Bearing One Another’s Burdens: The Christian Duty of Love

Welcome to Hill Country Homilies. Weekly homilies from Holy Anunciation

Orthodox Church in Liberty Hill, Texas. Holy Annunciation is an

old calendar Orthodox Church sharing the faith of the Apostles

and the love of Christ with all who seek His truth. Now,

let's listen to this week's homily. O.

Bless the Lord to be upon me through his grace

and love for mankind always now never known to ages

wages glory of our God, Glory to Thee, the name

of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit

of glory in Jesus Christ, My dear brothers and sisters

in Christ. On the seventh Sunday of Pentecost, I'd like

to speak, if only briefly, about our epistle reading for

this Sunday. That is Poll's Epistle to the Romans. And

it was a fairly short one, so let me read

it in its entirety. We, then, that are strong ought

to bear the infirmities of the week, and not to

please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbor

for his good to edification, for even Christ please not himself.

But as it is written, the reproaches of them that

reproach THEE fell on me. For whatsoever things were written aforetime,

were written for our learning, that we, through patience and

comfort of the scriptures, might have hope. Now, the God

of patience and consolation grant you to be like minded

one toward another, according to Christ Jesus, that ye may,

with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the

Father of our lord, Jesus Christ. Wherefore receive ye one another,

as Christ also received us, to the glory of God.

To talk about this epistle because it again speaks to

a theme that I constantly return to, that we are

not merely independent agents, each out for our own good,

each to appease our own needs, and each responsible only

to ourselves as we struggle in this world. That we

are not captive to this uniquely American ideal of rugged individualism.

But rather, we as a people are made for community,

communion with God, and communion with one another in one body,

which is the Church of Christ. And in the epistle

of Saint Paul to the Romans, which we read today,

we see that communal bond, the communal obligation that we

have one to another if we purport to be followers

of Christ. It begins with the very first sentence. We

then that are strong ought to bear the inference of

the week. In fact, when Saint John Christism discusses his verse,

he translates it like this, We who are strong have

the obligation and comments we have a duty. We are

not doing a favor. What are we obliged to do? Well?

What we are to do is to bear the infirmities

of the week, and not to please ourselves. That is,

to put the well being of our neighbor above or

at least equal to our own. We're not to triumph

in our strength over the weakness of their infirmities. You

are strong, Paul says, and compromising would not harm you.

But for other persons the least issue presents a danger

unless they're supported. What kind of danger? A spiritual danger,

to be sure, Just as he says in Galatians, Brethren,

if a man is overtaken and trespass, you, who are spiritual,

restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. This

is not a gift to our neighbors. This, this is

our obligation to God, which we're called to exercise. For

we who are strong are not strong by our own merits.

We're not bold by the fruits of our own virtues.

But if we are strong in this world is only

by the gift of God to us, and we are

to repay this. We're to repay this by correcting the

weakness of the weak, for we were also weak, but

by grace we were made strong. One way we do

this is by bearing their weaknesses as they were our own.

But this is not for our own amusement, because we

are told not to please ourselves, but rather let every

one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification.

That is, through our forbearance, we are building them up.

We are giving them a little bit of the strength

that God has given to us, and we're manifesting those

gifts of God to them. Saint John Christisma also says,

let them learn and how strong you really are. Please them,

even though you are rich, even though you are powerful.

Do not please yourself, but please the poor and needy person.

In this way you will enjoy true glory, and you

will be of great help. The glory of the worldly

person soon dissipates, but the glory of the spiritual person endures.

If your purpose is to build up you see, if

in our worldly pride we only act to please ourselves,

even if that action may benefit another, it's still a

selfish action, and it does not make us loving. It

does not make us good. It doesn't glorify God, even

if the world pats us on the back and tells

us how generous we are. In fact, in that way

it can even be a temptation of pride. But when

we act to please our neighbor who's struggling, and to

build them up in faith, we glorify not ourselves but

God because we're just actually bearing the burdens that our

struggling neighbor has. We're not just throwing money at a

problem to make it go away. When we're told to

bear the infirmities a week, that is precisely what it

means to take them on to ourselves, to bear all

the reproaches, all the recriminations, all the pains and the

struggles of the week, not merely to make a donation

and think we've done good. And who's our example in

this none other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who

bore all of our infirmities as a weak and faithless

people when he voluntarily ascended the cross on Golgatha. Christ

of course, had the power to avoid the reproaches. He

had the power to escape the things that he suffered.

He had the power to come down off of the cross.

He could have preferred himself and his needs. However, he

did not want this. He wanted instead to achieve our good.

To do so, he set aside his own good. And

for all of this he was reproached and mocked, as

they called out he saved others, but himself he cannot save.

So having exhorted us to live out our communal obligations

to the neighbors, Paul calls us back again to our

communal life within the church, and he urges us to

be like minded one to another, according to Christ Jesus,

that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God,

even the father of our lord, Jesus Christ. You see,

he calls us to love one another, not just as

some throwaway line, but to act towards one another. According

to Christ Jesus, our example of love must not be

the frail and weak human love that we know, but

that greatest love that Christ shared with each of us.

That's our goal, that's our calling. That is, my dear friends,

our obligation and fulfilling that we're called again to the

unity of the faith, that with one mind and one

mouth we may glorify God. We live, we love, we

worship within the one commune unity of the Church of Christ,

a community of one mind in one mouth, a place

where we were told to receive one another, even as

Christ received us, to the glory of God. And here

we're called to put aside all grievance and animosity towards

one another, to put aside our own will, and not

as a matter of barter or exchange. We don't trade

our love for our brother for their good acts, but

we offer it freely. As Saint John said, we're called

to a better citizenship, and have been enroylled, enrolled in

the heavens. We're subject to better laws. The point is

not to say these things, but whenever some refuse to

love you, then show them an even greater love in

order to win them over. And if we are to

receive one another as Christ received us, then we are

not to consider the Church our exclusives club. It's not

a haven for Greeks alone. We have no political litmus tests.

We have only the one true faith, and all who

embrace it the Church is open to them. Them Christ

considered tax collectors and sinners worthy of his table. His

concern for the Jewish people matched their disdain for him,

and actually his concern exceeded their disdain. We must also

strive to do the same success and this is no

small matter, since, as the fathers tell us, without love,

not even the martyrs can please God. So, brothers and sisters,

as we depart today, let us be edified by the

words of the Apostle Paul, and let us embrace them,

building up one another our strength, edifying the weak our hearts,

embracing all who call out to Christ seeking his Holy Church.

And may the same God who bore all of our

infirmities on the cross for our salvation, grant us the

strength to bear those of our neighbor who's next to

us struggling, and by such forbearance, to show forth to

them the light of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ,

that they too may be deemed worthy of His table

in this world and in the world to come. In

the name of the Father and the Son and the

Holy Spirit. Come in.

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