4th Sunday of Lent 2022

Holy Spirit, glory to our Lord Jesus Christ.

If any of you have ever been on a pilgrimage,

you know that one of the things that happens,

I'm talking a big trip to a holy place, monastery,

holy land, what have you. On a pilgrimage, things

happen on the way. And it's difficult. There's

hardships. There's mistakes. There's all kinds

of obstacles that appear. And that's the way

a pilgrimage works. As one person said, this

is God helping us grow and mature like me teaching

maybe one of my grandchildren. to ride a bike,

at some point you just kind of stand back. They

have to pedal without their training wheels.

And they might fall. But that's part of the process.

Well, Lent, let's say the journey to Pascha.

This is a pilgrimage. But a pilgrimage more like

Exodus than my trip to Mount Athos. A pilgrimage

like the Hebrews. Leaving Egypt and their enslavement.

Crossing the Red Sea with the miracle of God

parting it. Dwelling in the desert, complaining

constantly after that about their situation.

Some even leaving the worship as it was given

them and they start worshiping a golden calf

because they think that's the most high God.

And on and on and on. Lent is more like that

pilgrimage. Why? Let's look at this gospel for

a moment. Now you might think this gospel and

today's commemoration of St. John of the Ladder,

this monastic saint that wrote this book called

The Ladder of Divine Ascent with 30 steps on

the road of the virtues, becoming more Christ

-like. What does this have to do with anything

with Lent and Pascha, the resurrection of Christ?

We have a story about a man who comes to the

apostles with a boy who is demon -possessed.

The apostles could not heal him. People come

running, and no doubt the apostles are being

criticized for their lack of faith. Jesus has

just come down from the mountain of transfiguration

with James and John and Peter. You think they'd

want to go celebrate the great event? Lord, this

was an amazing thing. Let's celebrate. No, they

come into the midst of this scene of this boy

wallowing, foaming, writhing, yelling. A terrible,

terrible scene. None of us have seen this, I

gather. Yes, you read about such possessions

by demons in some places and in the lives of

saints, but you and I have never seen such a

thing, probably. Maybe one or two of you have.

I don't know. Nine out of ten of us have not

read the Ladder of Divine Ascent, I would estimate.

So what's this have to do with our journey? And

then there's the last line of this gospel. Jesus

says to the disciples, you know that the Son

of Man is going to be crucified, he's going to

be killed, and he will rise on the third day.

It all seems so disconnected to what we're doing.

Well, first off, and I would say about our faith,

this man... provides a much better example of

honest faith to the disciples. They needed it

modeled. For they lacked the spiritual strength

to deliver that young man from the demon. And

the Savior told them, And this is the part which

I really hesitate to say because I'm such a hypocrite.

This kind cannot be driven out by anything but

by prayer and fasting. The road to Pascha is

going to be filled with much obstacle. Many obstacles.

The Savior says prayer and fasting. That will

get you there. But we don't trust fasting. Because

we don't see it modeled very well. And for that,

partially I'm to blame. In the life of prayer,

we're not zealous. We have to be in love with

God. Then we want to pray with him, to him, with

the saints. It's about love of God. Nothing else

is going to make us pray, because God doesn't

require that from us. But if we love someone,

we want to be with them. The Savior said, this

kind cannot come out but by prayer and fasting.

And he said that because the apostles at that

time were spiritual weaklings who had neglected

the most basic spiritual practices. for opening

themselves up to Christ's healing power. Now,

one of them got to the point when the Lord said,

the Son of Man will be delivered into the hands

of men. They will kill him, and after he is killed,

he will rise on the third day. What follows is

a talk about who's the best in the apostles,

who's going to sit at the right hand. They had

a superficial faith. This is what we discovered

during Lent, that our faith is like that. And

that man, whatever mistakes he made with that

boy, whatever situation got that boy possessed

by a demon, we don't know. But that man came

and he humbled himself. Jesus says, if you believe,

all things are possible. Now, that doesn't mean,

children, that if you pray, you're going to get

that bicycle. Or that sled. Or those skis. Or

the car that you want. Or the house that you

really want. Or on and on and on. All things

are possible according to God's plan. Not our

plan. And what did the man say back? With tears.

Brothers and sisters, it's necessary for us to

find the way to have tears. And we will only

see that and only acquire that, excuse me, if

we see the weakness of our own faith and say

to the Lord, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.

This is almost the most famous text in the New

Testament and one that we could say every day.

So the first thing we learn on our way through

Lent is how miserably weak. I should say how

miserably weak my own faith is. Whether it's

Lent or some other time, we often doubt whether

God really hears our prayers. And I can tell

you, I've been in the situation many times where

I've asked God for something, and I could not

heal them. that person. I had no effect. And

years go by. And those around say, your disciple

could not heal him or her. I know how they felt.

We often doubt whether God really hears our prayers

when we get into that situation. For those we

love most in this life. And if he does, whether

we can actually help them. Regardless, And let

me spread this out a little further. Regardless

of our political opinions, we're often tempted

to despair over the future of our country. Has

God abandoned us? We're often tempted to despair

over the future and our partisan sensibilities

to inflame our passions. And we forget we're

first Christians and citizens of the kingdom.

And the invasion of one historically orthodox

nation? By another, make us wonder, what's the

point for all our petitions for peace in the

liturgy? If we're honest with ourselves, the

word of the Father in today's gospel must also

become ours. Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.

Otherwise, Lent is just a superficial spirituality.

Lent is not an exodus. to the cross. And that's

my first, second, and final point. We are on

a journey to the cross. Where does our hope come

from? It comes from the fact that Jesus rose

from the dead. He already, as the epistle said,

went through the veil of death. The sign of the

truth of our faith. That St. Paul was teaching

in Hebrews when he mentioned Abraham is that

Jesus has gone before and that resurrection is

the sign that we're going to be given that gift

too. But we have to experience a little bit of

what this man experienced. The weakness of our

faith and the strength of God's faith. Next week,

this coming week, We have Presanctified on Wednesday

evening, which is much lengthier than other Presanctifieds.

The trip is intensifying. The pilgrimage, the

exodus is intensifying. Let's not grumble about

it. Like, it'd be better to be back in Egypt.

They had good cucumbers there. You took us out

here to die? Aren't there any graves in Egypt?

And such, you know, such remarks that you can

read in Exodus. Let's not grumble, but let's

be attentive to the fast. Let's be attentive

to the life of the church. You know, the life

of the church this coming week is like that magnifying

glass. You put it in the sun, it's going to concentrate

the light of the sun, and it's going to really

build some heat up. That's what we need. Give

yourself a chance to take part in that. And on

Thursday, we'll... pray the matins with the canon

of St. Andrew in mostly its entirety, we abbreviate

a little bit, with the reading of the life of

St. Mary of Egypt. And as a crown for the week

on Friday evening, we will sing the praises,

the akathas to the Virgin Mary. So enter in to

the difficulties, the obstacles, face them. your

own faith. Don't let it flag. Be strong with

the prayers of the apostles and with the prayers

of St. John of the Ladder, who we remember this

day. Amen.