OrthoAnalytika

Why did Christ pick a Samaritan as the Hero in this story?Homily on St. Luke 10:25-37 

We know this lesson; we’ve heard it so many times! Perhaps you want to “test out of” this homily?  We know that the Parable of the Good Samaritan teaches us that we need to have the courage and compassion to love all people that are in need; even those who are different than ourselves. We even get extra points for knowing the symbols in the story that point to the salvific power of the Church.  This lesson on compassion for all provides a necessary corrective! Our instincts betray us.  Our fallen post-Babel psychology is tribal, with many of our moral standards defined by differences between “us” and “them” rather than need.

But if that was the main point, why not make the Samaritan the one on the roadside and an ordinary Jew the one that helps him? Then the Jews listening to him would have known that they should love and help Samaritans, not just other Jews.  Surely that would have been a more effective way to teach compassion towards the “other.”  But Christ is the Great Teacher and scripture is a reliable guide to His teaching.  Whenever we read something in the Bible that seems off, it is time for us to learn something new and unexpected.  After all, as St. Paul wrote to Timothy;

All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.  (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

So let’s look a little deeper and see if we can learn why it was that the Lord Jesus has a Samaritan saving a Jew, rather than the other way around.

1) First off, this parable continued a theme that Jesus returned to often. He had a lot of patience for everyone but the hypocritical leaders of the Jews, those who knew what the greatest commandments of the Law were (love God and love your neighbor), but refused to follow them. Contrasting the men that were held up as the “best of the best” with a lowly Samaritan showed that much of their behavior was was ungodly and to shame them towards repentance.

2) But wait, there’s more: the parable was designed to do more than shame the religious leaders, it was designed to shame all of the listeners; to point out that their own behavior would have been just as despicable as that of the priest and the Levite. Jesus was basically saying; “this is what your leaders would have done in this situation ... and you would have been tempted to do the same.” It wasn't necessary to put an ordinary Jew in the parable; two points make a line. They themselves were part of that line.  Jesus had already described the line by describing the usual behavior of the men who were supposed to be the “best of the best.” These are the two points that make that line. The Jews would have seen that they are part of that line.

But Christ is not just bringing attention to the immorality of the Jews; He was describing the fallen psychology of all mankind (the “old man”, “Adam”) in general. Mankind (the “old man”, Adam) was caught in a rut – he was not virtuous. He was not courageous. He was too willing to define virtue based on what other people did or expected rather than on what virtue actually requires. It would take something jarring to get them to see this and to change. This parable is jarring. It goes against expectations.

The Samaritan in the parable is virtuous not because of who he is (i.e. the box society put in) but because of what he does; just as the priest and the Levite are cowardly and mean not because of who they are (i.e. the box society has put them in) but because of their actions.  For a tribal people, this undermined the natural and expected order.  And that disruption was necessary because that natural and expected order was ungodly and wrong.

3) There is a more subtle theological point that the Church would have us remember. The Samaritan is an outsider. It is an outsider, one who is only half-Jew – or half-man, as it were – that heals the dying man. The Orthodox Church teaches that the Samaritan in the parable represents Christ. He is counter-posed to the Jewish priest and Levite in the parable not just because He is also different – He is both fully man and fully God – but because He is the only one who can bring healing to the brokenness of humanity. As a good and virtuous man, He – unlike the Jewish leaders of His time – had the will to save all mankind; and as the All-Powerful God, He also had the power to do it. The Jewish law and temple worship that the Priest and Levite offer and lead cannot heal the wounds of mankind the way that Christ can. He is more than our High Priest, He is Christ our God, the Savior of the world.

[This theological point becomes even more powerful when we add in the fact that Christ is the New Adam, the new "mankind" if you will; and we are to climb out of our rut by joining Him as part of the new mankind, as part of the new Adam, the new mankind, the Church with Him as its head (for these are all the same thing) with all the grace, responsibility, and power that this represents].

In Conclusion, our psychology is the same as that of Christ's audience. We are called to be virtuous; to be courageous and caring, even when the world is not. But we have more than parables and Christ's example and teaching to help us. He is the source of all virtue and healing, and we are His body. If we accept Him as our God, then it is His virtue that defines us and His healing power that flows through our loving actions. But there is even more: we are still fallen and our psychology is still the same: for instance, we still look to others to see what the right behavior is. The parish, like the family, is called to be a community that is defined by its virtue and charity; the examples that we set for one another naturally create a community that is good. Moreover, our community then sets the example – becomes the leaven for – the entire nation and the world itself.

 May God strengthen us as we live virtuous lives in Christ; for the good of our families, our parish, our nation, and the world.

