6th Sunday of Matthew
July 8, 2007

What would make people so excited to come to Christ that they would tear the roof off the house to get to him? These men tore the roof off of the house to get this paralytic friend of theirs to Jesus. Don’t you wish people were that excited to get into this church building? The drawing power of Jesus’ life is staggering. Zacchaeus, a wealthy tax collector, was drawn to Christ. He came to Jesus promising to give up half of his wealth to the poor, as he promised to reimburse anyone he had cheated fourfold (Luke 19:1-8). A woman with an issue of blood fought a crowd of people just to be able to reach out and touch the hem of His garment.

Do you know what made Jesus’ heart attract sinners? In today’s reading of the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew we see that when the crowd saw the paralytic healed, “they marveled and glorified God, Who had given such power to men.” (Matthew 9:8) Jesus says to the Pharisees, “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Matthew 12:27-28). The power of Christ was the result of the Spirit of God present in His heart.

The love of Jesus Christ is the drawing power of the gospel. The people didn’t come to Jesus because of His logical arguments. They didn’t come to Him because He was a Jew. They didn’t come to Him because He was poor, or because He was powerful, or because He was the Son of God, or because He was resurrected. They came to Him because the love of Jesus drew them to Him.

The authority and power of Jesus emanated from a heart filled by God’s Holy Spirit. The qualities people love most about Jesus Christ is His meek or unassuming nature. His compassion. His mercy. His forgiveness. His kindness. His unselfish, sacrificial nature. These all are issues of the heart.

The biggest problem we face as the Church is that we try to build the Church solely upon human reason and human wisdom. When the Corinthians sought to do this they emptied the Cross of Christ of its power, of its love. In St. Paul’s First letter to the Corinthians, chapter one, verses 13-17, we read: “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name. Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the Cross of Christ should be made of no effect.”

The Corinthians were emptying the Cross of its power. The Christians in Corinth were not lacking in knowledge, or spiritual gifts, but they were lacking in spiritual wisdom. They were empting the Cross of its power — they had spiritual knowledge but their minds remained focused on temporal thoughts.

Studying St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians we continue in chapter three to see they had the proper foundation, but they were using shoddy building material to build Christ’s kingdom. “According to the grace God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work become clear; for the Day will declare.”

The Corinthians possessed spiritual knowledge, but the call of the flesh was stronger than the call of the Spirit. St. Paul understood that the entire person, body and soul, belong to God, and everything that we do is relevant to out spiritual life. “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit Who is in you, Whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” (1 Cor. 6:19) Following up these thoughts regarding the parishioners in the Corinthian Church St. John Chrysostom wrote: “We have many improper wishes, but we must repress them, for we can.”

A life focused on worldly cares is led away from a Spiritual birth. Spiritual knowledge can be obtained from the Scriptures, but Spiritual wisdom comes from God. St. James says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God Who gives to all liberally and without reproach.” (James 1:5)

Spiritual wisdom comes from God as we allow God’s Holy Spirit to work in our hearts. The Corinthians had acknowledged the truth with their heads, but their hearts were untouched by the truth because the Holy Spirit was not directing their lives. Only the Holy Spirit can lead and empower the heart to do what the mind knows. St. Seraphim of Sarov counsels us by saying: “The goal of Christian life is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit.” When the Holy Spirit directs the heart, our hearts are set on obeying what the mind already knows, and from this, spiritual lives are developed.

Difficulties arise when we seek to carry on the work of the Church with those who possess spiritual knowledge but are not filled and guided by the Holy Spirit. Where we have Spirit led leaders whose hearts are filled with the Holy Spirit the word of God abounds. The Holy Fathers of the Church remind us that “A person who is well grounded in the testimonies of the Scriptures is a pillar of the Church.”

The Holy Spirit is promised to all who believe in Christ. Wherever the work of the Holy Spirit thrives the world finds living water. All Orthodox Christians have received the Holy Spirit through the Holy Mystery of Chrismation. It is our own personal Pentecost. St. Ephraim of Syria wrote: “By the Holy Spirit’s power are sealed all the entrances into your soul. By the seal of anointing with Sacred Chrism all your bodily members are sealed and you are now able to use your senses for the good of your own soul and the welfare of others.”

The heart will never be developed to touch the lives of others until we are filled with the Holy Spirit. The power of God’s Spirit is not realized until we allow the Holy Spirit to fill our lives. It is not enough to just receive the Holy Spirit at baptism; we must allow the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is a personal choice but in this choice are also communal ramifications!

Being filled with the Holy Spirit moves us beyond worship as we touch the lives of those who have much deeper needs. Jesus was a great leader who touched the lives of sinners because He was led and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Seeking to carry on God’s work without the guidance of the Holy Spirit robs the church of fulfilling Her sacred mission. “The Holy Spirit we need every minute of our life, just as breathing…Without this strengthening and support, the heart inclines towards sin and is in danger of falling into spiritual death.” (St. John of Kronstadt) Do not doubt whatever the Gospel and Church teach for it is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Go forward and be filled with the Holy Spirit to share the Good News of Christ’s love and resurrection; live our precious Christian Orthodox Faith in all daily activities and in every expression and relationship for this is the mission of every Christian. Amen!



Prokopios the Great Martyr & his mother Theodosia the Martyr
July 8

The holy Martyr Procopius was born of a pious father named Christopher, but his mother Theodosia was an idolater. After Christopher's death, she presented Neanias - for this was the Saint's name before - to Diocletian, who was at Antioch in Syria. Diocletian made him Duke of Alexandria, and sent him there to punish the Christians. On the way to Alexandria, our Lord spoke to Neanias as once He had to Saul, and turned this new persecutor to faith in Him. Neanias turned back to Scythopolis, and preached Christ. He was betrayed by his own mother, and was arrested and tormented in Caesarea of Palestine. While he was in prison, the Lord appeared to him again and gave him the new name of Procopius (which is derived from the Greek word meaning "progress, advancement"). He was brought out of prison and taken to worship the idols, but at his prayer, the idols fell; many then believed in Christ and suffered martyrdom, among them certain soldiers, twelve women of senatorial rank, and the Saint's own mother, Theodosia. Saint Procopius, after further torments and imprisonment, was beheaded about the year 290.


Reading Courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery



Appearance of the Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos of Kazan
July 8

In Kazan, in 1579, the nine-year old Matrona, whose parents' home had burned down in a fire, had a dream in which she beheld an icon of the Theotokos and heard a voice commanding her to recover this icon from the ashes of the ruined house. The icon was found wrapped in an old piece of cloth under the stove, where it may have been hidden during the Tartar invasions. The icon was finally brought to the Cathedral of the Annunciation of the Theotokos, where it became renowned for the healings that the Mother of God wrought through it for the blind; hence the custom of praying before this holy icon for help in blindness and eye diseases. Tsar Ivan the Terrible had a convent built at the place of the icon's discovery; this, however, was destroyed by the Bolsheviks after the Revolution, and a factory was built in its stead. The feast was established in 1595. The icon of Kazan is one of the most beloved icons of the Mother of God in Russia.


Reading Courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery