WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.879 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 00:00:02.879 --> 00:00:10.160 of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Earlier in St. Luke's 00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:15.960 Gospel, the Lord makes mention of the many widows 00:00:15.960 --> 00:00:20.789 in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the land 00:00:20.789 --> 00:00:23.670 went without rain for three and a half years 00:00:23.670 --> 00:00:31.170 as a great famine ravaged the land. the Lord 00:00:31.170 --> 00:00:38.020 only sent Elijah to Zarephath, a Phoenician city 00:00:38.020 --> 00:00:43.789 in the land of Sidon, a Gentile city on the outskirts, 00:00:43.850 --> 00:00:50.909 to visit a woman who was a widow, whose son dies 00:00:50.909 --> 00:00:55.829 right in the presence of Elijah, only to be raised 00:00:55.829 --> 00:01:02.549 again by the prophet's prayers. The Lord himself 00:01:02.549 --> 00:01:09.269 today visits another widow, this time in Nine, 00:01:09.609 --> 00:01:15.519 a city in the north in Galilee, about five miles 00:01:15.519 --> 00:01:22.000 south of Nazareth. And he witnesses a funeral 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:26.340 procession for a young man who has just died, 00:01:26.519 --> 00:01:31.489 being carried out visibly on the funeral here. 00:01:32.329 --> 00:01:36.269 as a crowd processes around him and his mother, 00:01:36.390 --> 00:01:42.260 whose only son, whose only begotten son, technically, 00:01:42.459 --> 00:01:47.799 whose only son has just departed her, and she 00:01:47.799 --> 00:01:52.129 is a widow, which means she has no economical 00:01:52.129 --> 00:01:59.489 or financial support left, no husband to support 00:01:59.489 --> 00:02:06.349 her, no son. To help her. No family. No lifeline. 00:02:07.780 --> 00:02:12.840 In time, as everyone knows who's been widowed 00:02:12.840 --> 00:02:17.099 in this life, this crowd will leave her alone. 00:02:17.699 --> 00:02:24.270 And she will be left to face her sorrow and sit 00:02:24.270 --> 00:02:30.300 with her helplessness by herself. It's here. 00:02:30.659 --> 00:02:34.139 It's here the first time in St. Luke's Gospel. 00:02:34.729 --> 00:02:39.349 that Luke himself, the narrator, calls Jesus 00:02:39.349 --> 00:02:45.909 the Lord, the Lord, styling him with the very 00:02:45.909 --> 00:02:50.449 name of Israel's God. When the Lord saw her, 00:02:50.689 --> 00:02:56.409 he had compassion on her. That same compassion 00:02:56.409 --> 00:03:01.610 he spoke about last week, the compassion of the 00:03:01.610 --> 00:03:05.729 God of Israel, his own fathers. very character, 00:03:05.870 --> 00:03:10.870 in solidarity with his Father as his image and 00:03:10.870 --> 00:03:17.490 word, his mouthpiece, that compassion moves him 00:03:17.490 --> 00:03:24.389 to act in mercy. Do not weep. Do not weep. And 00:03:24.430 --> 00:03:27.770 he stops the procession, touches the coffin, 00:03:27.830 --> 00:03:34.159 and exclaims, Young man, I say to you, arise! 00:03:35.710 --> 00:03:41.960 His compassion. confronts death itself. And death 00:03:41.960 --> 00:03:48.139 cannot withstand it. Death has no chance or power 00:03:48.139 --> 00:03:52.159 against it. And just like that, the corpse sits 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:57.960 up and starts to speak. And Jesus gives him to 00:03:57.960 --> 00:04:02.379 his mother. That line is significant as it repeats 00:04:02.379 --> 00:04:06.500 exactly the exact same words, the exact same 00:04:06.500 --> 00:04:12.520 sentence. Word for word, what Elijah does after 00:04:12.520 --> 00:04:16.879 he raises the widow's son in 1 Kings, he gives 00:04:16.879 --> 00:04:20.800 him back to his mother and thus restores her 00:04:20.800 --> 00:04:24.839 dignity. She will not be alone in this life. 