1 Corinthians 1:18-2:2
“For the message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.” this passage opens with. And, for those who are not of the faith, it is indeed foolishness. John Chrysostom writes, “the power of the cross is not recognized by those who are perishing, because they are out of their minds and act like madmen, complaining and rejecting the medicines which bring them salvation.” This is a very interesting view on the salvation that the Lord brings. In much the same way as one would go and visit a doctor, and then reject the necessary means prescribed by the doctor to achieve health, so to Jesus, who offers the prescription necessary for salvation, is often shunned by those who think that they know better. And yet, it is those who are most sick and deranged in their lives that most need it. In Luke 5:31, Jesus declares, “they that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick.” See, if we were not in need of the “great physician,” He never would have come to heal us, to give to us the means of our salvation. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who do not believe because it is the denial of the worldly desires and lusts that our nature seeks to gratify. It is a form of abstinence, self control, aided by the Holy Spirit, to resist the temptation to indulge in appetites or desires, desires of the flesh. And to those who are not being saved, that is an undesirable sacrifice. In an era of “you be you,” the idea of denying yourself certain vices seems foolish. And even worse, not only do they not embrace that mentality, but they actually mock and, sometimes, even attack those who do. In Matthew 10:22, Jesus warns us that “you will be hated for my name’s sake.” And in the age of the internet, that has unfortunately become even more and more the case. Peopl are insulted and threatened for adhering to certain doctrines, predominantly because politics have grown to oppose Scriptural ideologies. It seems foolish to be opposed to anything that can bring someone physical pleasure and superficial happiness. And yet, if you look at the numbers, the more society embraces this mentality of physical pleasure and superficial happiness, the higher the suicide rates have grown. In 2022, more than 49.5 thousand people died from suicide, which is 14.2 people per 100,000. To put this in perspective, during the great recession in 2009, that same rate was 11.8 per 100,000. So what happened, where is the joy and happiness of indulging in desires and lusts?
“The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.” And yet, as we move away from that foolishness, it seems people are less and less content with their lives. It’s because the problem is that people are looking the wrong way. They are seeking physical healing for spiritual wounds. There is “something missing” in their souls and they are seeking to fill that hole with worldly passions. It’s like having a hole in your back yard and trying to fill it with water. The water just seeps through the cracks until the ground around it becomes muddy and then you end up with a pool of water surrounded by sludge. And if you try to walk across this hole that’s now filled, you end up drowning.
“But to those who are being saved.” This is of vital importance to note. This statement is written in a present tense. It does not say “to those who are saved.” “To those who are being saved.” This is the process by which the cross transforms us. Currently. It is the process through which Jesus takes us and guides us towards our salvation. Not a one time event. It is the power of God working in us to make us more like Him, thereby leading us into the salvation which He has promised us. All too often, I hear comments like “I’m not perfect, just saved” as an excuse to give in to carnal pleasures. Or, “oh well, I’m forgiven,” to justify taking actions opposed to His guidance. Make no mistake, I am in no way insinuating that any of us is perfect. One is holy, One is pure. However, our goal must be to be as like Him as possible, through His guidance. We are to strive for that, to aim high and miss, instead of aiming low and hitting. If we’re aiming for 100 and only get an 80, that’s much preferable than aiming for a 60 and getting it.
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” This was a quote taken from Isaiah 29, wherein the people were going and praying before God with merely words, teaching the commandments and doctrines of men. It was a reference to false teachings, wherein the teachers, the “wise men,” were teaching only what they desired to teach. They would take a line or two out of context, and make it to mean whatever they desired it to mean. We see this happen all too often, where a pastor grabs one line out of context and warps it to mean what they chose for it to mean, and as educated as they sound in so doing, they are actually the very people that the Lord is referencing here. “Destroy the wisdom of the wise teaching the doctrines of men.” We see this so often in, again, political debates and arguments, but also in homilies where anything political gets brought into it. We see it all throughout the history of the Church, with various doctrines of people who thought that they knew better what the Church was than the Church. It serves as a great warning against Arianism, against, Lutheranism, against Calvinism, against a myriad of heresies which have entered into the Church through a doctrine of man.
“For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness.” The Jews demanded a sign to know that the Messiah had come, and were given one, the cross, which they denied. The Greeks, on the other hand, thought it foolish. “Christ crucified.” The Jews considered it a stumbling block because Christ called Himself the Son of God, and yet refused to observe the Sabbath, heling on the Sabbath day. And to the Greeks, they hear of a virgin birth, the resurrection, and the actual death of God…consider this, God, the all-knowing, all-powerful, assumed human form with human frailties and allowed Himself to be killed on Earth for the salvation of all. None would ever consider that to be a possibility, the death of the All-Powerful. They considered this to be utter foolishness, and yet, He allowed it to happen; showing that He had power even over death itself during the Resurrection, which He in turn offers to all. Using death to overcome death. St Paul write in his letter to the Corinthians, “the natural man does not receive the spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him.” (1 Corinthians 2:14). The knowledge of the Cross consists in the understand of Christ, which St Paul terms the wisdom of God hidden in a mystery that natural man, of his own accord, could not understand. The cross laid bare, the tomb empty, and the direction of how to achieve these things for all who follow Him and believe in Him and His Word. It all seems foolish to those who do not understand.
And yet, “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” St Paul is in no way referring to God as foolish, merely that God’s way of reasoning is in accord with things of the spirit, therefore confounding the reasoning of the world. It is wiser than the wisest of human reasoning because it is dealing directly with the spirit, thus seeming foolish to those who are bound to human wisdom. Similarly, when God appeared in human form and allowed Himself to be killed, it appeared to be a weakness, and yet, as He emerges victorious over death, He shows that even in what appeared to be a weakness, He was stronger than the strongest man. Man can defeat man, only God can defeat death. The two most foolish things in the world refer directly to the virgin birth and the resurrection, two things which seem completely foolish to those of the world. Even the wisest of men and women could never comprehend either of these things, so they deny them instead.
The internet is full of theories of how Mary wasn’t a virgin, of how Jesus wasn’t truly dead, even theories of Jesus never truly existing. Except, even by today’s standards, we have eyewitness testimony. We have eyewitness testimony in writing of His existence, of His miracles, of His resurrection. So how do we know it’s true? Faith. They didn’t have an internet database in Jesus’ time. They didn’t have digital cameras. The only had writing and scribes to keep track of events. They had paintings, instead of photographs. We have, historically speaking, the most up-to-date methods of keeping track of historical events that they had available to them at that time. If we can find a femur and reconstruct an entire animal based on it and use that as proof of the existence of a particular animal, then surely we are bound to accept eyewitness testimony preserved throughout the ages, paintings preserved throughout the ages, as proof of the existence and miracles performed by Jesus. And yet, it’s the wisdom of man that tells us that Dinosaurs did exist, but there’s no way any of the accounts of Jesus are true. It’s that wisdom of something beyond our capability of understanding that we can’t bring ourselves to believe in.
This passage tells us many things. The most important of them all goes back to the first part. It is vital that we believe in Jesus, and that we look to Him as our teacher, our doctor, our role model. Faith is imperative, but it’s a faith that evokes change. We believe that He existed, we believe that He was crucified, we believe that He died for our sins. And we believe that He gave us the “formula” for our salvation. Let us look past the “wisdom of the world” which declares the Gospel to be foolishness, and instead focus on what His teachings taught us. He has given us the key to salvation, to true eternal happiness instead of superficial carnal happiness. We have to remember that “the message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved, it is the power of God.” It is the power to overcome the temptations of the world, and instead find our true sanctuary in Him. It is the power to look at all the world has to offer and say, by His grace, “no, this is what He says, and I’m trusting Him.”
As we go into Pascha (Easter, for my Western brethern), let us fully embrace that fact. The fact that He assumed human form so that He could die and display that even death has no power over Him, that He is greater than death itself. And He offers that to us. Through His ways, through His sacrifice on the cross for our salvation. May we strive to live as He lived, looking to Him as what we were meant to be originally.
Glory to Jesus Christ.
Tag: jesus
How Do We React?
Deuteronomy 10:12-22
So we see in this passage the Lord speaking to His people, and reiterating to them what it means to walk in the Lord. It is important to note that at this time, many felt as though adhering strictly to the Law was the means unto salvation. I touched yesterday on the importance of the Law, even now; however, this was (as stated) in no way a means to secure our salvation. And let us look at exactly what is stated here. “what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul.” This is such an important statement, because it shows the purpose of the Law. The purpose of the Law isn’t to legastically read down a checklist of dos and don’ts. Rather, the purpose of the Law is solely to serve as a guide, to teach us how He expects us to be. The law serves to paint the picture of what perfect Theosis would look like, and also serves to humble us, as only one has ever been able to perfectly adhere to the Law. It serves to strengthen our faith by reminding us that without Him, we are truly unworthy. It also serves to give us goals to work towards, things we should actively try to avoid, and to remind us of the need for repentance when we fall short. Faith in the act of repentance, in the sacrament of confession, is where we are forgiven. But, by what lines would we know that we are in need of these blessed sacraments in absentia of the Law. He states “to keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today for your good” (vs 13). Predominantly from a spiritual, however in some aspects a secular way as well, the law serves for our greater good, as a guideline for things we should and shouldn’t do. Drinking in excess is poor for us spiritually as we often make very bad judgments when intoxicated, however, it also weakens our bodies physically. It leads to many ailments which could easily be avoided by moderation. Gluttony also is poor for us spiritually, and at the same time leads to many health conditions, which inn our day and age we usually turn to medications to aid with. There has been an influx of late of doctors writing prescriptions for medications to aid in weight loss due to these many health complications, and yet simply by avoiding gluttony, most of those cases could be cured without pharmacia.
We have to remember, God needs nothing that we can give Him. In the Old Testament, He didn’t need the sacrifices, He doesn’t need our repentance, He doesn’t need anything that we can give Him. He requires them for our own sake. He requires the laws be followed for our own good, for our own spiritual and physical health. This fact alone proves His own sincere love for us. In much the same way a parent wouldn’t want their children doing something that could be harmful to them, likewise our Father wants the same for us, His children. When He bids us to love Him, He in turn most of all shows His love for us. He wants nothing for us beyond that which is beneficial for us, and becomes very strict when we take that love, that caring, for granted. He will forgive us for anything, so long as we show true remorse for disrespeting His wishes for us. It is when we fall into the same sin repeatedly and have no remorse for doing so that we invoke His anger. It is when we fall into drunken lust on Friday night, apologize Saturday evening, and then return to the same bar Saturday night that He holds us accountable for it.
The Scripture goes on to warn us to “circumcise the foreskin of your heart” (vs 16). The foreskin is the skin that protects from allowing anything into the body. It’s important to note the medical purpose of that before diving into this statement. To circumcise the foreskin of the heart means to get rid of that block that won’t allow anything in. To not harden our hearts and block Him out, bearing in mind that one of the requirements is to love Him. We have to be willing to open our hearts to Him and to His love, and then He will begin to work with us. This goes to strike against those who would be unwilling to love Him, or to let Him in, be they pagan, or atheist, or any other faith or lack thereof. To open our hearts and love Him allows us to serve Him with all our hearts and souls (vs 12). We have to remember that He doesn’t command anything of us out of megalomania, He has given us free will so that we are not merely His slaves, He wants us to love Him in the same way that He loves us. And again, it reiterates that there is nothing that we can give Him that He would possibly need. Vs 17 serves to remind us that He will not take a bribe and shows no partiality. Each of us is equally able to receive His love and give our love in return. Jew, Gentile, Greek, Russian, American, there is no one group that he would show prefernce to; likewise, however, there is no ticket to Heaven that we can purchase, be it through finance or adherence to laws written on tablets or paper. We have to fully and willingly receive Him, embrace His expectations, and strive our best to connect with Him, not because our parents or pastors or priests tell us to, but because we truly want to.
Moses goes on to then explain what this life looks like. “He shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. He administers justice for the resident alien, the fatherless, the widow, and loves the resident alien giving him food and clothing.” He then goes on to admonish them, stating “therefore, love the resident aliens, for you were resident aliens in the land of Egypt.” Most likely not Egypt, but, I think that this statement would truly apply to our generation just as well. Very few people’s lineages are native to the land that they currently reside in. Especially here in America, the majority of us are from other nationalities if we trace our lineage back. I personally can attest to this. I was born in America, but am only three generations away from my ancestors being aliens migrating to this country. And Moses paints this perfect picture of what it means to be a follower of God, to care for the alien, the fatherless, the widow; to take care of and stand up for those who society would rather put down than embrace. To feed the homeless, to care for the orphans, to go above and beyond to help anyone in need; and not because you feel guilty about it, not because you are told in the Scripture that you’re supposed to; but because you sincerely love them enough that you WANT to help them. If your sister came to you asking for help because she was about to lose her house and her and her kids would be out on the street, you’d do anything you could to help her. Well, we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, and it’s not our job to judge how they got into their situation, only to see our brother needing help and helping him, to see our sister hurting and helping her. Are they worthy of that help? It’s not for us to judge that, especially knowing how often we have been undeserving of help and still getting it. I’m not worthy of salvation, but I trust in our God that through His help, I’ll get to a point where I am rewarded with it. While the goal of doing this isn’t salvation, it’s to be closer to God, more like Him; the Kingdom is a great reward.
Yes, this passage is from the Old Testament, and I fear that those books have been overlooked far too frequently in recent years. To serve the Lord means to worship Him, and in so doing you can not sever the ties between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The council of Nicea established that there was never a time when any part of the Holy Trinity wasn’t. Thus, when we read the Holy Scripture, whether it’s the Book of Ephesians, the Book of Matthew, the Book of Tobit, or the Wisdom of Sirach, we have to keep in mind that any reference to “the Lord your God” is in fact a reference to the Holy Trinity. And when the Son came, he didn’t come down with an eraser to eradicate the Old Testament. There are many things contained there in that will help us draw closer to the Lord our God.
We have to always remember that we are called to be disciples of the Lord, we are called to try to be like Him, to have faith in Him, to follow Him, to love Him and to obey Him. Books like Deuteronomy paint the perfect picture of what that would truly look like. To love Him, to embrace Him, to do whatever we can to try to be like Him. He loves all of us, who are we to not do the same? Who are we to tell Him that He’s wrong, that the homeless person doesn’t deserve our love? If we do that, we are only proving one thing, that there is someone who isn’t deserving of it, and it’s not the homeless person. Saying we deserve it and they don’t is pride; getting angry at them/sick of seeing people begging, or blaming them for being in their situation, that’s wrath; refusing to give to them because we won’t be able to afford Starbucks, that’s greed. We have to be mindful of what we’re doing, and is it the same as the One that we’re called to follow would do?
If you were to meet Mary Magdalene, how would you treat her? What would you think if you met someone just like she was before she met Jesus? Would you be willing to help her, to feed her? Ask yourself sincerely, and then look to the Scripture to see how Jesus responded.
Glory to Jesus Christ
Faith and Works
Faith and Works (Gal 3:8-12; John 8:35-39)
Justified by Faith. It’s a statement that so many of us have heard and argued about ad nauseum. Are we justified by faith alone, by works alone, by works through faith; how exactly do we do this and moreso, what does the answer look like in our personal and spiritual lives? From today’s reading, we ascertain an interesting perspective, beginning with St Paul’s letter to the Galatians. We actually need to begin with his previous statement in vs 6, though. “(6)Just as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. (7)Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. (8)And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying ‘In you, all nations shall be blessed.’ (9) So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.” This passage alone offers a lot of insight into the doctrine set forth concerning our calling. Many overlook the importane of the Old Testament in modern Christianity, claiming that Jesus erased the law with His coming, but that’s not what the Scripture tells us here. The “sons of Abraham” here are true Christians. The Jews saw Abraham as their father, but here, St Paul shows that Abraham’s righteousness here does not in fact come from keeping the law, but rather from his belief in God. “Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” It was through his faith that he attained to that level of righteousness. However, that’s not to say that the law is in no way relevant at this point. In John 8:37-39, Jesus stands before the Jews, who are condemning Him, and states, “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill me, because My word has no place in you…” to which they responded, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus’ reply is vital here, He states, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But you seek to kill Me now, because I have told you the truth.”He calls them out stating that by their actions, they can not be the sons of Abraham, because they weren’t following what Abraham had put out for them to do. In Luke, we see Jesus again teaching “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in in what is least is unjust also in much.” What we see between these two passages is that Abraham, who believed in the law, was not made rightful by the law, but by his faith, by his belief. And yet, those who proclaimed themselves to be the sons of Abraham were proven wrong by the fact of their actions not aligning with the teachings of Abraham. So, that begs the question, if Abraham believed the law and yet was found righteous because of his faith and not his adherence to the law, does that mean that the law doesn’t matter? It would seem that this would lend to faith being the only trait of salvation. And yet, the way that they could tell that the Jews were not “sons of Abraham” because of their actions. In his letter, St Paul quotes, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” He goes on to state that “no one is justified by the law in the sight of God for the ‘just shall live by faith.’ Yet the law is not of faith, but ‘THE MAN WHO DOES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM.'” It’s important here to note, St Paul, who is writing to the Galatians, is writing to those who had embraced the true faith and then slowly slid back into the laws of Judaism. While the works of the law are good, simply keeping the law alone will not make someone righteous. Even on the Jews on premise, no one has ever kept all of the laws, thus their entire theology would implode on itself. “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law…that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” (Eph 3:13-14). So, between the two, we seem to have a contradiction. In John, we see that the Jews were being judged based on their actions, that they were not consistent with what Abraham had taught, and even moreso, we are told that Abraham himself was made righteous by his belief. And yet, Jesus was able to tell that they were not of the same belief through their actions. St Paul, writing to the Gentiles who were slipping into the Jews belief in the law completely puts asunder the idea of following and maintaining the law, stating that no one is made righteous through the works of the law itself. The Judaizers, further, believed that they were progressing towards perfection through attempted obedience to the law, and yet Paul is arguing that it is only through the promise of the Spirit through faith that this can be attained. So, how can we apply this, in our terms? Obedience to the law will not make us righteous, salvation comes through faith in Christ, and the way to tell if someone truly has faith is through similarity of the works of the law with faith. Ultimately, it comes down to this question, what is faith? If faith is just saying “I believe,” then it evokes no change, no actions to partake of. To believe is a necessity, but to truly believe will evoke change. To have faith is to fully trust, and to fully trust is to believe when you are told something. See, in our generation, we tend to break things down into simplicity. We want everything to be black or white, good or bad. But that’s not the way faith works. Nowhere in the Scriptures does it say that you will have a great life here, that you will prosper, that you’ll be popular. Actually, it states the exact opposite. It states that if you have true faith, you will be hated. Matthew 10:22-23 warns us that “you will be hated for my name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in this city, flee to another.” This is not something that woud be relevant if it meant simply stating “I believe,” unless it evoked change in your lifestyle. Then would you be hated because you wouldn’t be like everyone else. When the apostles were sent out on the great commission, they weren’t told to “go out and get a bunch of people to say they believe,” they were told to “go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” Disciple is literally translated as “one who embraces and assists in spreading the teachings of another, an active adherent.” To truly have faith in Jesus is to become a disciple of Jesus, per the great commission. It is to become, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, an active adherent to His teachings. Having faith is to allow the Holy Spirit to enter you and make those changes which Jesus has required of His disciples. To embrace the teachings of the Father, which will evoke change in the actions that you assume to undertake. Remembering that the Jews stated that they believed, that they were the “sons of Abraham,” but by their actions Jesus could tell that they were sons of the adversary instead. Seeking the death of the Son, in spite of His fulfilling of all of the prophecies laid out in the Torah, they said that they believed, but their actions told another story. Is it through faith or through works? Yes. It is through faith that we are able to acquire the intercessions and prayers of all the saints. It is through faith that we are able to attain the Holy Spirit. It is through faith that we are able to attain those things necessary to allow us to obey the works, the actions, necessary for us to attain to theosis. To feed the hungry, to give to the poor, to love one another, to put God first in our lives. To help one another. It is these and many other actions which don’t come naturally to a fallen people which are indicitive of the presence of the Holy Spirit. It isn’t just works, or adherence to a written law, which anyone could attempt to do on their own; neither though is it simply believing that God exists. It is the combination of doing good works as an “active adherent” to the teachings of our Lord. It is becoming a true disciple, which requires faith, especially in tough times, to cling to those teachings. It is to truly “repent, and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:15). And to repent means to begin again, to put aside all those things which go against the teachings of the Father. Not just to say “oops, I’m sorry,” but to truly change. To truly abide by the lessons given us in the Gospel, and put those teachings to action in our lives. It is to do works, through Faith and the teachings of the Father, as well as the holy fathers of the Church. To make changes in your life, to take on certain works, in absentia of faith, will not lead us into salvation. We’re not meant to be slaves. To simply say you believe, or even deep down to actually believe, in absentia of the works and changes spoken of in the Scripture, also will not lead us to salvation. It is the combination of the two, it is becoming a disciple, an active adherent, to His teachings. It is works through faith, it is faith that leads to works, it is an active faith that leads us to truly repent, to change, and live the life that He has set out for us. In much the way as the Jews claimed to believe, but through their works, it was obvious that they didn’t, so also is the inverse true. If you’re just checking boxes on a checklist with no faith, then also will you not find what you’re looking for. Faith and discipleship must evoke works, but the two must be intertwined. Neither alone is enough.
Seeking the Hidden Fountain 