Our Faith: Orthodox Christianity

Asceticism III: on Mysteries, Love, and Silence

Review.  We have been called to a great purpose.  In Christ it is possible.  We need Him to be saved; we need Him to live the kind of lives we were meant to live.  Lives of meaning and contented peace.  Lives free of spiritual disease.  Christ has the medicine that heals what truly ails us, but we need to have a relationship with Him to receive it. In the case of normal doctors, the mechanisms are things like conversation, prescriptions, and a healing touch. Through these, our relationship with our doctor gives us the opportunity for greater health. Christ is our Great Physician; what does a relationship with Him bring to us? What is the medicine He shares with us? Is it “work” to take the medicine?

• The Medicine of the Mysteries. This may be the easiest one for us to see.  They look like medicine!
• The Medicine of Love. This isn’t just the way God heals others, it is how He heals us!
• The Medicine of Silence. Silent prayer is a test of our spiritual state and, done correctly, can be part of its healing.

We are sick. Our minds have become warped. We confuse our will with God’s and make an idol of our pride. We need to heal our minds. We cannot do this by reading books, even the right ones (although we can certainly make things worse by reading the wrong ones). Nor can we simply “try harder” to be good. Both of these simply act as offerings to our pride, trying to make it stronger so that it can overcome everything else. What we need to do is to quiet that pride and lower the mind to Christ. Hesychasm. God in us. Quiet. Peace. Restores truth and beauty to the center of our lives with the mind in its proper place as the executive of this beauty and truth.

So how do we achieve this peace? First, we have to immerse yourself in the Mysteries of the Church and you have to dedicate yourself to selfless love of and service to your neighbor (to include you spouses, your parents, your children, and even those people who unjustly seek to do you wrong). Next, you have to develop and follow a prayer rule. Spending five-ten minutes each evening and morning in prayer over an extended period of time is a prelude or warm-up for the way of silence.

The problem of thoughts – and the difficulty of finding silence. It’s hard, but you certainly won’t find it if you don’t try! And if you don’t, there is a real risk that the other two modes – being religious and being nice – will become distractions, taking us right back to where we were at the beginning of the story.

Which is why, my dear brothers and sisters, we need to develop the tools to bring peace to our lives and to those around us. “The creation waits with eager longing for the sons of God… because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God.” (Romans 8:19&21)

“Suppose you read about a pill that you could take once a day to reduce anxiety and increase your contentment. Would you take it? Suppose further that the pill has a great variety of side effects, all of them good: increased self-esteem, empathy, and trust; it even improves memory. Suppose, finally, that the pill is all natural and costs nothing. Now would you take it? The pill exists. It’s called meditation.”~ Jonathan Haidt from The Happiness Hypothesis

How do you meditate?

• What brings you peace? What quiets your mind?  
• Meditation (silent prayer) is not just for monks. It is for US!  The ones who need peace.
• Set yourself up for success.
  • Quiet comfortable place.
  • No distractions (your mind will provide plenty!)
• Deep breathing. Why?  I use an app to train me for this.
• Match the words of your prayer to the movement of your breath.
• Periodically check your shoulders and relax(!)

Don’t get frustrated or upset or worry if you cannot keep focused on these prayers for very long.  If you make this a regular part of your daily ritual, you will train your mind for peace. In times when you are losing your calm, a couple of deep breaths will be enough to bring you back to yourself.

Questions?                                                                   

Next Week: The Rhythms of Life and Worship

Our Faith: Orthodox Christianity

Asceticism III: on Mysteries, Love, and Silence

Review.  We have been called to a great purpose.  In Christ it is possible.  We need Him to be saved; we need Him to live the kind of lives we were meant to live.  Lives of meaning and contented peace.  Lives free of spiritual disease.  Christ has the medicine that heals what truly ails us, but we need to have a relationship with Him to receive it. In the case of normal doctors, the mechanisms are things like conversation, prescriptions, and a healing touch. Through these, our relationship with our doctor gives us the opportunity for greater health. Christ is our Great Physician; what does a relationship with Him bring to us? What is the medicine He shares with us? Is it “work” to take the medicine?

• The Medicine of the Mysteries. This may be the easiest one for us to see.  They look like medicine!
• The Medicine of Love. This isn’t just the way God heals others, it is how He heals us!
• The Medicine of Silence. Silent prayer is a test of our spiritual state and, done correctly, can be part of its healing.

