Tag: wisdom

Daily Readings: Is. 3:16-4:1; 1 Corinth. 1:25-30; Matt. 18:10-14
Ընթերցուածքներ` Եսայ. Գ 16-Դ 1; Ա Կորնց. Ա 25-30; Մատ. ԺԸ 10-14

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

A few months ago, a good friend of mine purchased a run-down home which he had plans to restore. I offered to help him, especially when it came to the demolishing. As we tore down dry wall and we ripped out the flooring, the more we removed we saw that there were more layers underneath the surface. In fact, this happens quite often. Over the last several years, when Holy Etchmiadzin cathedral was being renovated, and when stones and dry wall was removed, the original, much more intricate designs below the surface were revealed. Things that had been forgotten. And when this happens most of us hesitate thinking maybe there is a reason it was covered up; Maybe we need to stop and just leave things the way they are. In the 1980’s, the Vatican decided that restoration work was needed to be done on Michelangelo’s frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. The world had admired the painting for centuries yet, over time, the paintings had taken on a different character with dark, moody, and somber tones. In fact, art critics began praising the heavy shadows and the deep, melancholic hues, believing Michelangelo intended to show a world weighed down by gravity and gloom. Yet, when the restorers began working, something shocking happened. The dark shadows began to dissolve. Experts publicly begged the Vatican to stop, accusing the restorers of erasing Michelangelo’s masterpiece and destroying the depth of the art. Yet, the chief restorer, who was also a faithful Catholic knew what the critics did not. That Michaelangelo, being a Christian himself, did not paint the Church dark and gloomy. Rather, over the centuries soot from altar candles, grease, and cheap glue applied by previous generations had accumulated. When the cleaning was complete, the chapel erupted in brilliant, vibrant, almost blinding colors—pinks, greens, and bright blues. What the world thought was the destruction of art was actually its salvation.

My dears, how many of us have felt this way when it comes to our faith? We desire to be restored; we desire to grow; yet, as we begin removing what is on the surface, the things that need to be removed from our life we hesitate. We think that perhaps it is better that we leave things the way they are. What if we find something we don’t want to see from our past? And so we might stop or worry and remain blinded from the accumulated soot, gloom, and darkness that has covered our eyes from the truth of God and we think that this is who we are. Yet, my dears, our darkness, our sins, our brokenness, our hurt, our skeletons, our addictions, are not who we were created to be. They are lies, and perversions that the world has convinced us of. In the same way that the master restorer knew he had to keep removing that soot, in the same way, the architects carefully restored Holy Etchmiadzin Cathedral, and in the way expert builders will renovate a home, even when others may argue leave it, the Wisdom of God is greater than what the world says. For that St. Paul says today, “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”

The world my dears tells us to either give up or conform. Why change, we will fail anyway; Why fight it, it’s easier this way; Truth is personal, ignore what others say. Yet, God our Heavenly Father reminds us that we as His children, were created for more than what we see on the surface. That while the world may say what’s the point, God says “we are the point.” That is why Christ came to die for us on the Cross, and through that Cross, God removed the stains, the gloom, the soot, the darkness that blinded us the truth – the love of God. A love that He desires to restore us, to lift us out of our darkness. That is why as the Gospel teaches us today, the shepherd will go out looking for his 1 lost sheep out of the 99. The world says let it be; cut your losses; why change anything. That is the world’s wisdom.

Yet, God’s foolishness is greater than the wisdom of the world. That is why the Cross my dears is foolishness, why God is foolish, why we are foolish. Yet, St. John Chrysostom adds, “For the Cross is a sign of such great power that it did not merely convince men when present, but it even drew them when it was thought to be a symbol of weakness… God did not catch the wise by a grand display of wisdom, but by what seemed to be foolishness.” In other words, by choosing the Cross, God leveled pride, and arrogance, and made His salvation accessible to all through simple, faith, through what other would deem foolish.

My dears, if we have a desire to change, if we want to be restored, then trust the foolishness of God over the wisdom of the world. Repent, meaning turn to Him and God will remove the soot, the darkness and gloom of worldly thinking. Pray for God to give strength to our heart and mind looking beyond the surface. Take up your cross and follow Him. And my dears we will be restored. We will be in Communion with our Heavenly Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We will be foolish to the world but wise in the eye of God. To whom is due all glory and honor, Amen.