The house of mourning is better than the house of mirth

CHRIST THE HEALER

    The message of Christ can be understood from  the perspective of different icons. It is entrance into God’s kingdom, both  now (Mt.4:17;Jn.3:5) and in the resurrection (Mt.25:31-46). Another icon is Christ as the Victor triumphant  over the powers of this world (Col.2:15), the strong man armed, who  came to set the captives free and leads captivity captive (Eph.4:7-16).  Another icon is a message of healing. He is the Sun of righteousness with healing in His wings (Mal.4:2) Christ came to call the sinners to repentance,”for they that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” (Mt.9:13)  It is in the light of this last icon  I want to study  these sayings.  Christ is the physician  of our souls and bodies.  The sickness is that man  is no longer in communion  with  God.  We are separated from the energy, the grace, the life giving energy of Christ, that  is in our heart. Isaiah vividly described this sickness in this way:

 5Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint
6From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. (Is.1:5-6)
 How is this sickness healed?  How does the Physician  advise us?  This is the call of the beatitudes. They summarize the attitudes we should seek by God’s grace,  so that we may be healed.

The first  saying of Christ is a call to  recognize that God is the Source of all,  the Father of all.  As  such  we must humbly seek all from Him.  We are poor and needy of His grace.”Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”  Until we truly know  our dependency on  God, and our guilt, there can be no spiritual life. We need to be acutely aware of our sin, of our sickness.  This attitude makes us  capable of receiving  God’s salvific  medicine.

The second  beatitude of Christ presents the first dose then of medicine for us.  Since  we are poor, we ought to cry out for mercy and God’s presence.”Blessed are they that mourn for they  shall be comforted”

It is the promise of the good news that God grants comfort to those who mourn. 


This promise was uttered through the Prophet  Isaiah,

1The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
 2To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
 3To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.  (Is.61:1-3)
    Reliance on God’s mercy is not presumption, but prescribed by the Lord.  Even  when we have deliberately sinned against God,  we should resort to His mercy and not despair.  David relied on God’s mercy,  even  after his sin  with Bathsheba when fathered  an illegitimate child and sought God to have mercy and not take the life of the child out of judgment.  His attitude was
22 While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live? (2Sam.12:22)

Mourning is the first spiritual prescription to  see the heart healed.  Indeed, Solomon,  the wisest man  to live,  next to Christ,  said:

2It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.
 3Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.
 4The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
 5It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. (Ecc.7:3-5)
    The wise man hears the rebuke.  As David, who repented when the prophet Nathan came to him and said, “thou art the man,”  so we should say  when we hear of our sin, “ I have sinned against the LORD.”  And as David’s sin  was forgiven, so we will hear, “The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.”
    This attitude of mourning  is what the Fathers of the Church call joyful  sorrow, harmolupe.  The idea  comes from  St. Paul who said the apostles were,
“as sorrowful yet always rejoicing.”
We are sorrowful over our sins- that we have pained others and insulted God, yet rejoicing in hope.
    But the question arises,”why does sorrow bring healing?” Because tears are like a spiritual eraser. Sin   has  been  engraven  upon  our hearts. The prophet Jeremiah  described the effect of sin  like this  when  he rebuked  Israel:
“The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven  upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars” (Jer.17:1)
Even  though  our  sin has  left a terrible  defacing on  our heart, tears of repentance can  wash away the sin  that defaces the tablets of our heart.
The prophet Isaiah (1:16)  exhorts Israel  to repentance saying:
“Wash you  make you clean,  put away the evil of your doing from before mine eyes.” Or again, the prophet Jeremiah:
“O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved.  How long shall vain thoughts lodge in thee?” (4:14)
This is the first pill.   Before I continue with the next beatitude, I want explain the methodology of Christ. The next step in healing is the implantation of a virtue instead of vice. He heals the evil  tendencies of the heart by  encouraging us to the virtue that is opposite of the vice  we commit.  This is the teaching of the fathers as well.  Extremes are overcome by the opposites. So  if someone commits the sin  of greed, how are they healed of it?  By almsgiving.  The practice of an opposite virtue  overcomes a vice.  We see this in the Lord’s  dinner  experience with the Pharisees.
 38And when the Pharisee saw it, he (Simon) marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner.
 39And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.
 40Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also?
 41But rather give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you.”
Notice,  they were full of ravening and wickedness.  Ravening, or literally they  snatched things.  The same word is used for the Lord snatching His people at the Second Coming to be with Him. And the same word is used to describe false prophets who are ravening wolves.
How does the Lord say they cleanse the cup of that filth of greed?  GIVE! Give alms and behold all things are clean unto you. 
Another example of a healing exercise is for gluttons.  This is easily understood by those who practice the Orthodox practice of fasting.  Fasting  breaks the bonds of wickedness-  the excess desire in our hearts, overcoming the gluttony.

“Getting a cold shoulder from God can bring a warm smile later”

The Reading is from Matthew 15:21-28
At that time, Jesus went to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and cried, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely possessed by a demon." But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her away, for she is crying after us." He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me." And he answered, "It is not fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table." Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly.

Silence from  God can be staggering. Ever prayed for a situation and it seemed like the heaven  was brass and the earth iron?  God help!  And it seems like you are speaking to yourself? 
Here is a woman  crying for help...”  JESUS!!!  HELP”......He walks on without  batting an eyelash.  How unchristian of Him!

She is desperate now...”JESUS!  I WANT MERCY.”

Still no answer.   Then, the Christians tell  Jesus  shut her up!  Ever  have Christians  try to turn you away from Christ, or turn  you off from  following Him?  The Apostles did it.

Yet  she persists. “Lord”

Jesus’  response”...you  are not worthy...you are a dog.”

Her humility...”true Lord,  I am a dog but dogs  get the scraps..”

Jesus’ response,”  GREAT IS YOUR FAITH  as you wish...”

There is a lesson here from our Lord.  Jesus  tempts no man (Js.1)  But, He does try  our faith and motives.  Jesus  answered her prayer after three  things:
1.He proved her trust in mercy-  He knew she didn’t think she deserved it.
2.He proved her confidence was not just in other Christians (how many  give up  because of bad disciples?) Even  when  the followers  slighted her she still persisted.
3.He proved her humility.

This woman  got a cold shoulder from the Lord.  Ultimately,  she got His favor.

Let’s  not get slighted by  apparent cold  shoulders,  God will smile  at us at the end.

Something Bazaar at the Bazaar

THE READING IS FROM THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST MATTHEW:
“...For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
 43I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
 44Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
 45Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.”

While in Afghanistan, I shopped at a bazaar.  My friend picked up  a piece of gaudy jewelry for a buck.  He was going to  throw it out when he got back,  but decided to  see  if it had any worth.  Much to his amazement,  the appraiser said  he found a steal. Underneath  the fake  rhinestones and rest was genuine solid gold. We can do the same ever day to people we meet. Accidentally,  because we fail to see that everyone bears the image of God, we neglect those who  have accumulated tarnish  on their soul and so don’t reflect God’s grace.  The valuable  silver is still there- just hidden. 

St Basil  puts it this way,

Just as he who in a polished mirror beholds the reflection of the form as plain knowledge of the represented face, so he, who has knowledge of the Son, through his knowledge of the Son receives in his heart the express image of the Father's Person. For all things that are the Father's are beheld in the Son, and all things that are the Son's are the Father's; because the whole Son is in the Father and has all the Father in Himself. [2047]Thus the hypostasis of the Son becomes as it were form and face of the knowledge of the Father, and the hypostasis of the Father is known in the form of the Son, while the proper quality which is contemplated therein remains for the plain distinction of the hypostases. (St Basil  37th letter)

The reflective capacity of every person is tarnished by sin.  When  God makes a clean heart-  polished mirror surface-  clean through the tears of repentance- then we can reflect His true Beauty.

Let’s do a spot check, cleansing our mirror,  so we can reflect the Lord. After all,  underneath  our fake bling bling and appearances is a gold mine.

Don't go to Church...

BRETHREN, you are the temple of the living God; as God said, "I will live in them and move among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore come out from them, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch nothing unclean; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."
Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, and make holiness perfect in the fear of God.

Don't only go...Rather let’s BE  the church.  A church is an  ek-klesia, a called out assembly. We are called to be separated in our hearts from  desires to the world, unto  Christ.  As the Lord said,  “they are not of  the world even as I am not of the world (ek- tou  kosmou). The ek-klesia  is called ek- from-  tou  kosmou- the world.  When  we do this we are promised  an intimacy with God,” I will be a father unto you...” Not that God isn’t our Father,  but when  we run to His embrace we are no longer like the prodigal, dead to Him.

An Earnest Deposit; the house is sold!

BRETHREN, it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has commissioned us; he has put his seal upon us and given us the earnest of his Spirit in our hearts.
But I call God to witness against me - it was to spare you that I refrained from coming to Corinth. Not that we lord it over your faith; we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith. For I made up my mind not to make you another painful visit. For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. For I wrote you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.

Buying a house can  be nerve wrecking.  Selling it even more.  When  shopping for a new house, in order to guarantee to the seller that you intend to actually buy- you give earnest money.  A pledge in good faith you want it.  Here,  St.  Paul  says  God  has bought us.  He wants us for himself as His temple, His holy house. The proof is,  he has given  the earnest- the pledge in our hearts.  He is starting to move in now, let’s  be ready when  He completely takes over the property.

Glow sticks. God’s chem lights.

The Reading is from St. Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians 4:6-15
Brethren, it is the God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For while we live we are always being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.
Since we have the same spirit of faith as he had who wrote, "I believed, and so I spoke," we too believed, and so we speak, knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into His presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God."

We have 2 running jokes in the Army for new privates.  First,  if we are at a range and we have to collect the spent shells we say, “go get the brass magnet.”  Of course, there is none.  And after an  hour of asking for it , he learns  it doesn’t exist.
Another one is,”  get batteries for the chem lights.”  After running around for an hour, they realize they don’t exist either.

What is a chem light you ask?  It is a florescent  chemical that lights when the plastic  casing around it is broken  and shaken.
Well for a chem light to work, it has to be broken  to let the alchemy work.  In the same way, only when  we are broken- like Paul said here- do we let the light shine in our mortal frame. Our mortal frame has to be broken  somehow in order to let the light shine out.  After all, the light under the bushel  has to shine.

Guess Who is coming for Dinner?

It can be nerve wracking being a host.  Especially when our budget and skills are modest.  Then,  if a dignitary arrives...In those cases...cater.  Jesus came to Zachaeus'  house for dinner.  Imagine the angst he experienced.

Imagine our angst , if Jesus  would say to us,”  what’s for dinner?”

Christ does do that.  Just like He invited Zachaeus  to eat with Him,  every day  He says,”behold I stand at the door and knock.”
He desires to eat with us.  That is, He desires fellowship  with us.  His Presence is real and can be experienced  if we want to  welcome Him. Let’s not make an excuse.  Zachaeus  didn’t have anything special,  he came as he was.  So it is with  Christ.  We don’t have much to offer him.  He will be pleased with the mere smile  at the door when you let Him in.

If we have felt  unease in our heart,  a desire for more, for real  love, then   it is God knocking at the door of our heart.

As He said,”If any man  open the door I will come in and sup with him.” Let's  make haste  and receive Him joyfully.

“The night the lights went out in Georgia...”

The Lord said to his disciples

"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."

Light is essential.  Let’s think about what what this light we have in us is.

“God is light”
“God is love”
By inference the love we shine is our light.  How do we let our light shine then?  By loving.
Ironically it is us religious people who don’t show this love!
“I know you (the pharisees) that you have not the love of God in you” (Jn.5)

The light can go out very easily.  After all the Lord said,”the love of many shall wax cold.”

How do we fan the flame?

 Right  fuel.  Fire needs a fuel.  The energy of the Holy Spirit alone kindles this flame of love.  For, “he makes his angels ministers flames of fire.”  This  oil of gladness is what the virgins  in Mt.25 did not want to give  away, lest their own  lights die. Conversely,  if we fuel  ourselves with a love of the world then the love dies. Arguing  and contention quench  the Spirit (Eph.4:29-30), putting the fire out.

Right  air.  Every hear somebody  say,  he is a breath of fresh air?  Hope is like that.  Hope is expressed in prayer.  Some would say  the atmosphere of prayer.  A strong wind however, can knock  out a flame as well.  St. Paul  calls false doctrine a wind (Eph.4).  If we have  mixed up beliefs our love is not based on knowledge, on truth, and so won't endure.

 Right burn rate.  If you  burn  something too quick it won’t be sustained. 


This little light of mine...

The plain life is on another plane

                                            The Reading is from Luke 6:17-23

At that time, Jesus stood on a plain, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came forth from him and healed them all. And he lifted up his eyes on His disciples, and said: "Blessed are you poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God. Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven."


The sermon on the plain (note not mount) is the the apex-  the summit of Christian living.  In fact it is so  high  only when Christ lives in us are we able to stay there.
I want to throw out two   thoughts though. 

1.  These are not commands, they are characteristics. These attitudes and actions flow out of God's divine grace,  His energy. When  we are in the kingdom of God- completely submitted to His rule-  then  these are present in us because the kingdom is already present in our hearts, for the kingdom of God is within us (Lk.17:20).  We don’t manufacture the grace it is born- graced to us. For the kingdom  of God is, "righteousness,  peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." (Rom.14:13)


2.  Grace is costly, complete surrender required. Deitrich  Bonhoeffer,  the WW2  Lutheran  pastor martyr,  had a term  that is actually pretty good;  cheap  grace.  There is no cheap grace. The Old Testament sacrifices attest to this.  A whole sacrifice had to be made.
We must lay all on the altar,  then  the fire- the grace of God- comes down  to consume it like  God consumed the sacrifices in His fire.

Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. (I Kings 19:38)

With  whole burnt offerings God will not be pleased now (Ps.50:16)  rather a whole heart  does please Him. It will then be consumed upon His mystical altar,  and He will in return  send down  divine grace and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Truly the sermon on the plain is  not plain it is supernatural, on another plane.

Getting untangled from the net of life

Getting untangled from the net of life is difficult business.  We are filled with the cares of this world and feel, like Peter, giving up  and just focusing on the fish, focusing on life's problem  and our job.

 Today’s  gospel however teaches us how to pick up where we left off.  It teaches us how to get untangled in the net of life’s occupations and get back to following Christ.

Peter was told to leave  his fishing and follow Him.  Hence the Lord asks him,”do you love me more than  your fish? More than you love your job your livelihood?”
Peter got tangled in the net of life, in life’s business, and was giving up.

Here is how the Lord untangles him.

1.God rebukes Peter and recognizes his failure. Three times He asks, do you love me more than these fish?  God will bring our mistakes to our attention gently.

2.God  reveals His next step  to  you and prepares you for what is ahead.  He then  told Peter he would suffer and be crucified.

3.God reminds him of doing his calling and forgetting what others have to  do.  Don’t worry about what God tells His other servants to do!  Let’s do what He tells us to do.

    Our problems  when  we stumble  stem  from  three things,  the three things here

 1.We will not listen to God’s rebuke.  We just don’t want to hear we are wrong
 2.We don’t want  to take the next step
 3.We  want the plan  God has for other people, and don’t mind our business.

Thankfully,  Peter did  repent and went on on to write 2 epistles for us. He did leave his net and just follow the Lord . He got untangled from  the net of life by listening, taking the next step, and minding his own business- that is doing what God told him personally to do.  Let’s follow the chief apostle. All of us are called to follow Christ as Peter,  to  place following Christ  ahead of our net of life, our occupation.  Let’s not fall into the trap  of getting entangled in the net, but follow him.

Poverty of Spirit

Blessed are the poor in spirit. A free gift that costs everything.

When  someone tells you something you can gauge it’s importance by it’s placement.  First things mentioned are first for a reason.  This pronouncement is the first command the Lord gave outside of, "Repent and and believe.”  So this is a cause to pause.

Like most of the New Testament,  this can only be understood by looking at the Old.  Poverty of spirit and blessedness were Jewish ideas.

The first time  we read of poverty of spirit is the book of Psalms. What do we learn  about poverty of spirit?

 David exclaims,

Ps.69:29 But I [am] poor and sorrowful: let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high.
30 I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31 [This] also shall please the LORD better than an ox [or] bullock that hath horns and hoofs.
32 The humble shall see [this, and] be glad: and your heart shall live that seek God.
33 For the LORD heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners.