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:30.839 Recalling the same fear that seized Simon Peter 00:04:30.839 --> 00:04:35.439 two weeks ago, fear now seizes everyone present 00:04:35.439 --> 00:04:40.300 as they glorify God. realizing that they've encountered 00:04:40.300 --> 00:04:44.920 someone otherworldly among them. A great prophet 00:04:44.920 --> 00:04:49.319 has arisen among them, shouting the words Moses 00:04:49.319 --> 00:04:51.980 spoke all the way back in Deuteronomy, that the 00:04:51.980 --> 00:04:56.360 Lord will raise up a prophet like himself for 00:04:56.360 --> 00:05:01.230 Israel. And yet, someone greater than a prophet 00:05:01.230 --> 00:05:05.269 is here. For Elijah had to pray three times. 00:05:05.839 --> 00:05:10.560 And Elijah had to perform a ritual. He had to 00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:14.360 stretch himself over the dead boy three times. 00:05:15.990 --> 00:05:20.750 And the Lord had to respond. All Jesus had to 00:05:20.750 --> 00:05:24.970 do was open his mouth and speak life and victory. 00:05:26.449 --> 00:05:30.129 God has visited his people, the people exclaimed. 00:05:30.430 --> 00:05:34.100 The second line is particularly striking. it 00:05:34.100 --> 00:05:37.879 repeats Zechariah's words, the father of St. 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:41.360 John the Baptist, Zechariah's words at the beginning 00:05:41.360 --> 00:05:46.600 of Luke's Gospel. The Lord has visited and redeemed 00:05:46.600 --> 00:05:52.220 his people. In the compassionate mercy of God, 00:05:52.360 --> 00:05:57.160 the Orient, or the sunrise from on high, shall 00:05:57.160 --> 00:06:01.199 visit us, or shall dawn upon us. But it's shall 00:06:01.199 --> 00:06:05.379 visit us, the same word. it recalls the promises 00:06:05.379 --> 00:06:09.360 in Genesis and Exodus of God visiting his people, 00:06:09.500 --> 00:06:13.800 that he will hear their groans, that he will 00:06:13.800 --> 00:06:17.600 hear their cries, that he will see their affliction, 00:06:17.660 --> 00:06:21.279 and he will draw near to them, that he will come 00:06:21.279 --> 00:06:25.500 down and descend to their level, and he will 00:06:25.500 --> 00:06:30.339 reside with them, among them, among them. Jesus 00:06:30.339 --> 00:06:34.139 himself will use it later. in Luke's Gospel, 00:06:35.040 --> 00:06:39.500 lamenting the sadness of Jerusalem's inability 00:06:39.500 --> 00:06:45.209 to receive him. You did not know the time of 00:06:45.209 --> 00:06:50.529 your visitation. God, God in resurrectional power 00:06:50.529 --> 00:06:56.959 and life is among his people. God is among us. 00:06:57.399 --> 00:07:00.720 We sing that a lot liturgically. God is with 00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:05.160 us, very grandiose, very powerfully. During nativity 00:07:05.160 --> 00:07:08.680 season in Lent. But what does it mean for us? 00:07:09.579 --> 00:07:14.310 However, theologically we dress it up. Here it 00:07:14.310 --> 00:07:18.910 means that God, in his compassion and love for 00:07:18.910 --> 00:07:25.259 mankind, meets us in whatever circumstances that 00:07:25.259 --> 00:07:31.769 might befall us. Death, widowhood, fatherlessness, 00:07:32.310 --> 00:07:39.250 sickness, disease. Debilitation, our bodies breaking 00:07:39.250 --> 00:07:45.930 down. Whatever way death tries to affect us and 00:07:45.930 --> 00:07:50.389 gain a foothold over us and seems like it is 00:07:50.389 --> 00:07:54.410 gaining ground, it cannot withstand the Lord's 00:07:54.410 --> 00:08:00.899 presence and power. This morning's epistle reading 00:08:00.899 --> 00:08:06.129 helps us here because I think it's easy for us 00:08:06.129 --> 00:08:09.470 to look at a passage like this gospel text and 00:08:09.470 --> 00:08:15.600 think, Well, if I'm going to be honest, that's 00:08:16.339 --> 00:08:21.079 not happening to me. I don't sense this power 00:08:21.079 --> 00:08:25.560 or compassion toward me in this way. The Lord 00:08:25.560 --> 00:08:29.850 isn't taking death away from me. The Lord isn't 00:08:29.850 --> 00:08:34.289 bringing back my husband to me. The Lord isn't 00:08:34.289 --> 00:08:38.769 bringing back my son to me. The Lord isn't healing 00:08:38.769 --> 00:08:44.200 my body. The Lord isn't taking the encroachments 00:08:44.200 --> 00:08:51.120 of death