We are sick. Our minds have become warped. We confuse our will with God’s and make an idol of our pride. We need to heal our minds. We cannot do this by reading books, even the right ones (although we can certainly make things worse by reading the wrong ones). Nor can we simply “try harder” to be good. Both of these simply act as offerings to our pride, trying to make it stronger so that it can overcome everything else. What we need to do is to quiet that pride and lower the mind to Christ. Hesychasm. God in us. Quiet. Peace. Restores truth and beauty to the center of our lives with the mind in its proper place as the executive of this beauty and truth.

So how do we achieve this peace? First, we have to immerse yourself in the Mysteries of the Church and you have to dedicate yourself to selfless love of and service to your neighbor (to include you spouses, your parents, your children, and even those people who unjustly seek to do you wrong). Next, you have to develop and follow a prayer rule. Spending five-ten minutes each evening and morning in prayer over an extended period of time is a prelude or warm-up for the way of silence.

The problem of thoughts – and the difficulty of finding silence. It’s hard, but you certainly won’t find it if you don’t try! And if you don’t, there is a real risk that the other two modes – being religious and being nice – will become distractions, taking us right back to where we were at the beginning of the story.

Which is why, my dear brothers and sisters, we need to develop the tools to bring peace to our lives and to those around us. “The creation waits with eager longing for the sons of God… because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God.” (Romans 8:19&21)

“Suppose you read about a pill that you could take once a day to reduce anxiety and increase your contentment. Would you take it? Suppose further that the pill has a great variety of side effects, all of them good: increased self-esteem, empathy, and trust; it even improves memory. Suppose, finally, that the pill is all natural and costs nothing. Now would you take it? The pill exists. It’s called meditation.”~ Jonathan Haidt from The Happiness Hypothesis

How do you meditate?

• What brings you peace? What quiets your mind?  
• Meditation (silent prayer) is not just for monks. It is for US!  The ones who need peace.
• Set yourself up for success.
  • Quiet comfortable place.
  • No distractions (your mind will provide plenty!)
• Deep breathing. Why?  I use an app to train me for this.
• Match the words of your prayer to the movement of your breath.
• Periodically check your shoulders and relax(!)

Don’t get frustrated or upset or worry if you cannot keep focused on these prayers for very long.  If you make this a regular part of your daily ritual, you will train your mind for peace. In times when you are losing your calm, a couple of deep breaths will be enough to bring you back to yourself.

Questions?                                                                   

Next Week: The Rhythms of Life and Worship

A homily on the Parable of the Sower (St. Luke 8: 5-15).  Fr. Anthony encourages us to cultivate habits that sustain and our relationships.  Enjoy the show!

A homily on the Parable of the Sower (St. Luke 8: 5-15).  Fr. Anthony encourages us to cultivate habits that sustain and our relationships.  Enjoy the show!

Our Faith: Orthodox Christianity

Asceticism II: on fasting

 Review.  Last week we talked about Christ’s prayer and use of Psalmody (Psalms 21-30); remember that we can also imitate His fasting.  We also talked about kenosis (self-emptying) and that doing good is not just a sign of grace, but the way we open ourselves to it.  Lastly, we talked about why we work; what is work’s purpose?

Warm-up I.  We are made to worship God and serve others.  Learning humility, patience, and the other virtues are necessary for us to do that well.  But in kenosis, we do not disappear.  We are not joining the Borg or some Universal Consciousness.  Nor are we becoming possessed, like puppets; that is NOT what St. Paul meant when he said that it was no longer he who lived but Christ who lived in him. 

Warm-up II.  Who is our neighbor?  Whom are we to love as much as him?  Asceticism doesn’t just allow us to love and serve others well, it allows us to love and serve ourselves.  If this is selfish, then we are doing it wrong (although self-care can feel selfish, especially if we are not well balanced). Self-care is NOT just about maintaining the tool so that it can serve (it is that and more).   

Do Not Fast

• If it will harm the physical health of you or another
• Without prayer; without alms-giving; without humility
• With judgment against those whose rigor is different than your own
• According to your own will without guidance from your spiritual father
• Hoping to please God or out of fear of His wrath

Do Fast

• In imitation of Christ; in His love and with His purpose
• According the teachings of the Church, with the guidance of a spiritual father
• In conjunction with prayer, simplicity, almsgiving
• Other suggestions?

What You’ve Been Waiting For: THE RULES FOR FASTING
Remember that these are an ideal to strive for.  For many, absolute adherence would be counter-productive. Fasting related to foods has many different degrees.

