Fourth Sunday of Lent 2025

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

of the Holy Spirit. Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory

to the Father. Beloved of the Lord, we have now

arrived at the fourth port of call. Remember

way back when, Father Nicholas described Lent

using the language of some of the hymns as a

sea voyage. Well, we're at the fourth port of

call on our Lenten voyage, the Sunday of St.

John of the Ladder, St. John Klimakos. Do you

know why we call Lent, Lent? I probably told

you this before. Lent's an old English word meaning

to make longer, to lengthen. It's not just services

that are longer during Lent. The days are getting

longer. It's an opportunity. for more growth

in nature, of which we're part. So give God,

allow God some space within yourself to warm

up your heart if it's cold or stony. He'll warm

it up with his divine love and patience. You

be patient too. Each Sunday of Lent, actually

each Sunday of the entire year, not just Lent,

leads and flows and expands into the following

Sunday. So last week, I won't go all the way

back to the beginning of Lent. Last week, though,

we marked the third Sunday, that of the veneration

of the precious cross. And we heard, we understood

from that celebration and from the hymnography

and from the reading of the gospel and the epistle

that the cross is our strength. It's our refreshment.

We hear the joy came into the world through the

cross. It's pointing the way to Holy Week and

Holy Friday and Pascha. And we were reminded

in the gospel to seek the life of Christ. and

thereby find ourself. And the other way around,

you will suffer complete loss. That's what he

says, basically. Well, how do we do that? How

do we seek the life of Christ the way he laid

it out in that gospel? Well, today, thankfully,

we are instructed where we can find encouragement

and help for that question, precisely how. and

obviously it's the Gospels. You heard two selections,

one from Mark about the man with the son who

is demonically possessed, and Christ healed him,

and he healed the man of his lack of faith. Lord,

I believe, help my unbelief. And he healed the

apostles, and he told them how to pursue this.

And we heard the epistle. The epistle told us,

it's interesting, isn't it, about hope. in Jesus

Christ, who is our anchor. This hope we have,

it says, as an anchor of the soul, both sure

and steadfast. I'd love to do a sermon just on

that. But we also today learn we not only have

an anchor, we have a ladder. We have a ladder.

The saint that we commemorate today, our venerable

and God -bearing father, John Klimakos. reposed

on March 30th, today is the anniversary of his

repose, in the year 649. Klimakos is the latter

in Greek. It's not his last name, St. John Klimakos.

That's not his last name. It's the title of the

book he wrote when he was abbot in the 7th century

at that monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai

where Moses was. Possibly the oldest Christian

monastery in the world. Still operating. And

he came to that monastery and became a novice

when he was 16. And when he died in 649 on March

30th, he was the abbot. He wrote as a favor to

someone. That most famous book, Father Nicholas

had it last night. He read a few passages. That

book called The Ladder of Divine Ascent. The

book might be described, and I agree, as one

bishop said, as our modern Christian survival

guide. We would do well to read it and understand

what we can take from it and be inspired, even

though we are not monastics. Well, today is not

just the usual fourth Sunday of Lent, which is

dedicated to St. John, his icon's here in the

middle, but it's also... Providentially, 1 ,376

years, if I got my math right, from the time

of his death. And he is still relevant. You will

see that. I'll read a few passages, but you will

see it if you take this book. After the Bible,

and after the liturgical books, there is no book.

I've been told. You can check your computer.

No book in the history of mankind that has been

read, translated, and published more than The

Ladder of Divine Ascent. And if you want a really

nice piece of historical trivia, you should know

that the very first book, the very first book

of any kind ever published and printed in the

New World was The Ladder of Divine Ascent, printed

by a Spaniard in Mexico in 1535. It's relevant

to them. It's relevant to us. The ladder of divine

ascent, our modern way of thinking, we like ladders.

Ladders as a concept. Maybe you don't like to

get up on one. Ladders are kind of dangerous

things to put in the hands of a modern Christian.

We like the idea of upward mobility, that we're

always getting better. Well, St. Paul said, Walk

circumspectly. Be wise for the days are evil.

Do you think they've improved that much since

about the year 60 AD? So this idea of ladders

and upward mobility, continuing improvement,

moral progress, that's sort of the way we think

in the modern world. We have our career ladders.

