“But”

Daily Readings: Is. 49:13-23; Gal. 6:14-18; John 3:13-21
Ընթերցուածքներ` Եսայ. ԽԹ 13-23; Գաղ Զ 15-18; Յով. Գ 13-21

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

I love chocolate chip cookies, “but” I want to manage my sugar. In the 14^th century, French Philosopher Jean Buridan proposed a paradox question, where he illustrated, a dog choosing between equal portions of food. Overtime the experiment changed to “Buridan’s Donkey” yet, proposed the same paradox – choices vs. the idea of our “but.” The experiment was as such, a hungry dog, or donkey stands at an exact equal distance between two identical piles of food. The animal must make a choice – left pile or the right pile. However, as the animal moved towards one choice, the other choice becomes further away. So, the animal stands completely still, makes no choice, and starves to death. Out of fear of losing out of the other option, the animal chose neither and died. A rational person would pick one except for the fear of “but”.

This is true my dears of all of us. We want to be healthy, but we want to eat, drink and make choices that hurt our health. We want to be educated, but we want to go out with friends, be lazy, and relax. We want to be financially stable, have money to be comfortable in the long run, but we splurge on unnecessary things that fill our life with only momentary pleasure. And what is far more detrimental my dears, we want to be faithful, we want to grow in our faith, but we find reasons why we don’t pray, why we don’t attend Church, why we don’t read our Scriptures and why we don’t do what God commands of us. Sadly, what happens is we never reach our goals, we do not become healthy, we don’t find stability, we don’t grow in our faith and eventually we die. No, I am not speaking of physical death. Death is something we cannot avoid, yet what about spiritual death?

Today the Armenian Church along with all of Christendom celebrates the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The Cross, which the world tells us is weakness, is a “crutch for the weak”, is a tool of death. Yet, St. Paul calls the Cross foolishness for those who are perishing yet for us faithful it is freedom, “by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” And we as Christian’s, who claim and proclaim faith in Christ Jesus our Lord must choose what is the Cross for us? Faith is not forced upon us, driven by fear, or culture. Faith in God is not a point system, where we tally “being good” vs. “being bad” and therefore God will either punish us or bless us. Faith is not personal opinions, picking a choosing what fits our way of life.

My dears, faith in Christ, being a Christian, is Communion, healing, rehabilitation and transformation. It is about actively choosing the Cross, choosing God, choosing His love. It is about coming as we are, broken as we are, weak or strong as we are, defeated or successful as we are according to whatever standard we have used to govern our life and through repentance, responding to the grace and love of God. To exalt the Cross, meaning to lift it up, is realized through the choices we choose to make, the side we pick to live by. “But” I want this, I want that…does not work with our Christian faith. For Armenians and all Orthodox Christians, being a Christian is not merely a title or a phrase we say, but it is an entire lifestyle.

Will we struggle? Will we have questions? Will we make mistakes? Absolutely! That is why the love of God is greater than our shortcomings. His love that sent Christ Jesus, His Son into this world to save us by the Cross. Yet, just as the thieves on the cross, one chose to reject, while the other accepted Christ, just as the saints even in the face of hardship chose to live faithfully, yet, so many who live in “worldly comfort” choose to reject God, likewise we must choose. Our choice will either feed us or leave us hungry and broken. That is why St. John in the Gospel says our choice is ultimately what brings judgement to us. v. 19-21 “And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God.”

My dears, we daily stand between two choices; we are in Buridan’s paradox. In our everyday decisions and especially when it comes to our faith. Which direction will we move? What decision will we make? Will we stand still, leaving us unsatisfied, hurt and broken? Will we choose what the world tells us and eventually starve our faith? Or will we choose to exalt, glorify and lift up our Cross, follow God, ask questions, feed and drink from His Holy Altar and strengthen our faith? The choice is our, “but” we must recognize that it is our choice.

By the grace and love of our Lord, every day we have another opportunity to repent, to turn and choose God. To live in His love, by His commandments. To pray for wisdom, and to do His will, in how we treat ourselves, how we treat others, how we date, raise our families, dress, think, work, and so forth. Faith is a response; faith is a choice. God our Heavenly Father, the Son and Holy Spirit, has chosen us, “but” what will we choose? Amen.