• The Standard Ascetic Fast (an aside on the role of hunger):
  • No meat (anything with a backbone, so this includes fish)
  • No dairy (or eggs)
  • No olive oil
  • No wine
• The Standard Eucharistic Fast: abstention from partaking of the Holy Body and Blood of Christ
• Complete Fast: totally abstaining from all food and drink

Outside of Lents and Feasts

• We follow the standard ascetic fast on Wednesdays and Fridays
• There is no Eucharistic fast (we can take Communion any and all days of the week)
• Complete fast from midnight until Communion on Sundays and any other days we plan to receive

Additional Fasting Periods (Lents and Fasting Days)

• Great Lent follows the standard ascetic fast (with modifications)
• The Nativity Feast (Advent) two periods (11/15-12/19; 12/20-12/24) that vary in strictness
• The Apostles Fast (from Monday of All Saints until the Feast of the Apostles on 6/29)
• The Dormition Fast (8/1- 14)
• Eve of Theophany (1/5), Beheading of St. John the Baptist (8/29), Elevation of the Holy Cross (9/14)

Special Fast-Free Periods           

• Afterfeast of the Nativity of Christ to Theophany Eve (12/25 – 1/4)
• The first week of the Lenten Triodion (after Publican and Pharisee)
• Bright Week (week after Pascha; this extends to the Ascension for the Antiochians)
• Trinity Week (week after Pentecost)

Questions?                                                                   

Next Week: Asceticism III – the work of silence

Our Faith: Orthodox Christianity

Asceticism II: on fasting

 Review.  Last week we talked about Christ’s prayer and use of Psalmody (Psalms 21-30); remember that we can also imitate His fasting.  We also talked about kenosis (self-emptying) and that doing good is not just a sign of grace, but the way we open ourselves to it.  Lastly, we talked about why we work; what is work’s purpose?

Warm-up I.  We are made to worship God and serve others.  Learning humility, patience, and the other virtues are necessary for us to do that well.  But in kenosis, we do not disappear.  We are not joining the Borg or some Universal Consciousness.  Nor are we becoming possessed, like puppets; that is NOT what St. Paul meant when he said that it was no longer he who lived but Christ who lived in him. 

Warm-up II.  Who is our neighbor?  Whom are we to love as much as him?  Asceticism doesn’t just allow us to love and serve others well, it allows us to love and serve ourselves.  If this is selfish, then we are doing it wrong (although self-care can feel selfish, especially if we are not well balanced). Self-care is NOT just about maintaining the tool so that it can serve (it is that and more).   

Do Not Fast

• If it will harm the physical health of you or another
• Without prayer; without alms-giving; without humility
• With judgment against those whose rigor is different than your own
• According to your own will without guidance from your spiritual father
• Hoping to please God or out of fear of His wrath

Do Fast

• In imitation of Christ; in His love and with His purpose
• According the teachings of the Church, with the guidance of a spiritual father
• In conjunction with prayer, simplicity, almsgiving
• Other suggestions?

What You’ve Been Waiting For: THE RULES FOR FASTING Remember that these are an ideal to strive for.  For many, absolute adherence would be counter-productive. Fasting related to foods has many different degrees.

• The Standard Ascetic Fast (an aside on the role of hunger):
  • No meat (anything with a backbone, so this includes fish)
  • No dairy (or eggs)
  • No olive oil
  • No wine
• The Standard Eucharistic Fast: abstention from partaking of the Holy Body and Blood of Christ
• Complete Fast: totally abstaining from all food and drink

Outside of Lents and Feasts

• We follow the standard ascetic fast on Wednesdays and Fridays
• There is no Eucharistic fast (we can take Communion any and all days of the week)
• Complete fast from midnight until Communion on Sundays and any other days we plan to receive

Additional Fasting Periods (Lents and Fasting Days)

• Great Lent follows the standard ascetic fast (with modifications)
• The Nativity Feast (Advent) two periods (11/15-12/19; 12/20-12/24) that vary in strictness
• The Apostles Fast (from Monday of All Saints until the Feast of the Apostles on 6/29)
• The Dormition Fast (8/1- 14)
• Eve of Theophany (1/5), Beheading of St. John the Baptist (8/29), Elevation of the Holy Cross (9/14)

Special Fast-Free Periods           

• Afterfeast of the Nativity of Christ to Theophany Eve (12/25 – 1/4)
• The first week of the Lenten Triodion (after Publican and Pharisee)
• Bright Week (week after Pascha; this extends to the Ascension for the Antiochians)
• Trinity Week (week after Pentecost)

Questions?                                                                   

Next Week: Asceticism III – the work of silence

Homily on the Demoniac at Gadarenes (St. Luke 8:26-39).  Enjoy the show!

Homily on the Demoniac at Gadarenes (St. Luke 8:26-39).  Enjoy the show!

Homily on 2 Corinthians 6:16-7:1. 
And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.  And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.  Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.