We have the ladder of success. We have exercise

goals. Become whatever you want. Be all you can

be. With the help of Jesus, he can help. Last

week, I think the week of the cross should have

convinced us otherwise that we are not saved

by being better people, by finding ourself. Many

of us, brothers and sisters, are not moving towards

heaven like we should. We're falling into the

trick. of thinking that this life is where we

need to place most of our energy and our hope.

It's a vain quest. We might hear about the ladder

of divine ascent. We might see the ladder of

divine ascent. We might even interact with people

that are climbing the ladder of divine ascent.

But are we ourselves on the ladder? We were joking

in the altar this morning. I said, well, I'm

on the stairway going down into the basement

most of the time. Or are we preferring to stay

where we are? Because it's safe. It's supposedly

secure. Ladders have destinations. And this one

is to make us Christ -like. God is calling me

and you to get on that ladder, to at least put

our foot on that first rung. Do you know what

the last rung is? Father Nicholas mentioned it

last night. The last rung of the 30th step? That's

right. It's love. Here are a few words of St.

John of the Ladder on the topic that concerned

most of us. Most of us have to confess that we

judge other people. Here's what he says about

that. Fire and water are incompatible. And so

is judging others in one who wants to repent.

If you see someone falling into sin at the very

moment of his death, even then do not judge him,

because the divine judgment is hidden from men.

Some have fallen openly into great sins, but

they have done greater good deeds in secret.

So their critics were tricked, getting smoke

instead of the sun. He says, the demons, murderers

that they are, push us into sin. Or if they fail

to do this, they get us to pass judgment on those

who are sinning so that they may smear us with

the stain which we ourselves are condemning in

the other person. And in that final chapter,

step 30 on love, the highest of the virtues,

here are a few of his words. He who loves the

Lord has first loved his brother because the

second is proof of the first. One who loves his

neighbor can never tolerate slanderers but rather

runs from them as from fire. He who says he loves

the Lord but is angry with his brother is like

a man who dreams that he is running. Love bestows

prophecy. Love yields miracles. Love is an abyss.

illumination love is a fountain of fire in the

measure that it bubbles up it inflames the thirsty

soul love is the state of the Angels love is

the progress of eternity what profound words

so simple so true this is what you will read

if you get that book we preachers love to say

things like you know God became so that man can

become God by grace. And it's true, and it's

beautiful. But at this point of Lent, maybe we

are learning that's a little more difficult and

that God does not meet us in the middle. He does

not remove our crosses. He meets us at the bottom,

because that's where we are, bottom of that ladder.

And asks us to meet him there as well. And the

gospel passage today illustrates that fact for

us very, very vividly. How low Christ has to

stoop, or as we say, condescend to us to help

us. What a scene in the gospel. How tragic. How

miserable that wretched man was. Demon -possessed

young man. And how miserable was his father.

And how confused were the apostles. And Jesus

says, O faithless generation, let that go into

your heart. Let that penetrate to grant some

compunction. But then Jesus does what he does.

He heals the father. How? He grants him the grace

to see him more than a teacher. And he answers

that prayer. Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.

And then he heals the boy. He lifts him up. He

raises him, as it says, as if he were dead. Catechumens,

be strengthened because you're going to experience

this. This raising up into the new life of Christ.

This is what we have to listen to and to prepare

ourselves for Pascha. The Lord's words also in

that gospel about prayer. Prayer and fasting.

The exact things we need to be reminded of at

this point in Lent. If you have not yet begun

to fast, if you have not even begun to pray more,

well, that's not good. Not at all. If you haven't

been praying and attending Lenten services, that's

not good. How will you be able to celebrate Pascha?

To enter in, except as an observer. But begin

this week. Begin this week. The Lord is always

waiting for us. We are going to hear on Pascha

that most amazing sermon. Even if you have delayed

to the 11th hour, have no misgivings, for the

Lord is gracious and beneficent. The table is

rich laden. So begin this week. We have longer

services. As the days are getting longer, our

services will too. Those of you who have not

participated in Lenten services, you can make

up for it with those longer services. You can

be strengthened and your heart will be at peace.

Begin again. God will help. May the Lord be with

each of us and stay with us as we continue on

our Lenten ascent, one step up the ladder at

a time.