1. First, The poor in spirit recognize that all they have is from God (“let thy salvation save me”, and therefore seeks (“your heart shall live that seeks the Lord”) all from God.
“Of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever and ever.” Rom.11:34
 The poor in spirit are persecuted. Ps.69.33. 
This is because a person who fears God goes against the grain of the world.  The world proclaims it’s self sufficiency.  God declares we did not make ourselves.  God upholds us and directs all things according to His will.

 2. The  poor and needy  wait for God’s deliverance and praise Him for His work.
Ps.70:5 But I [am] poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: thou [art] my help and my deliverer; O LORD, make no tarrying.

 3. The poor  tremble at God’s word

Is.66:1 Thus saith the LORD, The heaven [is] my throne, and the earth [is] my footstool: where [is] the house that ye build unto me? and where [is] the place of my rest?
2 For all those [things] hath mine hand made, and all those [things] have been, saith the LORD: but to this [man] will I look, [even] to [him that is] poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. (Is.66:1-2)
Where the word of the king is, there is power Solomon said.  So the Lord when  He speaks  like EF Hutton, people should listen.
 Poor look to the mercy of God. They tremble because they have sinned.
“a poor and contrite spirit”
We have no defense before God for we have sinned and so  trust only mercy. 

 4. God looks at the poor,  and esteems their honesty.  “to this man will I look.”
Do we want God to look at us?  Then we need to  look to Him in a poor spirit.
This is the attitude of the Psalmist," as the yes of a servant wait for their Master so do we wait for you."

5. The poor have a blessing.  God preaches good news to them.

Lk.4:18 The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, (Luke 4:18)
The broken hearted, the poor in spirit, are delivered.  Three things are promised to the poor in spirit:
a. Heals our heart
b.Delivers the captives
c. Gives us sight
Our sickness of heart is epithumia kaki. Evil desire.  Because we have  stopped desiring the True Good, God, we desire  material  goods,  and so  stray from  His presence.
When He heals (a) the desire by  filling us with Christ’s love (Rom.5:5)  then we are delivered from the law of sin and death (b) then we truly see (c).

But how do we get to this point of being poor?
Mostly by failing and the pride of our strength is broken like the prophet foretold.  God graciously let’s us fall and break  some bones.  Like David said,
“may the bones which you have broken  rejoice.” (Ps.51)
It is truly blessed then to be poor in spirit

Re enactment or Remembrance

Re enactment or Remembrance?  Save O Lord thy people and bless thine inheritance!

Without spelling out the minutiae, a key question is, “what does remembrance mean when  commune?"

When  we remember the Lord’s death, is this a mere mental recollection or reenactment? 


1. First,  Remembrance in the OT is the intervention of God to fulfill HIs covenant pledge to bless and forgive His people.  Let's look at the first occurrence of God remembering.

And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that [was] with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged; Gen 8.1

God made the judgment to stop when He remembered His people.

He then promises to  Noah:
And God said, This [is] the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that [is] with you, for perpetual generations:
13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
15 And I will remember my covenant, which [is] between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that [is] upon the earth. Gen.9:11-16

God remembered His covenant and consequently fulfilled His promise to not judge with a cataclysm again.

Again  we see God’s remembrance of Abraham.  God promised He would  be with  Abraham  and deliver him (Gen.12,15)  Now,  when  He  is about to judge  the people of Sodom  He remembers him and Lot and delivers.
29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.

The next occurrence of God remembering is Rachel.  Rachel  wanted children but God restrained her.  She beseeches God and God  judges on her behalf and gives her Joseph.
2 And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb.
23 And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach:
24 And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son. Gen.30:22-24

Exodus 2:24  illustrates this even more succinctly.

His covenant is remembered and He begins to deliver His people.
“And God looked upon the children of Israel  and God had respect unto them.” 2:25
God delivered them  and destroyed Pharoah.

 2.  Secondly, God’s covenant curses as well are filling a cup.
God’s wrath  is compared to a cup.  The full measure of which  will be poured out on the wicked.
6 For promotion [cometh] neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.
7 But God [is] the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.
8 For in the hand of the LORD [there is] a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring [them] out, [and] drink [them]. Ps.75:6-8

Edom  faced God’s judgment for  idolatry in the time of Jeremiah  who cried,
12 For thus saith the LORD; Behold, they whose judgment [was] not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; and [art] thou he [that] shall altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink [of it].

Now let’ skip to the New Testament.
The wicked of latter times are judged and God says,
9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive [his] mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Lastly,  Babylon is given a cup:
19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
Remembrance of iniquity, the cup  which  the wicked fill,  is poured out.  Ultimately you  drink the poison  you  mix.

3.  Thirdly, Christ drank  the cup reserved for us as wicked
Saying,”  Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me”
It could not and so,”he by the grace of God tasted death for every man.”(Heb.2:9)  Becoming a curse (Gal.3:13).

God grants Christ every blessing for His suffering,
“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength riches  and honor and glory and blessing.”
The cup of blessing then  is given to His people.
“The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?”
 When  we remember the Lord’s table,  we are invoking the Name of the Lord-  not just mentally thinking about a representation.  No  we are remembering His saving commandment  as the liturgy says.  Thereby  God is entreated to be merciful to us and give us the grace of the Covenant, to save His people and bless His inheritance.
This is what an ALTAR always does.  It calls upon the Name of the Lord,  who thereafter confirms His covenant with His sacrifice and saves His inheritance.

Hope for Us all: Yes God’s chosen saint, David, was a murderer, adulterer and thief and had major family problems.

David was chosen  by  God  to  be Israel’s king when he was about 16.  He was a simple shepherd boy who  played  music  in the field to his sheep  while singing God’s praise.  To  give a synopsis of his career:  he  is anointed as king  and has to  wait yeeeeears before he actually becomes  king.  When  he does  he gets a little slack  (sounds like our politicians?) Instead of doing  his kingly duty of going to war, he decides to stay  home  while every one fights.  He spots  a fair  lady bathing  and his heart is gripped.  He asks his servant who  it is.  It is the wife of one of his chief  soldiers Uriah.  No problem-  he’ll get the gal  Bathsheba somehow.  He Gets Uriah drunk, sounds him into the front line  and gets him killed.  Boy gets the girl.  To  sweeten  things  she gets pregnant.  Well the Lord is not happy with  David to say the least.  He  gives David a personal  visit from  His prophet Nathan  who  lambastes him for abusing  his position  and taking a man’s wife and killing him.
David repents.  This is the occasion for the writing of the 50th  psalm  we read at Orthros.  “God have mercy on me a sinner.”  He loses reign  of most of the kingdom, loses the child through miscarriage, loses his best friend, loses  his joy of salvation,  loses his family.  His  son  then ends up rebelling against him and nearly killing him. 

God’s saints teach us a lesson.  And don’t we learn better from examples good or bad?  God  will restore His favor to  us when  he heed the prophet or man of God.  But the consequences of our actions can take time to mend.  We reap what we sow, sometimes the harvest is a little earlier than we thought, or later.  Let’s thank God for His abundant mercy.  There is no  extreme  God cannot forgive or heal,  just the refusal to be healed.

Night of the living dead

Night of the living Dead.  Sunday’s epistle to the Collossians

BRETHREN, when Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience. In these you once walked, when you lived in them. But now put them all away; anger, wrath, malice, slander, and foul talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old nature with its practices and have put on the new nature, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all, and in all.

There is a popular movie,  Night of the Living Dead.  The people somehow  have a morbid  experience of living.  They  get killed  and live on as zombies- without really ever dying.  Yet they  are dead.

Though  not the same as this,  St Paul  describes us as living dead.  We are to  become  dead  to the  world’s assaults of desires even while living.  Our  earthly desires have to be killed while we are alive. For “all that is in the world,  the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world.” (I Jn2:15-16)

Why though?  Why not just “eat and drink for tomorrow we die?”  Because Paul tells us,”When  Christ who is our life shall appear then  shall we also appear with Him in glory.”  We become dead to the desires of the flesh so we can  be alive to  the One who gives us life.

Let’s become the living dead.  Dead to the desires of the world-  and alive unto  God through Jesus Christ our Lord.