Your Fruit!

Scripture Readings: Is. 7:10-16; Gal. 3:29-4:7; Lk. 2:1-7
Ընթերցուածքներ` Եսայ. Է 10-16; Գաղ. Գ 29- Դ 7; Ղկ. Բ 1-7

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

At 6, I said I love my mother; at 13 I said, “mom whatever”. At 16, my mother was so annoying, and by 18, I needed out of my mother’s house because she’s so boring. At 25, I realized, my mother was right all along; at 30, all I wanted was a home filled with my mother’s songs. But by 50, I knew my mother won’t be here forever and at 70, I knew if only my mother was there my life would certainly be better. My dear brothers and sisters, from Proverbs 1:8-9 we learn, to listen to and not forsake a mother’s teachings, because of the value and wisdom found within her words. Perhaps when we are young, as the poem suggested, we don’t recognize that value but as we grow up, we see how important a mother is to our well-being. While both a mother and father are absolutely important for a family, statistically mothers are the first to instill in their children honesty, respect, compassion, gratitude, forgiveness, and countless other virtues. Of course, we know that in this fallen world, many families perhaps don’t have a mother who exemplifies what scripture teaches about motherhood through love, wisdom and virtue.

Yet, praise be to our Lord that we are not merely children of our biological families, but more importantly we are children of God. We have a Heavenly Father, who cares and provides for us through our spiritual mother the Holy Church. When a child is baptized, we say that we are born from the womb of our mother, the baptismal font. And while today is not Mother’s Day as we traditionally celebrate in May in North America, today is the feast of the remembrance of our Lord Mother’s, the Ever Virgin Holy Theotokos, St. Mary. This past week, the Orthodox Church and us today, remember the dormition and Holy Assumption of St. Mary. Of how St. Mary, many years after the Holy Ascension of Jesus Christ, entered death and when she was buried, witnesses speak of how the angels in Heaven tended to her grave and sang hymns daily. One day, when the disciples removed the stone from her grave to pay respect, they saw that her body was gone, and they believed that Christ had come and taken his mother to the Heavenly Kingdom. Yet, as beautiful as this tradition is, what do we understand from it?

For this I want us to reflect on today’s Scripture reading in contrast to the reading from John 2 – the Wedding at Cana. Today we read of how after the angel Gabriel came to Mary, she and Joseph travelled to Bethlehem and in time, she gave birth to Jesus Christ. During the Wedding of Cana, we all know that Christ turned water into wine, yet, prior to this moment, we read, (vv. 3- 4) “And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” ⁴ Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me?” St. Mary came to Jesus and said they’re out of wine; and perhaps if we merely read Jesus’ response in English, we might think it’s rude. Why is He calling His mother ‘woman’? Well, where does that word come from?

In Genesis we read, that Adam gave the title ‘woman’ to Eve – the mother of all humanity. Therefore, when we read in Scripture Christ calling St. Mary ‘woman’ He is not disrespecting her but rather, reminding us of Eve. However, the first Eve through her fruit which she gave to Adam brought sin into the world, yet in contrast, St. Mary the new Eve, the Mother of all Christian’s gave to us her fruit, her Son Christ Jesus for the salvation of the world. Meaning my dear brothers and sisters, the reason the Holy Church emphasizes our love and devotion for St. Mary is because through her Christ Jesus was born into this world. As the St. Gregory of Narek writes about St. Mary, “O golden jar full of sanctity, holding in you the sweet manna. O blossoming rode from the root of Jesse that brought forth for us Christ, the royal fruit.” And as we sit here, beyond just theology and poetry, how does this all concern us in our faith?

My dears, it is St. Mary’s faithfulness to the Word of God which brought forth the royal fruit of life – Jesus Christ. St. Mary is an example for us, chief among the saints only because when the Holy Spirit entered her, through her, the Word of God took flesh. When we are born as Christian’s, when we receive that same Holy Spirit, we need to ask how does the Word of God take flesh through us? Each one of us, being born from this Holy Baptismal font, receive that name Christ through our anointing. Therefore, if the fruit of St. Mary’s faith was the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ in the flesh, what kind of fruit does our faith produce? If we are the children of our Holy Mother the Church, if we are the children of St. Mary – the new Eve and mother of all, we bear that name of Christ, yet, how often do we think about what kind of fruit, what life we live, what are we creating?

When we read the Holy Gospel, when we live a life through the Holy Church, when we have the presence of Christ, there must be a transformation in us. The transformative power of God changes water into wine, bread into flesh but also the broken into the healed, the victim into victor, the dead into life. That transformation can be painful but as we mature in our faith it becomes a blessing. In the poem of a child growing up, the mother didn’t change. The child grew up and maturing recognized the blessing of a mother. Likewise for our faith my dears, when we are immature in our faith, when we are hurting, when we are misunderstood or when we misunderstand, we feel loss, we feel bored, we feel anxious and unsure. Our faith makes us uncomfortable and we often feel that our wine is out.

Yet, if we continually pray, come to Christ, if we read our Scriptures, ask questions, live our faith by letting go our pride, ego, self-centeredness, then we will mature and be transformed. We will grow and through us Christ will be born and revealed. That is why we as Christian’s love St. Mary as we would love our own mothers. She is the Mother of our Lord, she is our mother, and just as a child runs to a loving mother for care, protection and guidance, let us come to the Holy Church, let us pray and ask for intercession of the Holy Theotokos, who is an example of faithfulness to us, her children. May may the life we live, our Christian faith produce fruits of blessing for us and all to enjoy, glorifying our Heavenly Father, the Son and Holy Spirit, Amen!