4th Sunday after Pentecost 2020 Fr. Lawrence Margitich

Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory forever. In the

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

Holy Spirit. Amen. There's a story about obedience

and humility that typifies maybe a little bit

the humility and obedience of this centurion.

from the 8th chapter of the Gospel of St. Matthew.

Abba John the Dwarf went to the desert of Egypt,

and he dwelt with an elder there. And the elder

took a stick, just a dried up old stick, and

he made a hole in the ground, stuck it in the

ground, and he told Abba John the Dwarf, water

this every day. And John had to walk many miles

to get the water every day. And he was only back

by nightfall. And he did it for the first month,

second month, third month, sixth month. At the

end of the year, it sprouted. After that, fruit

began to grow on it. And his elder took the fruit

to the other brothers. at a common meal and said,

my brothers, here's the fruit of humility and

obedience. Seems kind of radical to us, but when

there is trust, and when there's godly trust,

healthy trust, then miracles happen. The center

of this gospel has to be the recognition of Christ's

power. to make things happen, fruit to be born

in us. What you heard today in this gospel is

not just another story of Jesus going around

and healing everyone. It concerns the slave of

a Roman soldier, a centurion. A centurion is

to command 100 troops. He's a Gentile. He's considered

unclean by the Jews. And it's interesting, in

chapter 8, this is the second healing that happens.

The first is to a leper, also considered unclean,

and an outcast and a terrible sinner, or else

he would not have leprosy. So Jesus comes to

the first two people he meets in chapter 8, who

are not considered righteous by any means by

the Jewish people. And this centurion is part

of the military occupation. Why do we have this

gospel today? What did we hear last week? Think

about it. Why are you anxious about what you're

going to wear, what you're going to eat, what

you will drink? Anxiety, anxiety, anxiety. Seek

first the kingdom of God. Who can say such words?

If I said to you, any of you, Oh, don't worry

about your food. It's all taken care of. Don't

worry about your parents. Don't worry about how

you're going to get to work. Don't worry about

your job. Don't worry about anything. Well, you

look at me as if I was insane, because I would

be insane to say such a thing. But Jesus says

these things, not just to say them and to comfort

us somehow. but because as a son of God, he has

the authority to make it happen for us, for that

trust to be fulfilled and not disappointed. St.

Paul in last week's gospel says, we glory in

our tribulations. We glory in them. We don't

complain about them, he says. We glory in them.

Good courage, my brothers and sisters. Have good

courage during this time. We're in a time, like

the Soviets were, the church in the Soviet era.

We're in a time like St. Paul was in the Roman

persecution and in the persecutions after that.

We're in a time in which we don't have everything

we want, but we have everything we need from

God. Be of good courage. We can trust him. We

have this gospel today to show us that the words

of Jesus last week are reliable words because

it comes from the Son of God, not just from a

teacher. Jesus didn't come just to teach us.

He came to establish the church in which we are

members of his body. This centurion approached

Jesus, pleading with him, praying to him. Sir,

he said, my servant, my slave, my slave is paralyzed,

dreadfully tormented. It would have been easier

for this centurion to just let his slave die.

It would have cost a lot less. Slaves had no

value. They weren't looked upon as humans. How

did Jesus respond to this man's pleading, this

man's request? Considering who this man is, what

would we have said? If there was Twitter or Facebook

reaction, what would that be? Jesus could have

said a great many things. He could have said,

you Romans are the problem here. In fact, you're

going to crucify me. You're going to put nails

into my hands and my feet, and a centurion is

going to stab his spear into my side. You're

unclean. You're sinners. You're violent oppressors.

You're slave owners. pagan idol worshippers,

and God won't return to our temple here in Jerusalem

until you wicked people, along with tax collectors,

prostitutes, and lepers, clear out. This is what

the Pharisees thought. Jesus could have said,

you should, right now, resign from your position

in the Roman army and become a Jew. And you should

oppose any policies of the Roman Empire. That's

what the Pharisees would have said. Drive out

the unclean from our midst and God will restore

the kingdom to us. The Savior said, I will come

and heal him. Because the Lord sees the heart

and knows the person. He doesn't deal with ideologies.

and philosophies, and isms, and movements. He

deals with you and me, the personal. I will come

and heal him. And this centurion, who had humility

and love for someone else, even someone below

him, saw Jesus. who he is, saw the living, true,

good, and loving authority, the grace to actually

heal, to give that which he says he can do. So

it's not a surprise when the soldier says to

the Savior, I'm not worthy that you should come

beneath my roof. Aren't those words familiar

to us? We say them every time we prepare for

communion. Lord, I'm not worthy. that thou shouldst

come unto the roof of the house of my soul. Matthew

says, Jesus is astonished at the man's faith.

He says that this man, this Roman soldier, has

greater faith than anyone else he ever met in

Israel. Imagine the apostles standing there.

