In My Time of Need

Passages: Is. 63:7-18; 2 Tim. 3:1-12; Jn. 6:22-38
Ընթերցուածքներ՝ Եսայ. ԿԳ 7-18; Բ Տիմ. Գ 1-12; Յով. Զ 22-38

In the Name of the the Father, Son and Holy Spirit Amen.

As a priest one of my favorite things to do is visitations. To go and see each and everyone of you, the faithful in their home and their workplaces, to spend time in conversation. One day as a priest was doing his visitations to his community, he noticed it was lunchtime and he really wanted a slice of pizza. He remembered that one of his parishioners happened to have a pizza shop nearby and so he said I’ll drop in for a visit and I’ll have a slice. Walking in, the parishioner standing at the cashier saw him and said, “father it is so wonderful to see you come in have a slice.” The priest asked how have you been it’s been some time since I’ve seen you at church? But before the man could answer, an elderly man walked out the back and looked sternly at the priest. “Father,” said the cashier a little nervous, “this is my dad, I apologize he’s not a fan of clergy.” Suddenly the elderly man said, “God has answered my call and sent me this man in my time of need.” You see it turns out that one of the reasons they had not been coming to church for a while is because the elderly man’s wife was suffering and had passed away and because of past issues with clergy or some churchgoers the elderly man did not want to go to church and didn’t want the priest involved. Yet now seeing the priest standing before him, the elderly man couldn’t help but recognize God entering into his life in his time of need. 

My dear brothers and sisters, as priests yes, we get to do these visitations and we are called to serve the Church by bringing the Good News, the Gospel of Christ Jesus to all. The Gospel which is the good news that God revealed in the person of Christ Jesus is the love of God in our life, that was born into flesh. We celebrated Christmas only a few short weeks ago. Of God living and suffering as we do willingly dying for our sin upon the cross, and through his Holy Resurrection restoring us into the image and likeness of which we were originally created in. It is the message of love – divine and pure a love above all else and for all of us. But my dears, the Gospel message is not a message reserved only for us priests, only for those who’ve been ordained in the Church to share. St. Peter writes in his letter that all are called to the Holy Priesthood in Christ. Meaning we are all called to be messengers of God, the messengers of the Gospel to those around us. How that priesthood manifests or expresses itself through each and everyone of us is unique and different. Some of us will be ordained priests and we’ll do the seminary study and education. Some of us will be altar servers, choir singers, Sunday school teachers, while some of us are volunteers or parents. Some of us are public school teachers, factory workers, lawyers and doctors. St. Paul writes in Ephesians 4, “There is one body and one Spirit…one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all…and his gifts [God’s gifts my dears to us is that we] (were that some) should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God…” How beautiful and powerful that God has called each and every one of us from the oldest to our youngest to bring His love, to live His love to those around us, regardless of what we do professionally or in our family lives. Until we attain unity of faith. 

Yet, we know today’s world is not like this. Read the news; listen to the radio, scroll through social media -what do you see? Hatred, injustice, malice, contempt, bigotry, over sexualization of everything, poverty, war, and evil that is not only present but rampant and celebrated. A few days ago, I don’t know if any of you have seen this, but a few days ago I saw a commercial for a new cartoon that’s coming out about how Satan, Lucifer was not actually the bad guy, but it was God who was the evil one. St. Paul warns us of things like this“men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, fierce, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding the form of religion but denying the power of it.” (2Tim. 3). Look at that last sentence – holding the form of religion but denying the power of it. Meaning claiming to be religious believers of God, using words like love, God, and forgiveness, but manipulating and polluting it and what God in fact commands. Sadly, this is the world and it is not just the unbelieving or hedonistic world but it is also something we find here. It has also penetrated the hearts of every Christian and it is no wonder that disbelief and distrust of clergy and of churches and of Christians is so high in this world. The sad truth is my dears, that many of us, if not all, clergy or not, we have all seen or felt something in our life either in the world or even within our churches, that has left a “bad taste” or a “distrust” in us. 

Let us ask ourselves, how much we trust one another, the person in the Pew? How much do we trust the priest and I’m not taking this personally don’t worry. But how often have I spoken about the sacrament of holy confession and about how we are called to come and empty ourselves by confessing our sins to the priest for our own healing. In fact, a lot of times when I’ve asked about confession, I get the question, “is orthodox confession like Catholic confession, where’s the booth? However, it isn’t because the invention of the booth came from royalty not trusting the priest they were confessing to. Whereas in the Orthodox Church, the priest and confessor sit next to each other towards God, not in some booth but in trusting. Yet, how many of us in fact trust vs. how many of us don’t because we don’t want to be vulnerable, we don’t want to open up ourselves to the priest or anyone for that reason? Compounded with the evils of this world, we cannot help but feel hopeless and helpless. It’s no wonder we keep a distance yet, for much of the world that distance is a complete avoidance and distrust of the church and ultimately the message of God’s love, the Gospel.

And so where do we look, where do we turn? It is easy to say the Sunday school answer “Jesus.” Yet, for those who have never opened the Holy Scriptures, for those of us who don’t come to Church or have a distaste in our mouth, for the world that is hurting and is in need and does not know Jesus Christ, the answer is to you and I. The world looks to us to bring Christ to others. So many people in this world are looking for a savior but don’t know who to look for and so they begin to create a version of God for themselves and that leaves them hungry and hurt. That is why in today’s Gospel Christ tells the Jews that we’re looking for him you came seeking not because of the miracles, not because you recognized me as the Savior, the Son of God, the Messiah, no, but because I fed your stomachs. I gave you that temporary relief. But if all we are after is the temporary relief then what we follow will only give us temporary relief. Never fully satisfied. Therefore, it is us my dears, that the world looks to. The world is looking, when we are looking, God reminds us that our eyes, the world’s eyes, are on those who call themselves Christians. Baptized children of the Most High! It is for this reason we are called to be imitators of Christ. 

Look at how St. Paul continues today “Now you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions, my sufferings…”  After warning against the evils of this world after warning against false religious people, St. Paul instructs and reminds us that, you [we] know the truth because of how I [St. Paul] lived my life my faith, my patience, my love. I lived my life imitating Christ, as Christ commanded me. And so you do know Christ Jesus because you’ve seen Christ through me. It is through each one of us the world will see Christ and it is that which we are called to. But the question remains, will they see hypocrisy and lies or will they begin to see Christ’s love? It is no wonder there is so much distrust and unbelief in this world, my dears. A world sees how we live my dears, the world sees our faith, sees our love, sees us and either they will see evil or like the elderly man in the pizza shop they will see Christ coming to them in their time of need. C.S. Lewis beautifully says “we must show our Christian colors if we are to be true in Christ Jesus.” We must bring not the Gospel by words alone, not just with a collar or a lengthy sermon, but with the very life we live. And that is something we are all called to do!

Believe that the evil is showing itself and the rest of the world is watching and hurting. Believe that when we who say we are Christian, deny the Gospel with our lives, the world is watching and hurting. Believe my dears, that when we are faithful to the commandments, when we live every day in the love of God, lift one another, have compassion and mercy, the world is watching and healing. And maybe when we stop for a slice of pizza, a cup of coffee, or a short conversation with someone in the street, whether they’re a priest or not, they will feel through our presence, “God has answered my call in my time of need.” By the Grace of the Holy Spirit may we be illuminated to the love of Christ and in Communion with God our Father may Christ Jesus come alive through us now and every day, no matter where we are and who we are, Amen!