away from him. And we get St. Paul speaking 00:08:51.340 --> 00:08:55.860 about himself in the third person. Really, one 00:08:55.860 --> 00:09:01.279 of the craziest texts in the entire Bible. Speaking 00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:05.100 about himself in the third person. About visions, 00:09:05.259 --> 00:09:09.600 about revelations of the Lord being caught up 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:13.250 into the third heavens. into paradise itself, 00:09:13.789 --> 00:09:17.389 hearing the utterances of the angelic powers 00:09:17.389 --> 00:09:22.710 that surround and sing ceaselessly around God. 00:09:23.009 --> 00:09:28.710 That Paul says these aren't even allowed to be 00:09:28.710 --> 00:09:32.309 repeated. They aren't even allowed to be uttered. 00:09:32.370 --> 00:09:39.509 The apostles suffused with the divine life. And 00:09:39.509 --> 00:09:43.940 yet, despite this, these great experiences, these 00:09:43.940 --> 00:09:51.039 great visions, this great encounter with paradise. 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:58.820 In this life, the Lord sends him, gives him in 00:09:58.820 --> 00:10:04.809 the flesh, the Lord, a messenger of Satan, to 00:10:05.669 --> 00:10:10.419 debilitate him. Scholars have spilled so much 00:10:10.419 --> 00:10:13.779 ink in vain trying to discern what this means. 00:10:13.980 --> 00:10:16.279 There have been countless books written on it. 00:10:16.500 --> 00:10:21.500 But I think Paul keeps the meaning intentionally 00:10:21.500 --> 00:10:26.690 veiled and vague because he wants us, brothers 00:10:26.690 --> 00:10:32.809 and sisters, to relate to him. It could be anything, 00:10:32.909 --> 00:10:36.639 this debilitation. It could be anything that 00:10:36.639 --> 00:10:41.059 keeps us down, that pulls us and brings us toward 00:10:41.059 --> 00:10:45.490 death or feeling like we're closer to him. And 00:10:45.490 --> 00:10:50.320 Paul pleads three times with the Lord. Three, 00:10:50.379 --> 00:10:53.500 this is a number of fullness. Technically speaking, 00:10:53.679 --> 00:10:57.860 I mean, he could have pled and begged more, but 00:10:57.860 --> 00:11:02.080 he means three as in he pled in fullness. He 00:11:02.080 --> 00:11:07.659 begged the Lord in fullness. This widow doesn't 00:11:07.659 --> 00:11:10.090 plead with the Lord. She doesn't even ask anything 00:11:10.090 --> 00:11:15.220 from the Lord. Paul pleads three times that it 00:11:15.220 --> 00:11:21.730 should leave him, but it doesn't. But the Lord 00:11:21.730 --> 00:11:25.210 says something to him, something that recalls 00:11:25.210 --> 00:11:30.070 last week's gospel text about grace, about grace, 00:11:30.210 --> 00:11:34.710 that life, activity, and energy of God in him. 00:11:35.009 --> 00:11:41.299 My grace is sufficient for you, for my power 00:11:41.299 --> 00:11:47.330 is made perfect in weakness. It's remarkable. 00:11:49.370 --> 00:11:52.029 That's what Paul shares with the Corinthian. 00:11:53.159 --> 00:11:56.000 I wonder if we would have had this experience 00:11:56.000 --> 00:12:00.480 like Paul, what would we have done? Would we 00:12:00.480 --> 00:12:04.399 have shared just those words or would we have 00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:08.320 kind of fronted ourselves, these visions? I can't 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:12.190 wait to tell you about my revelations. Some of 00:12:12.190 --> 00:12:14.669 us come here and think the Orthodox life is like 00:12:14.669 --> 00:12:18.409 some sort of like mystical solipsism that we 00:12:18.409 --> 00:12:21.330 exist in, bounce around the walls, kind of close 00:12:21.330 --> 00:12:28.509 our eyes. I don't know. This mysticism for Paul 00:12:28.509 --> 00:12:33.049 is very real. It's very cross -centric. It's 00:12:33.049 --> 00:12:37.389 a debilitation. It's pain. It's struggle. Paul 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:41.580 shares these words with the Corinthians. My grace 00:12:41.580 --> 00:12:46.340 is sufficient for you. Because it isn't miracles, 00:12:46.580 --> 00:12:50.460 