4th Sunday of Great Lent 2021

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

of the Holy Spirit. Amen. It was last year at

this time, this very liturgical day, the day

of the commemoration of St. John of the Ladder,

that the liturgical services were closed. And

we began a couple of months of divine liturgies

with just Justin singing and me serving by myself

and my family blood relatives here in the church.

That was it. It was a time of testing. Let's

say, let's not use the word test perhaps. Test

means that there's going to be a scorecard when

we're done, and you'll see how you were graded.

God doesn't need to test you like that. Let's

use the word, it was a trial. It was a difficult

situation, and perhaps it was a training for

us. The Lord trains us up in the circumstances

we find ourselves. We have pledged to be his

servants. When we became catechumens, we said,

I renounce Satan, all his works, all his angels,

all his service, and all his pride. We say it

three times, I have renounced Satan. And then

we go outside, we breathe on him, and we spit

on the devil. Imagine. Imagine you go, I don't

know, to what used to be Red's recovery room

on 116 or the wagon wheel over there off of Mendocino.

I've never been to either one, just to assure

you of that. And you go in there and you yell

and you wag your finger and you criticize somebody

about the size of John Robert. And then you spit

on him. And then you turn your back. What do

you think is going to happen? you're going to

go down. But you see, we spit on the devil, we

turn our back on him, and we say, I unite myself

to Christ. So everything that comes to us in

this life, once we have done that, because as

I've said to you many times, we give God permission.

We put our life in his hands, willingly, because

we know his love. Is immeasurable. We know his

providence. Is so caring. Down. As Jesus says.

Don't you know your heavenly father. Knows that

you have. Each hair. Doesn't have to think that

much about mine. Because there's not that much

now. But he knows everything about us. So. What

comes to us. We say. Is by God's hand. As miserable

as all that was. And now here we are, liturgically

speaking, exactly one year later. The commemoration

of St. John of the Ladder. And you're here. And

it's not just me and my family and the heavenly

hosts. You didn't receive communion for some

long period of time. I can't remember how many

weeks, maybe it was two months. But you're here.

You didn't reach out to the various blogosphere

sites to condemn the various hierarchs that implemented

the fact that we were shut down. You gave glory

to God because you knew that your life is in

his hands. Once we start to judge other people

that make our lives, let's say, difficult, then

we're sinning. I wasn't going to read anything

from the latter to you today, but it's so compelling,

it's so real, and it's so basic about judging

others. I need to share that with you. The demons.

Murderers as 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 defile

us with the stain which we ourselves are condemning

in other people. Number 12. This is step 10.

Number 12 of step 10. This is one of the marks

by which we could recognize spiteful and slanderous

people. They are piteously plunged in the spirit

of hatred, and with pleasure and without a qualm,

they slander the teaching or the affairs or achievements

of their neighbor. Number 13, I have seen some

committing the gravest sin in secret and without

exposure. And in their supposed purity, they

have harshly invaded and accused against persons

Who have had a petty fall in public. Number 14.

To judge others is a shameless arrogation of

the divine prerogative. To condemn is the ruin

of one's soul. Number 15. Even without any other

passion. Self -esteem can ruin a man. And in

the same way if we have formed the habit of judging.

We can be utterly ruined by this alone. For indeed

the Pharisee was condemned. For this very thing.

And finally number 16. A good grape picker. Who

eats the ripe grapes. Will not start gathering.

Unripe ones. A charitable and sensible mind.

Takes careful note. Of whatever virtues it sees

in anyone. But a fool looks for faults. And defects.

And as of such it is said. They have searched

after iniquity. And in searching they are grown

weary. Of searching. From the psalm. Do not condemn.

Number 17. Even if you see with your eyes. For

they are often deceived. So our lives carried

on. And here we are. And here you are. And we

need consolation once again. We want to be, as

I was saying to somebody yesterday, and I heard

from a priest in a sermon, we want things to

go back to normal, don't we? But the priest said,

normal is a setting on your wash machine. This

is just life. And it's going to be full of trials

and training. You pray for patience, guess what?

God's going to send you someone that's difficult.

You pray for humility, and you know what will

happen almost immediately. Someone will humble

you. You pray for understanding, and immediately,

or soon thereafter, a naughty problem is going

to be presented to you in which you have to discern

and pray and ask God. So that you can carry through

and figure out what to do. You pray for love.

And God will send you a situation in which love

is required. We can't learn any of the divine

virtues. Much less not judging someone. Without

the opportunities coming to us as a training.

Be careful what you pray for in that case. I'm

saying this today about a trial of faith because

of this gospel. Note how it ends. Jesus felt

that after that scene, that incredibly dramatic

scene with the young man, who was going rigid

and foaming at the mouth and flopping around

and falling in the fire and in the water. Maybe

someone today would say it's a grand mal seizure,

but the text tells us he has a spirit, an evil

spirit. And after that healing, Jesus says to

the apostles, when they're questioning, why could

we not do it? Because the Pharisees and the scribes

were arguing with the apostles. Saying, you can't

do anything. Your master's gone off. Where did

he go? The mountain of transfiguration. He comes

down and he sees this scene of arguing. And the

apostles, as failures, publicly. You know, as

a priest, this hits home rather powerfully. Your

disciples could not do it. And it's true. Because

we fail to do the thing that Jesus suggests.

And that doesn't suggest, and he's not talking

to monastics. He says this thing doesn't come

out except by prayer and fasting. Prayer because

it's to the almighty God and we have no other

hope. Fasting because when we fast, we don't

hope in ourself anymore. We have given that up

because we know God will help us and fill that

space. This father was tested. His face was tried.

Jesus says, all things are possible if you believe.

And the man, in his honesty, which we need at

this time of Lent when we know we have failed

so far. In his pain of heart, which we need if

we're going to approach Holy Week. In his faith,

because faith is a gift from God. It's not something

we conjure up. No, it's a gift in the almighty

God who has proven himself to us already on the

cross, the grave, the tomb, and the resurrection.

The man says those incredible words, immortal

words. Lord, he says, confessing Jesus, I believe.

And then he asks for something. And that tells

us what we ought to do with our prayer. We confess

God, and then we ask, Lord, I believe. Help my

unbelief. And the boy is cured. This is our life,

brothers and sisters. We're going to be tried.

We're going to be tested, not so God can figure

out what we're going to do, but so that we can

be trained in the life of what it is to be a

Christian. People have been reading this book,

The Ladder of Divine Ascent now, for 1 ,500 years.

It has changed men and women so that they become

Christ -like. These aren't rules to follow. As

you heard, they're short little sayings which

guide us and keep us on the right path. In our

modern way of thinking, we need all the society

to work first. The right laws, the right programs,

Money in the right places. This is nice when

it can happen. But the Christian doesn't believe

in that as the first thing. The Christian believes,

Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. And the Christian

embraces Christ wherever he or she is at. Because

faith is the 30th step of the 30 steps. It's

not the first step. And so we have to say, help

my unbelief. And then we change. The individual

is changed. The saint goes out into the forest

for a thousand days and nights. Then multitudes

come out and healings are flowing forth. The

good news is being preached. And a hundred and

how many years later, here we are, 200 years

later almost, here we are, the church of the

Cathedral of St. Seraphim. Never think that you

have to be an activist before you are an activist

with the Holy Spirit. Never think that you have

enough faith so you will always say, Lord, I

believe. Help my unbelief. So this is the message

which the church gives us on this fourth Sunday.

of the great fast as we get closer and closer

to holy week we hear the lord's words the son

of man is going to be arrested and crucified

and he will rise on the third day amen