Love your enemies - Fr. Lawrence Margitich

Glory to Jesus Christ. You've heard the phrase,

when the times are tough, the tough get going.

When wildfires hit, when Restrictions come down

on us when people are getting sick, when national

politics is a dumpster fire. Christians don't

enter into the fray, at least not right away.

Christians go back, go back to listen and to

ponder. To contemplate the words of Christ. To

be immersed in the liturgy. To read the scriptures.

You heard a gospel that's about love. We don't

have it. It comes from God. We can't generate

it. And if you fake it, it's just hypocrisy.

Everything the Savior teaches, everything he

did as an example for us, because he did all

those things that he taught us, the healings,

the rebukes, everything he did was to lead us

to, as Paul would say, to perfect holiness in

the fear of God. So that, as you heard in this

epistle from 2 Corinthians, you are temples of

the Holy Spirit. Ponder that, brothers and sisters,

as you walk around, as you do your daily chores,

as you go to work, as you interact with people,

as you watch things that maybe you shouldn't

have even seen. Temple of the Holy Spirit. God's

gift to us. He leads us to perfect holiness in

the fear, the honor, the reverence, the beauty,

yes, the joy, truth, light, and love, which is

the most prominent thing available to us from

God, his love. And everything in the divine liturgy

leads up, up the road, not down the road, but

up the road. the same blessed path of holiness.

Notice at the beginning of the Divine Liturgy,

what do we say? In peace, let us pray to the

Lord. We ask for the peace from above. This tells

us, this is Christ himself, to dwell in our hearts

by the Holy Spirit. And I'll remind you again,

as I've been saying, Frequently, have I said

during this COVID time, week after week after

week, the commandments of Christ, our blessed

Orthodox Christian faith, is not, I must do this

and not do that. This is forbidden. This is permitted.

No. In peace, let us pray to the Lord. To be

a temple of the Spirit means we identify ourself

with our Father in heaven. To be children of

the Most High, as Jesus said. Like God. Everything

here, even standing outside with these tents

and the icons and all this temporary thing, is

to bring us so that peace, Christ, dwells within

us. really reveal ourselves to be temples of

the Holy Spirit. You know, what is natural is

for the eyes to see. When they don't work right,

we need some kind of corrective. Glasses. What

is natural is for the mouth to speak. For the

hands to give and to embrace. For the heart,

what is natural? To love our enemy. That's what's

natural. That's when we're healthy. To give without

thinking of getting back, as Jesus said. For

what credit is it to you if you give and you

expect it back? Even non -believers do that.

When the world meets a Christian, the world has

a right to expect someone, something out of the

ordinary, the temple of God. The profile of a

servant of the Savior is one of holiness. Yes,

perhaps we're slow in acquiring that, but anyway,

it's in the process. And anyway, it's not ordinary.

We follow the commandments. We become the friend

of God. We become a reflection of God. Children

of the Most High. A child looks like his parent

or her parent. A couple years ago, I was downtown

at one of my favorite coffee shops, Flying Goat,

and I went in to have coffee, and the guy behind

the counter, I didn't know him. I didn't know

the guy. He says, oh, your son was just here.

I said, really? How did you know? He says, well,

he looks just like you. You see, we are to look

like Christ in our actions, in our countenance.

We are to sound like Christ. This is why when

times are tough, we get going to the Lord so

we can be strengthened. Be Christians on purpose.

We may have been born, some of us, into the life

of the church and baptized as children, but we

have to be Christians on purpose or else our

faith is irrelevant to the person you meet. It's

irrelevant to this world. It will have zero power.

And what is that power? In peace, let us pray

to the Lord for the peace from above. The power

is the power of God's love. Jesus said, as Father

John pointed out in a sermon some time ago, he

gives some parables which need interpretation.

Sayings that are not quite understandable on

the surface, and then the preacher, Gets up and

he says, this is what it means. And after the

service, Father, I finally know what that means

now that you've explained it. But this doesn't

need any explanation today. It's straight ahead.

Love your enemy. Do good. Treat the other person

as you would want them to treat you. But let's

be honest with ourselves. Maybe we're having

a hard time forgiving an enemy. Probably most

of you have a couple of enemies that you see

on the television or on Facebook. You don't even

know these people. So this is a different category,

possibly. But we still have to love them. Are

you children of the Most High? Are you a temple

of the Holy Spirit? If you're having trouble

loving an enemy, somebody that's not lovable,

that you think is going to hurt you and has hurt

you, be like those 21 Egyptian martyrs in Libya

who stood and said, Lord Jesus Christ, before

they were martyred. They asked for forgiveness

of the people killing them. as Stephen did, and

guess who? Guess who else did that? Yes, the

Lord on the cross. Are we children of the Most

High? Maybe the difference between a disciple

of Christ and one who is only observing and has

not decided to live Christianity on purpose is

that the disciple says, Lord, I'm unable to do

this yet. Help me. And the observer, the one

on the outside, is afraid of trusting Christ

and says, well, I can't do this. Actually, I

don't even want to do it. St. Silouan the Athonite,

who died in 1938. So he saw plenty of the nightmare

of the early 20th century. He said something

that we would be wise to take heed of, to let

his words be like a stethoscope, listening to

the state of our spiritual heart like a thermometer

gauging our spiritual temperature, like a scale

that we might step on to show are we undernourished

in the love of God? Are we overweight with our

ego and love of self and fear? St. Silouan said

this, the good man thinks to himself in the following

way, everyone who has strayed from the truth

brings destruction upon himself and is therefore

to be pitied. But of course, the man who has

not learned the love of the Holy Spirit will

not pray for his enemies. The man who has learned

love from the Holy Spirit sorrows all his life

over those who are not saved. and sheds abundant

tears for all people. And the grace of God gives

him strength to love his enemies. Where there

is pride, there cannot be grace. And if we lose

grace, we also lose both love of God and assurance

in prayer. The soul is then tormented by evil

thoughts, does not understand that she must humble

herself. and love her enemies. The Christian

walks down the road with Christ, with his cross.

So yes, forgiving our enemies costs us something.

We don't give expecting a return. We don't love

hoping to receive back. This is a cross sometimes,

and it's a lot of sorrow. This is not karma.

Love your enemies, and then, boom, everything

good's going to happen to you. Give, and it'll

come back to you. Probably not. This is not karma.

Why should God care if you do something for someone,

giving something you have that he gave you? And

you expect something in return down the road.

That really is an investment. That's a business

proposition. Love isn't a means to get something.

It is the goal. And God gives it without measure.

He gives it without stinting. He gives it to

us, even us who are sinners. Love is the way

in which We imitate Christ, and it's the sign.

You hear the litmus test all the time, and this

Supreme Court hearing is going to come up soon,

and it's going to be litmus test after litmus

test. What's the litmus test for us? Do we love

our enemy? Love your enemies, do good, and lend,

expecting nothing in return. Your reward will

be great. When will it be great? Now! This is

the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven

is at hand, and God is sending his love to us

when we need it in the difficult times, and we

can share that with anyone. To our Lord, who

is gracious, who is kind, who said from the cross,

forgive them for they know not what they do.

To him be glory and honor and worship now and

ever to ages of ages. Amen. Can I hear amen?