Pay Attention For The Fruit

Scripture Readings: Isaiah 2:5-11; Rom. 8:30-10:4; Matt. 13:24-30
Ընթերցուածքներ` Եսայ. Բ 5-11; Հռոմ. Ը 30- Ժ 4; Մատ. ԺԳ 24-30

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

When I was a student back in Jerusalem, I vividly remember having a bizarre dream, not just once but several times. In my dream, I saw myself at the Church of Sts. James, the Armenian Patriarchate Cathedral. I witnessed a Church dimly lit with oil lanterns and a Church filled with monks and saints, with no faces that I could see, but who shined brightly, quietly and prayerfully listening. Immediately, I found myself in the middle of the Church, with a Gospel in my hand, as a Deacon would, and as I began to chant, my voice could not be heard. As hard as I tried, as loud as I yelled, the words of the Gospel seemed to disappear from the page, I couldn’t see, even in a lit Church and looked around for help, my prayers were silent.

As a priest, I often get asked if we should pay attention to dreams, or signs and the answer is yes, but with discernment. St. Gregory of Datev teaches us that dreams and gut-feelings can come from 3 places: our subconscious, God or the Devil. Therefore, if we do have a dream, or ideas that come into our heart and mind, or perhaps there are “signs” happening around us, that we are not certain what it could mean, we are reminded to be prayerful asking for clarity – to understand where they come from and what they mean. God our Heavenly Father desires ultimately for us to be in Communion with Him, to know Him and be known by Him; to grow in our likeness of Him. God is a creator, God is love, God is merciful and compassionate. For this reason, God the Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ became human, became knowable and relatable. Through His divine ministry, God become known to us by sharing His love, mercy and compassion with His creation. Through the message of the Holy Gospel the seeds of faith were planted in our life, which is what today’s Gospel is teaching us.

The parable that Christ shares speak of seeds being planted in order to produce good fruit. We read that the enemy, or the evil one, spread among the healthy seeds of wheat, weeds, or fruitless plants. Only after both mature does the master allow them to be separated according to what they produce. My dears, what do we produce with our faith? Are we wheat or weeds? We all face challenges in life of various forms. Challenges not just in work and academia, but challenges of faith, of self-worth and self-identity. Whether through social media, our friends’ circles, or what we see or read around us, our faith is always being challenged. We face hopelessness, sickness, regret, anger, depression, anxiety, and fear. We often cry out God why would you allow this, aren’t you all good and loving?

These words echo the words of the servants in today’s Gospel, “Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then has it weeds?” Sadly, the reality is my dears, weeds do exist in today’s life not because God planted it but for 2 other reasons: the enemy, which is the devil, and us. The enemy of our faith desires nothing more than for us to depart, to reject God, to fall into despair and hopelessness. The devil has no need of us, if we already reject God, yet, when we want healthy fruit, God’s love and Will in our life, then the devil comes to plants those weeds in our life. And so here we have our responsibility? In v. 25 we read, “while men were sleeping, his [the masters] enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.” These men, these people who were sleeping is us; and the sleep is not rest from work but laziness, carelessness, and excuses that we have in our life to not pray, to not read Scriptures, to not participate in our Church life. When we “sleep” in this way, we don’t pay attention, we live our life pursuing what we believe makes us happy, gives us fulfillment, even if for the moment regardless of what consequence it could have later, and so we remain open to attack, we are susceptible for the enemy to penetrate our hearts and minds with false teachings, lies, and fear and when bad things happen, we ask, but God didn’t you make things good?

Yes, God made things good; God planted good seeds. Did we take care of those seeds and of the soil in which it was planted? God through compassion and mercy, as the master responds not with chastisement, not with anger but with love and concern. Let the seeds grow and according to their fruit they will be separated. My dears, yes, sin exist in this world, yes, the devil is real, and his presence is real when we allow it. However, yes, we also have our responsibility in the garden, in the work of God; to remain vigilant and be prepared. And because we make a mistake, just because we have sinned, are value in the eyes of God is not diminished; God is not punishing us but reminding us, to therefore, strive to produce healthy fruit. An emphases that we need patience and discernment in the face of spiritual challenges.

God the Son, Jesus Christ has already destroyed the power of evil, and all that remains are the seeds and weeds that will be judged based on what they produce. If we remain careless and undiscerning, if we keep making excuses, then the lies of the evil one, who tells us we are useless, worthless and broken will only produce fruit of vanity and ego, of pain and despair. God’s love however, calls us to so much more; the grace and love of God is greater than any mistake, any scar, any hurt we may have in our life. So, we ask what will our faith produce? Compassion? Mercy? Hope? Love and forgiveness?

Through prayer and guidance from my dean of the seminary, I understood my dream to be a warning from God. Yes, I was a Deacon, and I was serving the Holy Church. But if I did not trust God with my life fully, if I continued to seek after my own will, my own ego, my own definition of self-worth, if all I wanted was the momentary satisfaction of being right, then even in the most beautiful of Churches, in the Holy Land of Jerusalem, among the Holiest people, my voice would remain silent, my prayers would remain mute; I would be in darkness. God was telling me wake up, pay attention not to the world, not to the lies; pay attention to my love for you, pay attention to what I have prepared for you, pay attention so you can help others as my servant too.

My dear brothers and sisters, pay attention! Not to Der Hayr, not just to dreams and signs around us but to the living Word of the Holy Gospel, to the seed that is planted in our life. Learn to tend to that seed, care for it through prayer, through reading of Holy Scripture, asking questions, coming to Church regularly and being part of this garden. Because it is here, through love and forgiveness we learn that even if we make mistakes along the way, even if we fall, by the grace of God, the Holy Spirit will help us produce a healthy crop. A crop, a fruitfulness that will feed not just us but all those who seek the Lord. Pay attention; pray for clarify and seek the Lord always. And our prayers will be heard, our our eyes will be opened to the truth, our ear will listen and understand and our lives will bring glory to our Heavenly Father, the Son and Holy Spirt, Amen!