In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. The text that we have before
us this morning comes to us in the Church's wisdom
on the second Lord's Day in the Nativity Fast.
We're given a story, another parable that the
Lord tells, not all too dissimilar from the one
we heard last week. In this one, We're given
a parable that could almost sum up the American
life. This guy has great wealth. His land flourishes.
His crops grow. He has everything. In fact, he
has so much that he has no room for it. And he
asks, what shall I do? Well, I should tear down
all of my barns and raise up more storage units.
for myself, and put all of my things in it. Not
unlike so many in the American life. We have
wealth. We have ease. We have things. Things
that we accumulate. Things that we fill our lives
with. And this guy puts everything in it. And
he says to his soul, Which is interesting. Soul,
now you have everything. Now you can relax. Now
you can be at ease. Eat, drink, and be merry.
And on that very night, the Lord comes to him
and he says, your soul is required of you, you
fool. Which means that the guy is dying. What
are you then going to do with all of these things?
For you who had so many things and yet you were
not rich toward God. We think about this language
of talking to our soul. It strikes, when I was
reading it, when I was reflecting over the gospel,
it strikes us as kind of odd. Do we talk to our
soul? Then I stepped back and I thought about
it. I thought, well, we actually do every single
Lord's Day when we come in. We hear the Psalms.
Bless the Lord, O my soul. Bless the Lord, all
that is within me. Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits. Forget not everything
that he has done to you, for you. Praise the
Lord, O my soul. I will praise the Lord as long
as I have being, as long as I live. Put not your
trust in princes nor sons of men in whom there
is no salvation. On the day that they die, they
return to the dust and their plans perish with
them. Don't put your trust, soul, in earthly
powers, in princes, in rulers, in kings, in politicians.
Not because they're bad, but because they're
earthly, they're human. In them there is no salvation
and the evidence of it. is when they die, the
very plans come to a screeching halt and everything
perishes. Instead, O soul, look to the things
that the Lord has made. Heaven, earth, everything
that he has created. Look to the people that
he has filled the earth with. Look at and notice
so many of the people who go hungry. Who are
sojourners, which in the consciousness of ancient
Israel is a technical term. A stranger, a person
who passes through the land of Israel. How will
we treat that person when they come into our
house? Look to the one who doesn't have a father.
Look to the widow. Look to the poor soul. Because
this is who the Lord looks at. Not because he
somehow likes these people more. more than us,
for we should see ourselves in those people,
but that he doesn't want those people to be that.
He doesn't want the person to go hungry. He doesn't
want the widow to be by herself. He doesn't want
the child to be fatherless. He wants to take
care of them. He sees, we should see Christ,
in them, in our fellow human being, in the poor,
in the weak, in the needy, in the suffering.
This is how we build up our house. When we think
about the text, the epistle text, what Paul tells
us, he has taken two parties, Jews and Gentiles,
who have immense animosity towards one another
in these times. He has broken down the dividing
wall, and he has taken both of them, and he has
used all of them for his stones in his building
project, this spiritual temple that he is building,
this holy dwelling place that he is building.
In all of us, With all of us in mind, as different
as we all are, the weak, the poor, the strong,
the rich, whatever. He takes all of us and he
builds us on the foundation of the apostles and
the prophets with Christ as our cornerstone,
this temple that he's raising up. And it's interesting
that we are thinking about all these things,
these texts come to us, while we are still thinking
and celebrating. the entry of the Theotokos into
the temple. For what is the Theotokos? She goes
into the temple, is consecrated as a three -year
-old, because she herself figures the temple.
Or maybe better yet, better put, the temple figures
her. Everything that she is, she is consecrated.
She is brought into the temple so that she might
learn more and more how to be the temple. Of
the Lord. The tabernacle. The tent. The woman.
Who is created. The first woman. Who is created
all the way back in Genesis. And taken out of
man. I was looking at the Hebrew the other day.
And it actually says. That she is built. She
is not necessarily created. But she is built.
As if she is a temple. The Hebrew word for Eve.
It actually means. A tent woman. A woman associated
with tents. That she will be filled with life.
