Passages: Acts 17:1-15; 1 John 1:1-10; John 7:14-23
Ընթերցուածքներ՝ Գործ. ԺԷ 1-15; Ա Յով. Ա 1-10; Յով. Է 14-23
Քրիստոս Յարեաւ ի Մեռելոց. Օրհնեալ է Յարութիւնն Քրիստոսի
Krisdos haryav ee merelotz! Orhnyal eh Harootiunun Krisdosee!
Christ is risen from the dead! Blessed is the resurrection of Christ!
In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen!
So often we hear, see and feel the evils in this world! We see on social media, hear the news, or even experience in our lives the very real presence of sin. Sickness, suffering, despair and hopelessness are not foreign to us, we don’t need to read about them as if they are some far off and distant exercise. We are all struggling with something; we have had or still do face demons, know loneliness, pain and all of us have questions about the way our life is, the way society is declining, and so forth. It is easy to become anxious, fall into depression or confusion. Yet, my dear brothers and sisters, our Lord Christ Jesus tell us this is the reality of life. Christ, tell us that this world is sick. (Lk. 5:31-32) He doesn’t sugarcoat or lie to us that if we believe in God, then we will not see pain. Yet, Christ also reminds us that this pain is temporary; that He inviting us into Holy Communion with our Father in Heaven, is here with us to heal us, heal this world, our homes, our society, our communities of all evil. And in that invitation, we read in the Gospel of Matthew (5:13-16), we are not passive bystanders, only meant to be present but actively involved as the salt of the world.
Salt gives flavor, it preserves, it protects, and it brings more than what is merely on the surface. St. John in his letter writes, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us…” (1 Jn. 1) That which we have heard, which we have seen, which our hands of handled. I’m not sure how many of us know where salt comes from. Though it is a natural resource, the salt that we enjoy in our homes needs to be harvested, broken up, washed, refined and processed into what we enjoy in our foods. It is the end product that so many of us enjoy, that we use in our recipes and medicines and it is that end product that Christ reveals to us that we are called to be.
This means my dears, that our faith, being in Communion with God, being a Christian requires us to be processed, broken down, washed, refined and transformed into who God is calling each and everyone of us to be in this world. Sometimes this hurts; it is not always safe and easy. Yet, it is in the darkest places, in the times of the most loss where if remain prayerful do we see, and experience God’s real presence. How? Through the love of others around us. This is very important because so many of us want our faith to be tangible, to be something we see, feel, enjoy with all our senses. When we are baptized, the priest anoints not just our forehead but also our eyes, ears, mouth, nose and hands – all our senses. When we walk into an Orthodox Church, we see the icons, we hear the music, we smell the incense and we eat with our mouths – worshipping and communing with our entire body, all our senses. This is because we experience God with all our senses, and be we are convinced of the goodness of God by experiencing God’s goodness around us. Yet, if we, who claim to believe in God, to be a child of the Most High, if we are not different, if we are not who Christ calls us to be, then the goodness, the love and hope of God is darkened even from the most hopeful of eyes.
Going back to the words of St. John, we are the ones who hear, see and handle – we are the ones who have tangibly felt, heard, and experienced the Gospel and it is we who must be the witness, bring it into reality. It is we who are each called to be the salt of the world – to give flavor, to preserve, protect, grow, and heal this world of the evil in it not through combat alone but through recognizing and living the Gospel in our very lives. We acknowledge that pain is there but remain strong that through Christ we can overcome. How we treat one another, ourselves, the environment; how we raise our families, go out with friends, dress or even drive our cars, etc. We might think some of these are simple or silly, yet, it is even in the most simple of things, where people look and seek the presence of God. Imagine driving down the street and an angry driver behind you is high beaming you, honking their horn, speeding, and cutting in and out of traffic and as they pass us, they “flip you the bird” as they say. What would we think? What a horrible person. Now imagine if we recognized that person as the priest? What would we think? What about who we are? It is the same with each one of us who say we are a child of God, who claim and believe in the Resurrected Lord Jesus Christ – we are the salt of the world.
My dears, we see wrong all around us; we see evil, we see sickness, despair, and hopelessness and so much more. We don’t deny their reality but rather than fall into anxiety and fear, God, who we know loves us, take us and transforms us into the salt of this world, into the person that can bring and manifest His glory, His love, His hope and His presence into this world against those evil’s. So that when people see us, they will see, feel, and hear God’s presence. Today, the Armenian Church celebrates the Feast of the Appearance of the Holy Cross, a historical event many centuries ago, yet, let us be reminded that each one of us is the appearance of the Holy Cross, the life-giving, victorious, healing, protective Cross in this world. Yet, it is and only can be if we allow God to harvest us, break us down, wash us, refine us into the salt we are called to be. Only then can we give flavor to this world, protect and preserve, heal and bless this world, our lives and the lives of those around us. Only then through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ will our lives reveal God’s presence to others and as we bring Glory to our Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen!