This past Friday was the Feast of the Dormition and Assumption of Mary. Indeed the dormition and assumption of she whose title is Blessed Mary, Ever-Virgin, and she whose title also is Theotokos, which is Greek for “Mother of God,” sometimes translated as “Bearer of God.” It has been a view widely held across the Church both east and west from the early centuries that Mary, at the end of the course of her earthly life, fell asleep in the Lord, and was taken by the Lord into heaven. That she fell asleep in the Lord is what “dormition” means. That she was taken by the Lord into heaven is what “assumption” means.

And how could it be any other way? For we know that Moses fell asleep in the Lord, had his own dormition, for the Lord even buried Moses; and we know that Elijah on a fiery chariot was taken up into heaven, had himself an assumption, by means, Scripture tells us, of a whirlwind. If God did this for them, then it is most fitting to do with the woman who gave birth to His Son. And as the Church firmly believes that Mary is alive in heaven, so does the Church hold Moses and Elijah to be alive in heaven. We know, even, that both were alive during the years Christ walked the earth in His human body, for both Moses and Elijah were present with Jesus Christ when Christ was transfigured before Saint Peter, Saint James, and Saint John on the mount. Those three Saints beheld not only Christ transfigured, which is itself enough of an unveiled mystery. They also beheld Moses and Elijah in their heavenly existence. Indeed, both showed what eternal salvation seems to look like: within the cloud of holiness, with Jesus Christ. This is eternal salvation, briefly unveiled from its mysteriousness. Yet there is more to say. And so it is to this great mystery of salvation that we turn today.

In considering first our Epistle from Saint Paul, we are well to recall his most pithy teaching on the mystery of salvation. This is found in Philippians 2.12 with these words: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” With awe, wonder, and trembling, take up your salvation, he tells the Church. Now, “salvation” means health, specifically it means spiritual health. Thus Paul’s pithy, but essential, teaching is: “Work on your spiritual health, and do so with awe, wonder, and trembling before God.” Salvation in heaven begins with working towards spiritual health in this life.

Paul has more to teach us in our Epistle. Paul tells us that while the children of Israel ate of the same spiritual food, and drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ, nevertheless with most of them God was not pleased. God was not pleased because most of the children of Israel suffered from idolatry, sexual immorality, and disobedience. God showed great tolerance for their sinfulness. God knows our human condition, for He is our creator. Paul as well emphasizes that God does know that we face temptations, and that God allows us to face temptations, to learn to endure them and to learn how to choose God.

What Paul intriguingly presents in this passage as the remedy for our salvation is the Eucharist. The process of working out and towards spiritual health is work that is done as we receive the Eucharist, week in and week out. He says, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” We find salvation, we find spiritual health, by means of the Eucharist, of Holy Communion, by means of receiving Christ’s precious Body and Blood. Receiving the Eucharist, for Paul, is not an option, but necessary for finding spiritual health. And again, eternal salvation in heaven begins with us receiving the Eucharist in this life. Being regular in receiving the Eucharist is part of our labor and work. Yet there is more to say.

Our Lord’s teaching on salvation is shrouded in mystery, and rather cryptic, because it is told as a parable, and parables are often cryptic. In this parable of the shrewd servant, the servant cheats his master to make friends with the tenants. And, Jesus said, “The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness.” We would expect the master not to do so. Yet Our Lord’s parable finds light in the darkness, and teaches righteousness through an example of iniquity. It seems that the point of this parable is that the children of Light, that is, the members of the Church, should consider their salvation as much a real matter, to be contended and struggled for, as the children of this world do their worldly goals of wealth, fame, and possessions. The seriousness with which the dishonest servant takes his cheating is an exact description of what God expects of the children of light, in order to obtain a far more important, an infinitely greater, and more noble object, and that is, to root out of the heart our sinful ways.

And so, again, eternal salvation involves our work and our labors in this life to uproot out of our heart anything that gets in the way of our love of God revealed in Jesus Christ. We do this work and labor by cooperating with the grace of the Eucharist – of Christ in us, sacramentally – and by keeping commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, which He gave us as the gift of Himself in His Passion, Death, and Resurrection. We are to love God and love our neighbor like Christ loves us, and our work is to replace our unholy habits with holy habits that render our love for God and neighbor so robust that in our love, people see Jesus Christ Himself. Therefore towards our end which is heaven, and eternal salvation with Christ, let us indeed work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. The Eucharist and our keeping of Christ’s word and commandments enable us to do all such good works as God has prepared for us to walk in, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Who gave Himself for us and for our salvation; He Who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

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