Romans 6:18-23
Matthew 8: 5-13
Especially in
our time and place, no one wants to be a servant, a slave, or held accountable
to anything that they did not freely choose.
We are much more likely to want to be free from all constraints with
total liberty to define ourselves and live on our own terms. The problem, of course, is that we are also
susceptible to falling into delusions about who we are before God and where the
paths that we follow will lead us in life.
In the name of freedom, we easily enslave ourselves to our own desires
and passions in ways that make it very hard to set things right once again.
St. Paul reminded the church in Rome
that the abuse of freedom is quite serious business, as “the wages of sin is
death.” Before their conversion, his largely Gentile audience had been slaves
of sin with one level of depravity leading to another. As we have all learned by bitter experience,
one sin so often gives rise to another, usually more serious than the first. But St. Paul teaches that those who have faith
in Christ have become slaves of righteousness toward the end of sanctification,
holiness, and eternal life. They will
find freedom, not by enslaving themselves to disordered desires and corrupt
practices, but by embracing the healing of our humanity made possible through our
Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ. As
the Church has taught from its origins, there is a path that leads to our
fulfillment in Christ, that makes us more fully participants in the eternal
blessedness for which He created us.
This path makes us free to share in the very life of God and to shine
with the light of heaven even as we live in the world.
The Roman centurion in today’s
gospel lesson provides an example of how to follow this path to true freedom in
Christ. He showed trust and humility so
profound that the Savior said that He had not found such faith in Israel. In other words, an officer of a pagan army of
occupation, someone despised and condemned by the Jews, showed great faith in
the Messiah, the one expected to fulfill the ancient hopes of the Hebrew
people. As the Lord made clear, some
will begin the path to eternal blessedness from very unlikely places, as
Gentiles “from east and west,” while some “sons of the Kingdom” (presumably
some of the Jews) will not inherit such blessings. As was often the case, Christ’s
words here must have shocked and offended many people. He did not make Himself popular by saying
such things.
The humble faith shown by the centurion
is very far from the self-centeredness that so often passes for freedom in our
culture. First of all, this fellow cared
about his lowly servant so much that he risked embarrassment, if not something
worse from his own superiors, by asking for Christ’s help. But he was not ashamed to lower himself to be
point of being dependent on the aid of this Messiah. He also confessed his sinfulness publicly
by telling the Lord that he was unworthy to have Him enter his home. Think about how astounding that statement
was from a Roman officer to a Jewish rabbi, a person quite far beneath him in
every way according to the standards of the empire that he served. In
this man’s humility, he had the spiritual clarity to know that Christ needed
simply to say a word from a distance in order to heal the sick servant. He had the humble faith necessary to follow
the path to freedom from sin and death. And because of that, the Lord granted his
request and used him as an example of those from all over the world, even hated
Gentiles, who would share in the heavenly banquet with the great patriarchs of
the Old Testament. Remember that Jews
would never eat with Gentiles, but here is Christ predicting that some Gentiles
will dine with the founding figures of the Hebrew people in the coming
Kingdom—while some of the Jews will be shut out of the celebration. What a radical and disturbing thing to say.
We all need the humble faith of the
centurion in order to respond in a spiritually healthy way to cultural trends in
our society. A great many things are
legal, accepted, and even celebrated in our culture in the name of freedom that
the Body of Christ does not bless as being paths to greater righteousness. Our
faith teaches that using freedom contrary to God’s purposes does little more
than weaken us spiritually and enslave us even more to corrupting passions and
unholy desires. That is true in all areas of life, including sexual behavior,
regardless of our particular temptations. The abuse of freedom makes us even more
the slaves of sin. If we want to be faithful Christians, we must use our liberty
to live in accordance with God’s purposes for us, not in ways contrary to them.
The Supreme Court has made civil marriage
between persons of the same sex legal throughout the United States. The Orthodox
Church does not approach marriage in terms of arguments about civil rights or the
principles of the American Constitution, but in terms of salvation. Hence, the Church blesses only the marriage of
one man and one woman for the growth of the spouses in righteousness as
faithful servants of Jesus Christ, Who said "Have you not read that He who
created them from the beginning made them male and female and said ‘For this
reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife, and
the two shall become one flesh’?” (Matt 19:4) That is how the
eternal Word of God, Who created us male and female in the divine image and
likeness, spoke of marriage.
