Love, the Bond of Perfection Fr. James Jorgenson

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

of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ.

St. Paul says in his epistle to Timothy, and

he refers to Timothy so fondly as my son Timothy,

he says that all scripture is profitable for

our reading and instruction and for our salvation.

And I think this is true of all scripture, just

as St. Paul says. So this is why I'm going to

spend a little bit of time this morning on the

epistle and the gospel. First of all, the epistle

to the Colossians asks the question, how can

I, or answers the question, how can I have peace

with God? So St. Paul addresses in the epistle,

peace with God here on this earth, and the gospel

addresses the parallel question, how can I inherit

eternal life? So peace with God here on earth

and in this world. He says, put on mercy, kindness,

humility, meekness. long -suffering, bearing

with one another, forgiving one another. How

hard is that to do? Especially those that are

closest to us. A spouse, a parent, a fellow worker,

a brother and sister that maybe years ago said

or did something that got under our skin. We

all have faults and imperfections, and even sins,

which we can tolerate the sinner, but not like

the sin. But still and all, St. Paul tells us

we have to bear with one another. Bear one another's

burdens. Forgive one another. And then he says,

above all these things, put on love. This is

a theme in St. Paul. There are three virtues,

powers that are put into our souls by God at

our baptism. Faith, hope, and love, or sometimes

called charity. And these are gifts from God,

but we have to work on increasing them by prayer

and practice. Put on love. And if... St. Paul

tells the Colossians, if you do this and make

a genuine effort at these virtues and practices,

kindness, humility, meekness, long -suffering,

bear with one another, forgive one another, then

the peace of God will dwell in your hearts. You

cannot have peace with God, believe me. unless

you have peace with one another. You hold any

grudge or anger against another one, you will

never find peace with God. It's dependent on

how we treat others. And I say this so often

in confession. Remember, we all have faults.

If we like other people to sort of overlook our

faults and not call to attention all the time

our little shortcomings and idiosyncrasies, so

we should put up with those little things that

our loved ones do that sometimes can get under

our skin. Have peace with one another and then

follows peace with God. The gospel addresses

the similar parallel question, how to inherit

eternal life. This story is so prominent that

it's found in three gospels, Matthew, Mark, and

Luke. The young man who asked Jesus, good master,

what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus

answers him, keep the commandments, and he mentions

a few of them. Do not commit adultery, do not

murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness

or lie. And then the young man said, I've always

found this sort of amusing. He said, all of these

I have kept from my youth. Well, neither he nor

any of us can keep all of these commandments

perfectly. No way. Either in thought, word, or

deed, we sin against these commandments. But

I think if I may speak for that young man, who

is a good person, mind you. He wasn't bad. He

was saying, I have tried to do these. And then

Jesus says, still one thing is lacking. Sell

all that you have, distribute to the poor, and

you will have treasure in heaven. follow me.

In a famous event from early church history,

St. Anthony of Egypt, who is referred to as the

founder of monasticism, the father of monasticism,

because of his prominence. He wasn't the first

monk, but because of his prominence in the example

in his teaching in life. St. Anthony tells us,

He heard this gospel. It happened to be from

Matthew rather than from Luke, which we hear

this morning. He heard this, and he took it literally.

He sold everything that he had. He provided for

the well -being of his relatives, and he went

off to what the monastic fathers so often called

the single -handed combat of the desert. to struggle

with Satan and with his bad habits alone in the

desert, in the wilderness. And so this moved

Anthony. But then it also, that's a good example

for us, but Christians throughout the centuries

have realized, well, what? I thought, what can

I do, even though I don't take it as literally

as St. Anthony? And I think the best answer to

that question was provided in a sermon by St.

Clement of Alexandria. And this sermon was preached

about the year 180 or 190, late in the second

century. And it's called... What Rich Man Can

Be Saved, that's the title. It's a famous one.

You could Google it and read that for yourself

or a synopsis of it. It says, it's not having

money that's sinful. It's what you do with your

money. And this provided, it's not an excuse

not to have care for the poor and the needy.

But it tells us that the question is not how

much we have, but what we do with what we have.

Even so many examples, parallel examples, the

widow's coin, that little penny that she put

in the treasury, and Jesus said she's contributed

more than all those guys that threw in their

$20 and $50 and $100 bills because she gave.

until it hurt, to paraphrase him. What you do

with what possessions God has given to each and

every one of us. Then there's, I want to say

one final thing about this interesting expression

of our Lord. It's easier for a camel to go through

the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter

the kingdom of God. Well, literally what he has

in mind is threading a needle. You know how hard

anybody that tries to sew something, especially

when you get older and you have presbyopia and

you can't see, threading needles. So that is

difficult. So if it's hard for a piece of thread

to go through, it's impossible for a camel. But

then there's another explanation for this expression,

which I find very charming. And it's postulated

that there was one entrance gate into the city

of Jerusalem, which apparently was shaped, it

looked like the eye of a sewing needle. Very

small, and in order for a camel to get through

there, the camel had to bow down like this in

order to get through this needle eye gate. Makes

a very charming story. A good Sunday school story.

But you know what? There's no evidence that there

was ever a gate like this. And the first explanation

about this can only be traced to the 9th century.

So even though historically it's not true, it

does provide us with an illustration about the

importance of humility and the other virtues

that we need to enter into the kingdom of heaven.

As with these epistles and gospels, it's always

good to go home and sometime during that day

to reread the epistle and gospel. Because we

hear it, we might be distracted in church when

the epistle and the gospel are read. But go home

and in the quietness of your easy chair with

the TV off, reread. the epistle, and the gospel.

Let these words and teachings sink into our hearts

to forbear with one another and to share what

we have with those who have much less. Amen.