And that she will become the mother of all the
living. This is the Theotokos. The one who in
her earthly body. She bears God. She becomes
the tabernacle. She prepares us for the Lord's
coming in this nativity fast. Because the Lord
is coming. And he is coming in her. The word
become flesh of his mother. Christ born of his
mother. In time and space. And yet in this nativity
fast. When we think about the Lord coming. How
will he be born in us? How will he come in us?
Because that's also what it's about. We are looking
at everything that we have. And are we thinking
about, let's just tear everything down and rebuild
new fortresses for ourselves where we can sort
of hoard the goodness that the Lord has given
us and not really think about anyone else in
our life? No, brothers and sisters, that's not
the way the Lord asks us to live. We are his
temple. We are his building project. We are patterned.
After the mother of God. That Christ would be
formed in us. The hope of glory. That Christ
coming in us. That Christ would dwell richly
in our hearts. That Christ would be manifest
in us. That when others looked at us. And that
when we looked at others. They would see Christ.
And we would see Christ in them. And another
human being. And so we think about. This time.
This idea about emptying ourselves. We fast.
We prepare. We give. Some of us might not have
earthly means, but what else can we give? Can
we give our energy? Can we give our talents?
Can we give our love? Can we give our prayer?
Can we notice the people who are struggling in
our midst? Can we give them a smile at least?
We prepare. We think about that other gospel
text that the Lord gives us. Come to me all who
labor and are heavy laden and I will give thee
rest. I think that's the part of that entire
text that we kind of capitalize on, which is
great. We should find rest in the Lord. I hope
that we find rest in him. that we find refreshment,
that we find life, that we find confidence, that
we find richness and goodness, that we find someone
who loves us so deeply and intimately and knows
us. Come to him and find that. But sometimes
we miss what he says next. Take my yoke upon
you, for I am gentle, I am lowly. But in that
context, To take the yoke upon you means something.
For any Jew that would have, the Gospel of Matthew
is written first and foremost to Jewish Christians.
To any Jew who would have heard that, they would
have heard what they do in prayer every single
morning when they take the yoke of the kingdom
of heaven upon them. Hear, O Israel, the Lord
our God, the Lord is one, the Shema. pray and
take that yoke upon them. And they try to internalize
it. That's their prayer. Love the Lord your God
with everything that you have and love your neighbor
as yourself. Christ says, I am that yoke. I am
that yoke. And I am easy, I am light. And yet,
he is still a yoke. And he does. We are free
to follow him or not, but he does impose a yoke
upon us. This yoke that in this particular season,
it manifests as a form of emptiness. Rather than
building things and accumulating things, hoarding
and withholding things and storing up treasures
in this earthly life, we give those things to
him, which means we give them, To others. Because
we see Christ in them. And we empty ourselves
because we are trying to internalize him in our
hearts. So that he might be in us. So that he
might be upon us. Again and again and again.
We are looking for his coming. We are awaiting
his coming. Eagerly, brothers and sisters. O
come, O come, Emmanuel. Entering into the goodness
of that. We can use this opportunity that we
have, that the church gives us, to grow deeply
in him. To let go of the things that we hold
so closely, that are earthly and worldly, and
will likely just tear us apart and consume us
if we give in too much to them. And letting our
hands grow a little looser. So that we can open
ourselves to God. So that we can be rich to God.
So that he can come into us. So on that Christmas
morning, when we say Christ is born, we can know.
We can trust. We can have faith. We can believe.
We can enter into it. Participate into Christ's
birth in us. dwelling richly in our hearts, transforming
us, making us more and more like him. Brothers
and sisters, that's why we're gathered here today.
We're about to experience that in the Eucharist
when we offer ourselves up to him, to the Father,
and the Father gives us Christ, who we take into
ourselves, that we are strengthened to face another
day. That we are encouraged, that we are filled,
that we are humbled at his mercy and love towards
us. Those who are poor, those who are weak, those
who are orphans in this world apart from him.
Those who are fatherless apart from the Father
who gives us hope. Those who have no love, really,
apart from the Spirit bursting into their hearts
and God pouring out his love into them. Amen?
Amen. May God help us.