Chapter 20

Sermon on the Twentieth Sunday After Trinity

(Luke 7:2-17)

In the three years and several months that Jesus Christ went from town to town, from the hamlets in the hills of Judea to the city of Jerusalem, not having a place to rest his weary head, but resting at whatever place offered by the chance of circumstance, without inconveniencing any of His followers or neighbors (do we not find Him asleep in a fisherman’s boat?), or feeding on what is offered Him by the love of His disciples or the good women who followed Him in much significant silence and humility, He went preaching the commandment of love, the Word of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, doing good to all sorts of people that He came in contact with, and helping in one way or another the vast multitude that was so sorely in need of help and— at that, in want of the Only Helper who was able to assist them once and forever in their several strange conditions, and One whom it seems many waited for,—He, on one occasion, had just come into the town of Capernaum, when a Roman military officer, whose confidential servant was dying, sent a delegation of the elders of the Jews, beseeching Jesus that He would come and heal his servant. Seeing the great faith in this Gentile, He would prove it to the stiff-necked Jews, for their instruction, because they could not perceive it in its luster of natural simplicity; and so Jesus dismissed them; and they that were sent, returning to the house, found the servant whole that had been sick. The Redeemer does not stop here; He stays not to enjoy the praise of the inhabitants of Capernaum. St. Luke tells us, that on the very next day after, He went into a city called Nain. The same evangelist tells us that many of His disciples went with Him, and much people. As a weary traveler He goes along the dusty road, seeking another opportunity, going into another city to glorify His Heavenly Father, to benefit His fellow-men, fulfilling His mission of redeeming the world from sin, death, and the Devil. Now, when He came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city were with her. And when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not! How fortunate for the poor widow that Jesus Christ came nigh to the gate of the city at the very moment when they carried out her dead and only boy! Yes, Jesus Christ is ever ready to be there at the very moment; there, where His consolation is needed He is always there, where His help is wanted. How many of us are in need of such comforting words! Some among us mourn the loss of dear ones. There are such ones even whose hearts seem to be shriveled to naught from suffering; and it may follow, that they will mourn other losses ere long. But the loving Jesus says, Weep not! The power exercised on earth by the God-man was delivered—not stintedly, but gifted freely and wholly—to His Church; and over the expanse of ages this same voice bears the sweet words of comfort to us Christians: Weep not, for I am the Way and the Life; and to convince the coarse Jewish multitude, which it seems could never satisfy its sinful hunger for outward signs or miracles appealing to the eyes of flesh, and having compassion on them as well as on the widow, whose only son was dead, Jesus came and touched the bier: and they that bare the dead stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, arise! And by His touch and command the living soul reanimated that form of dead matter, and again housed in its narrow sphere, and I might say, as a holy man had said before, its prison. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And He delivered him to his mother. There was something in the serene countenance of this Teacher, who walked with the common people as freely as He could sit with the chief scribes of Judea, a something in the simple country-habited, long-haired Nazarene, who spake great things through one of His glances, so majestic in their silence, that compelled them who bare the dead to stand still. But when the corpse became a living man, there came a fear on all; and they glorified God, saying, that a great prophet is risen up among us; and, that God hath visited His people.

Who should glorify God more than we? Was not a great prophet risen, had not Christ himself come, that we should be Christian? Hath not God visited His people that He should abide in us? For now He verily lives in His Church as He once walked with Adam and Eve in Paradise. Yes, beloved Christians, we should be deeply grateful to God for all His works, whether we comprehend them or not, and humble ourselves before the greatness of His glory, and with low and meek hearts pray Him to enlighten our understanding: Blessed art Thou, Lord: teach me Thy justifications. When we attentively listen to what is read or sung in the church, then we are the more readily prepared to praise the Lord in a right sense, as the Spirit of God breathes in all the expressions of Christ’s Church. Let us illustrate an instance, by recalling to your memory the words you heard here a few weeks ago, at the exaltation of the cross. Let us attend “This day, the Master of Creatures, and Lord of Glory is nailed to a cross and pierced in the side; He, who is the sweetness of the Church, tastes gall and vinegar; He, who adorns the firmament with clouds, is crowned with a wreath of thorns; He, who created man, is smitten by a perishable hand; He is spit upon; He is buffeted and he suffers all for the sake of me who am condemned, my Redeemer and God, that He may save the world from seduction, as he is the Merciful One.” Cannot such words of the church-service fill a Christian with a sorrow that is unto salvation, with gratitude for the great goodness and wonderful condescension of the Most High, and also with joy for now being able, in a measure, to understand the Supreme Being? Anything rather than believe in miracles at the close of the nineteenth century; I, and you yourselves, have heard this saying of the world. The world sees no miracles — repels, not only the very enthusiasm, but it sometimes is a stumbling-block, even before serene, spiritual reflection — which might work them. “Give a positive sign,” the world says, “and I, in spite of new theories, will believe.” The answer to such a request was spoken long ago by the Saviour himself: A faithless and perverse generation asketh for a sign, and no sign shall be given it. Where there is no possibility of a miracle of the mind, or of the heart, there is no possibility of a miracle to satisfy the wavering vision of flesh.