utterances, visions, or revelations that will 00:12:50.460 --> 00:12:54.700 build the Corinthians up and encourage them to 00:12:54.700 --> 00:12:59.659 keep. facing the difficulties of life. If anything, 00:12:59.960 --> 00:13:03.360 the visions, the revelations, and all these things, 00:13:03.500 --> 00:13:07.539 they will only draw a larger wedge between Paul 00:13:07.539 --> 00:13:11.419 and them. That they are not at all like Paul, 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:14.990 since they have not been caught up in the third 00:13:14.990 --> 00:13:17.049 heavens. And I don't think you have, neither 00:13:17.049 --> 00:13:22.889 have I, I can tell you that. Paul, Paul shares 00:13:22.889 --> 00:13:27.659 the Lord's own words. that are tangible and allowed 00:13:27.659 --> 00:13:31.919 to be uttered and heard. The Lord's grace, his 00:13:31.919 --> 00:13:35.580 compassion, that's what he's allowed to utter 00:13:35.580 --> 00:13:38.899 before the Corinthians and before all of us. 00:13:39.059 --> 00:13:45.080 My grace is sufficient for you. My grace is sufficient 00:13:45.080 --> 00:13:49.179 for you. For my power is made perfect in weakness. 00:13:51.750 --> 00:13:55.720 And so whatever we are facing, we can ask that 00:13:55.720 --> 00:14:00.080 question from last week. What grace is it to 00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:04.230 me? How is it that my weakness and nearness to 00:14:04.230 --> 00:14:08.990 death can somehow become a conduit of the Lord's 00:14:08.990 --> 00:14:14.370 grace, power, and life to me? That death in my 00:14:14.370 --> 00:14:19.919 life, in whatever form it meets me, can be redeemed 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:24.899 through God's visitation in my life. The fact... 00:14:25.149 --> 00:14:29.879 that God is really, in fact, among me and in 00:14:29.879 --> 00:14:36.929 me. The power of Christ rests upon me. The resurrection 00:14:36.929 --> 00:14:41.289 himself, the life, the power, the wisdom, the 00:14:41.289 --> 00:14:45.769 word of God. Jesus Christ has gripped our lives 00:14:45.769 --> 00:14:51.409 and faced our deaths. He has endured the cross 00:14:51.409 --> 00:14:54.789 for us. He has trampled down death by death. 00:14:54.929 --> 00:14:58.490 We need to celebrate this fact, not just on Pascha, 00:14:58.549 --> 00:15:03.000 but on every Lord's Day. Christ has yelled a 00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:08.919 resounding yes against death's no. Against all 00:15:08.919 --> 00:15:13.279 the forces of evil, Christ has triumphed over 00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:16.970 death. Over all of its decay, over all of its 00:15:16.970 --> 00:15:20.350 minions, over all messengers of Satan, Christ 00:15:20.350 --> 00:15:24.190 has taken it captive, and he holds the keys of 00:15:24.190 --> 00:15:27.350 death and Hades, and he can bring to life back 00:15:27.350 --> 00:15:33.059 whoever he wants. And should we die, and we will, 00:15:33.159 --> 00:15:36.840 that death, because of his life -giving power 00:15:36.840 --> 00:15:41.159 and energy, will simply be the means, the very 00:15:41.159 --> 00:15:44.360 instrument by which we meet him face to face 00:15:44.360 --> 00:15:48.559 and be lifted up into the third heavens, paradise 00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:52.720 itself, to hear those angelic powers utter things 00:15:52.720 --> 00:15:56.500 that cannot be uttered in this world, that surround 00:15:56.500 --> 00:16:00.779 him and constantly sing, holy, holy, holy, he 00:16:01.200 --> 00:16:05.250 has trampled down death by death. Full stop is 00:16:05.919 --> 00:16:09.919 compassion and love. has squelched it. He has 00:16:09.919 --> 00:16:15.500 emptied its power and enabled us to face anything, 00:16:16.269 --> 00:16:21.980 anything and everything in our lives. Who then 00:16:21.980 --> 00:16:27.759 can be against us? What then can truly stand 00:16:27.759 --> 00:16:32.399 against us, brothers and sisters, if death itself 00:16:32.399 --> 00:16:37.559 cowers at the face and presence of Christ? Amen?