St. Paul wrote something very
similar to the Ephesians (5:31-32): “’For this reason a man shall leave his
father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one
flesh.’ This mystery is great; but I am speaking
with reference to Christ and the church.” Along with many other
types of sin, St. Paul describes desire for members of one’s own sex as a sign
of humanity’s rebellion against God. (Rom. 1: 26-27) And, of course, the union of man and woman is the
only kind of human relationship blessed
with the capability of fulfilling God’s ancient commandment to “be fruitful and
multiply,” bringing forth new life from the personal union of the spouses. (Gen.
1:28) There is no basis in the Bible,
the lives of the Saints, or any aspect of the Church’s tradition to bless other
forms of marriage.
How we approach the
union of man and woman is part of the ancient and unchanging faith of the Orthodox
Church, which we accept with the humble faith of the centurion. He knew that he was unworthy to have Christ
visit his home, and we are unworthy to take it upon ourselves to change the
holy mystery of marriage or any other dimension of the path to the Kingdom that
the Lord has given us. Like the
centurion, we may risk losing social standing or popularity due to faithfulness
to the way of Christ. We must remember,
however, that Christians have sacrificed to follow the Lord from the very
beginning of the faith. Think for a
moment about our suffering brothers and sisters in Syria and much of the rest
of the Middle East, literally becoming martyrs and refugees because of their
steadfast commitment to the Lord.
We must not feel
sorry for ourselves due to changes in civil laws about marriage, but instead
remember that Christ’s Kingdom is not of this world. He calls us to become a city on a hill—a
beacon in the night-- that attracts those who are sick and tired of slavery to
sin to a new way of life, to the glorious freedom for righteousness of the
children of God. Current cultural trends
demand greater faithfulness on our part, as well as vigilance against hypocrisy.
With the humble
faith the centurion, we must also remember that there is hope for every human
being to enter the joy of the Kingdom. The
centurion was a hated foreigner, a despised Gentile in the army of occupation
from a pagan empire. The Romans were
famous for their immorality and quite unclean from the perspective of the
Jews. But here we have Christ praising a
Roman officer for his faith being superior to that of the Jews, together with a
prediction that Gentiles will be guests at the heavenly banquet. How amazing is that? In other words, the Lord reminds us not to
write off anyone, including those who presently order their lives in ways
contrary to Christian teaching on matters of sex and anything else.
Judging the
souls of other people is completely contradictory to the beautiful humility of
the centurion. That is God’s business, not
ours, even when someone acts publically in ways contrary to our faith. Whenever we are tempted to make ultimate
pronouncements on others, and in effect to put ourselves in the place of the
Lord at the Last Judgment, we are the ones who need to repent and should say
the Jesus Prayer until that temptation goes away. Upholding the fullness of
Christian teaching is one thing, while self-righteous judgment of particular
people is quite another. If we persist
in that practice, we will shut ourselves out of the heavenly banquet. As Christ said of the self-righteous in His
day, “Prostitutes and tax collectors go into the Kingdom of God before you.” (Matt.
21:31) Let us take that warning quite seriously.
We should use everything in life for
our salvation, for opening ourselves more fully to the healing and blessing of
Jesus Christ. Let us use current
cultural trends as a reminder to become more faithful servants of
righteousness, more faithful followers of our Lord on the blessed path to the
Kingdom that He has given us in His Body, the Church. We cannot control what others do and it is
never our business to judge. We must all
press on with the humble faith of the centurion, trusting in Christ’s mercy as
we pursue holiness in every dimension of our lives, no matter the cost or
difficulty. That is still the best way
to witness for Christ in a world so terribly confused. For if our lives do not shine forth with
righteousness, no one will pay any attention to what we have to say about
marriage or anything else.
And why should they? If we do not become living witnesses of a blessedness
beyond the customs of mainstream culture, then we will have failed to manifest
the joy of a Kingdom that calls all people to become who God created them to be
in His image and likeness. With the
humility of the centurion, let us be faithful witnesses of what our Lord’s
mercy can do with even the most unlikely guests at the heavenly banquet,
including sinners like you and me.
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