you are slaves to righteousness.
but were free in Christ. And then in the Gospel,
we heard about a servant of the Roman soldier,
the centurion, a man basically in charge of a
hundred soldiers, more or less, it varied. And
he had a slave. It says servant, but it was his
slave. And the slave was grievously ill. So to
me, combined with what's going to happen here
by the grace of God with the laying on of hands
of his eminence upon Aaron to make him a deacon,
which means the one who serves, diakonos. He
has a ministry of service in the church. The
theme is just calling out to us, brothers and
sisters, let us think about that for a moment.
Since Pentecost, we've begun to read from the
Gospel of St. Matthew. Last week we heard the
tale end of the sermon on the mount. The attitudes,
what faithfulness in Christ looks like, loving
your enemies, doing good, how to fast and all
that. How not to be anxious because your heavenly
father knows what you need. And that we are to
seek the kingdom of God first and God will provide
what we need. We heard all that. Please, I invite
you to read those chapters again. Those are the
basics of our Christian faith, the fundamentals
of how to be faithful. Not in an intellectual
way. No, you have to start with what do we do
to follow Christ. And it's radical. It's a radical
message of dependence upon God. Make no mistake.
St. Matthew records that after Jesus had ended
those teachings, something remarkable happened.
St. Matthew relates this, when Jesus had ended
these sayings, the people were astonished at
his teaching. For he taught them as one having
authority and not as the scribes. It said, if
we would say in today's terms, Their jaws were
dropping at the words that he had said because
it was so amazing. They were astonished. And
you would think then at that moment that Jesus
would take someone from the crowd, someone that
he was teaching there and then, someone that
was following every word that he had said and
spoken on this sermon on the mount so he could
illustrate and prove his point. But that's not
what he did. It says, Immediately, when Jesus
had entered into the village of Capernaum, a
centurion came to him, a Roman soldier of the
occupying force, asking for healing for his servant,
his slave. And how did Jesus respond? Well, not
like us. Social media, here's what you hear.
You Romans. Are the problem here. You're unclean.
You're sinners. You're violent oppressors. You're
slave owners. You're pagan island worshippers.
You Mr. Centurion. Should resign right now. Resign
from that Roman army. Become a Jew. And oppose
any of these terrible things. But is that what
Jesus did? Did he speak about the oppression.
That people were under. No he spoke about the
freedom. That we have to achieve first. Or we
would never be free no matter what happens to
us. Our culture gives us everything we want.
I could go to any store. I could order anything
online I want any time of day or night in most
places in this country. That's freedom. I could
save pretty much whatever I want. But if I have
no freedom inside, I am still a slave. a slave
of myself, and I'm earning wages of death. Jesus
did not talk about that type of thing. He said
to the man, I will come and heal your servant.
And the soldier says to Jesus, I am not worthy
that thou shouldst enter. To come to my house.
And of course we have this marvelous prayer.
We say before communion. Which we should have
memorized. Lord I'm not worthy that thou shouldst
come beneath the house of my soul. That's the
words of not a Jewish man. But of the centurion.
Jesus was astonished. Again. Astonished. He says
that this man, a Roman soldier, has greater faith
than anyone else he ever met in Israel and more.
And I say to you that many will come from the
east and the west and sit down with Abraham and
Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. Here
we are sitting down from the east and the west,
the north and the south. We're in the banquet
room of the Lord with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.
And all the saints. We have come from all parts.
From all places. From all kinds of walks of life.
But the sons of the kingdom. That are not faithful.
That's his point. The sons of the kingdom. Will
be cast out into outer darkness. And then. At
the end of the gospel. When the deacon brings
the gospel to the priest. He says. Blessed are
you. said the good news. The last thing you hear
is there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
That's anger and hatred, weeping and gnashing.
This must have been a terribly shocking statement
that the apostles and others, the scribes, the
Pharisees heard. Very offensive to them. It should
give us pause. You know, we Orthodox Christians
pride ourselves on our orthodoxy. We pride ourselves
at being the inheritors of original, authentic,
unadulterated faith from the apostles. And it
is that. It's one because it's of God. It's holy
because it's of the Holy Spirit. It's Catholic
because it's not missing anything. It's full
and it's for everyone in every place. But inheritors...
need to use their inheritance. Or else there's
no transformation. More than half of you in this
room have embraced orthodoxy as adults. Some
of us grew up in the orthodox faith, yes. And
the question is, are we living up to what we
are called to be? Today, I would say, We should
focus on being servants. And can Christ point
to us and say, you and you and you, yes. You
go with those about whom I have just said, I
have never seen such great faith. Can we astonish
Christ with our love and our faithfulness? This
is a line of demarcation for us. Jesus is saying,
this is what it is to be faithful. This is all
of the things Jesus has been teaching, embodied
in this man, everything about the Sermon on the
Mount. Here it is. And so we have to look, we
have to say, do I have these qualities? Do I
have the discipline of the centurion? Do I understand
my place? Do I have the freedom? Yes, he's a
man under authority, but he has authority. Am
I reliable? Am I honest? Do I intercede for others
and care for them and do what is necessary to
help them? On this day of the ordination, on
this day of hearing about slaves of sin being
slaves now of righteousness and having the fruit
of the Spirit, says St. Paul, the fruit of the
Spirit because we are followers of Christ. On
this day, we have an example given to us in the
Gospel, not just of and honesty and reliability
and discipleship, but of humility of one, this
centurion, who is master over many, himself becoming
the servant of his slave. And here Jesus can
recognize his very mission, where he said, I
came not to be served, But I came to be the servant
of all. I came not to be served, Jesus says,
but to be the servant of all. Here is what is
necessary for us who serve at the altar. If we're
an archbishop or a bishop or a priest, what is
our responsibility? If we're a parent, if we're
a brother or sister, if we're a caretaker, if
we have some ministry in the church. Whatever
it might be, what is our first and bounden duty?
To pray. That's first. To be the servant of righteousness.
To show forth the fruit of the Spirit. And especially
high on the list of prayer is to do what this
man, this centurion did. There are two miracles
here, of course. The servant is cured. Jesus
doesn't even have to go because all power is
given to him in heaven and on earth. But the
real miracle of the story is this centurion's
servanthood, his humility before God, his intercession.
This is what happens in the church. I want to
end with this word from St. Maria of Paris. Because
our service is first in the church and to each
other. We become servants of one another. Knowing
that the other person is greater. Offering whatever
we can in whatever time and place that's appropriate.
And that God can inspire you. And when we do
this, it's God's spirit that's guiding us and
we're becoming transformed. We are becoming like
Christ. This is God's grace in us. This happens
in the church. But beware. Here's what St. Mary
of Paris says. It would be a great lie to tell
searching souls, go to church, because there
you will find peace. The opposite is true. The
church tells us, those who are at peace and asleep,
go to church, because there you will feel anguish
for your sins. There you will feel perdition
for the world's sins. And there you will feel
an unappeasable hunger for Jesus Christ's truth
in you, to serve him, to be his servant. There,
instead of becoming lukewarm, you will be set
on fire. Instead of being pacified, you will
become alarmed at the state of your soul. at
the suffering of the world. Instead of learning
the wisdom of this world, you will become fools
for Christ. Let us be numbered among those whom
Jesus calls exemplars of the faith. Whether we
look foolish or wise, it doesn't matter. Faithfulness
of discipline, of intercession, and of love towards
one another. To our Lord be glory, now and ever,
to ages and ages.