The shock. unhearing. You said what? The centurion

came to Christ in supplication, in pleading,

in humble prayer because he knew Christ in Christ

was authority. Not like what you and I experience

in the world. Do this, do that. This law, that

law. No. Not secular authority. Not even worldly

or family authority. No. but the spiritual, godly,

loving, good, and healing authority, the power

of which Jesus, who is the peace, the wisdom,

the word, and power of God, exuded in abundance.

He who made heaven and earth, he who will be

all in all, says St. Paul. Pouring forth eternal

rivers, oceans, oceans of transforming and divine

love. It is he, their, And here now, nothing

to stop him, just because our church doesn't

have a bunch of people in it. Nothing to stop

Jesus from breaking through our personal and

our sinful limitations to make us free, as St.

Paul says. Free from sin. Free from ourself.

The impulses, the compulsions, the fears and

the shame. Free from that. To live the life of

Christ changes our consciousness, changes our

heart, changes our behavior. And we live the

life of Christ. I don't say the spiritual life

because that's not a phrase found in the Bible.

It sounds like something you might purchase somewhere.

I'll get myself a spiritual life. No, the life

of Christ. His life we live. And we know we are

loved by God. And that he seeks. our good he

seeks it constantly and perhaps he's astonished

at our lack of faith not our faith we can trust

him we trust in christ why because we know him

not something i know about him from what i read

in books and theology and heard on podcasts or

even in the bible But faith which comes from

knowledge of God, like I know my friends, like

I know you, brothers and sisters. Not just something

about you. Last week I quoted St. Isaac of Syria,

and I'll give you the same exact quote again

because it's relevant. It carries forward the

thought from last week. St. Isaac of Syria wrote

that we call faith that light which dawns in

the soul by grace and which By the testimony

of the mind, our thoughts, our intellect, establishes

the heart in freedom from doubt through the full

assurance of hope and the hope we have in God's

Spirit. We are not disappointed in it. This is

freely given to us. Remember, however, that in

our first steps to the approach of God, They're

easy because God is extending himself to us.

It's the feeling that we have wings, the enthusiasm

caused by the certainty that we are approaching

God. Father Alexander Elcheninov, one of the

priests in Paris after the revolution, says that

this is followed by a gradually cooling down

by doubt. by cynicism, by troubles, by forgetfulness

of our trust in God. In order to sustain our

faith, he says, it is necessary to make an effort

to struggle to fight for it, to astonish Christ

about our fight for his love, to oppose ourself.

Like any friendship, any relationship, if I don't

put some time... into engaging with my friend,

my wife, my children, my parishioners? What kind

of relationship is it? Effort is required. I

need time to walk with Jesus Christ and no one

else during that moment. I need time to pray

and not let myself get distracted by little things.

I need time to sit with him and only him. be

it only five minutes in the morning. I need time

to plead to him, as this centurion did, for the

healing of my brothers and sisters, this place,

this country, myself. I had a discussion with

Father Maximus Benson yesterday about this gospel.

I said, what's the core? What's the core? Because

we could talk about how Jesus said, there are

going to be many in the kingdom of heaven that

sit down at the great banquet feast with Abraham

and Isaac and Jacob that weren't expected to

be there. Roman soldiers, publicans and tax collectors

going on before the Pharisees. And the children

of the kingdom, many will be cast out into outer

darkness. So there's this story about we should

be careful lest we lose the gift we've been given.

There's humility. There's obedience. But he said,

here's the core. And I believe it. The core of

the gospel passage is recognition. To recognize

real authority awakens in us the spiritual power

to overcome. the sinfully produced limitations

upon our nature, and awaken the God -created

potentials of who we are to rise above, go past

the limitations of our nature and worldly circumstances.

And we live according to the spiritual law of

heaven because we trust Christ. And then we have

genuine spiritual health and holiness and wholeness

and goodness and the ability to receive and flow

with the grace. I am a man under authority, under

obedience, said the centurion. Christ gives us

the perfect example for himself. I can do nothing

on my own authority. As I hear, I judge, and

my judgment is just because I seek not my own

will but the will of him who sent me. This is

a difficult concept for us Americans, especially

on July 4th weekend, because we have been taught

to believe that I am my own authority, and that's

the freedom. We forget what St. Paul taught us

in Romans. The wages of sin is death, and our

own authority is a sinful authority. We need

to be liberated from ourself most of the time.

I am sovereign. But we humble ourselves through

obedience, not forced submission. Christ's love

for us invites us to trust him. We have the gospel.

We have the example of the saints of whom many,

many built a life of saintliness like St. Anthony

on just one One word, one teaching of the gospel

which they took seriously and to which they devoted

their energies, their life, transfigured relationships,

human souls, human lives. Who of us would have

said what the centurion said? Thy word is enough,

O Lord. Don't come. I'm not worthy. Who of us

would have said that? We want a new revelation.

We want a new word from Christ. Let's astonish

Christ by being like the centurion. Perhaps a

great miracle will occur in us. The paralysis

of our soul will become free.