Unbelievers often think, or they seem to be anxious to have others think, that they have gained an important point when they wrongly take upon themselves a self-imposed duty of tormenting Christians with such questions as this one: “Why do we not see miracles now?” But if you explain why, which the Christian, with God’s help, may do, the unbeliever’s reason will not be able to grasp the subject in its entity, and his stone heart will not be moved, as the stiff necks of the Jews did not bend, when, instead of the distinct commands of that imperious, awful voice on the quaking, fiery Mount Sinai, the very Love of God itself came to them, gently knocking at the doors of their hearts — in the person of the crucified Messiah. For the true Christian, there is no necessity for an answer to this question; he observes, almost daily, the supernatural phenomena working independently and apart from the machinery of the periodical course of natural events, and glorifies the God that doeth wonders. The good Christian can be likened unto a candle whose flame burns steadily; but he knows that no one is perfect but God, that he is dependent upon God’s grace for steadfastness in the faith, and he does not despair if his flame of light should now and then flutter in the wind of trials and temptations, but he prays to God the more fervently, yea, until, under the heat of battle, the very material of the candle is no more, and his whole existence is offered up to God as a holocaust. Furthermore, the orthodox Christian is conscious of the fact that sometimes we do not see miracles, or we see or hear of them rarely, either because they are invisible to us, as unworthy of trust, or because they are not even accomplished, on account of the doubts we sometimes allow to enter our minds. How can the Word preached to us work miracles in us, when our heart, like a field wild with tares, is thickly sown with idle words, and overgrown by carnal desires and unlawful thoughts? How can the sacraments work miracles in us, if we approach them but out of absolute necessity, without a careful previous purification, without an ardent aspiration to be united to God? The Apostle Paul, convicting the Corinthians of an unworthy communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, concludes: For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep; that is, many are struck with sudden death for insulting holy things. I think that unto some of us it is already a miracle of divine mercy if on such occasions we are not visited with similar punishments. It is not so surprising that the infidel will not perceive the power of God’s grace in His Church, as it is, when he will not see the hand of the Creator in all the natural, outward beauty of the universe. Yet the Church, as the Bride of Christ, is unchangeable — as her Lord. The Church shall continue unto the end of time as liveth her Eternal Head. He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; said Jesus Christ. And in truth, the deeds of an Elias, a Moses, the works of a Peter, a Paul, and the wonders of a Panteleimon, a Nicholas, are not a strange thing in the Holy Orthodox Church. The like is repeated again and again in the Church, whether you see it or not. You must remember that the Kingdom of God cometh not with observation. Some generations after our day the Church on earth may read the records of and treasure the memory of holy lives and mighty deeds accomplished in our day, if not here, then somewhere else, and of which most of us have not the slightest knowledge (?). True miracle-workers do not like to make a show of the miracles. For Jesus Christ Himself, the chief and most perfect type of miracle-workers, who came upon earth that men should know through Him the saving, miracle-working power of God, who, working openly for the sake of divine glory, had no need to guard Himself against the temptations of human glory, possessing against this temptation divine power and glory, and yet seemingly He not so much revealed as hid His miracle-working power. Now, to return to the words of to-day’s Gospel. When we are obliged to bury our loved ones, let us be comforted; weep not, says Jesus, for they are not lost to us, for— if they died in communion with the Church— they are still in the fold of Christ. Shall we be selfish and tempt the already boundless mercy of God, which many of us cannot understand, and desire to have all things just to suit ourselves, instead of bowing in submission to the all-wise providence of God? Is it not even now a miracle of divine charity that, being in communion with Christ’s Church, and partaking of the same unbloody sacrifice of the body and blood of the Son of God, to which the departed souls look forward, some with anxiety and some with joy, as to an offering on their behalf, an offering most acceptable to the Heavenly Father, that we are in communion with them? And likewise that we shall again see our fathers and brethren; also the orthodox that lie here and everywhere, who have gone to their rest before us? For all Thy great mercies and unspeakable love we give thanks to Thee, our God— The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, to whom be all glory, honor, and worship unto the ages of ages. Amen.