The Gospel or Good News of Jesus Christ is the power of God to those who are being saved, but foolishness to the parishing. God’s power is love. God is love. Love is saving the whole person through the healing touch of Jesus. So many are without the fullness of the in person connection of the Good news of Jesus Christ in the form of an Orthodox Christian Church Parish with a full time Priest or even a Deacon for just a reader service, and so many Priests and Deacons work unrealistic long bi-vocational hours to share the healing touch of Jesus. We can bring relief. To learn more and possibly donate or apply for relief as a Clergy, go to our home page at www.ocmamerica.us.

P.S.: We support well needed ministry projects of Clergy as well.

How can we not say that the healing touch of Jesus is a worthy cause. So many people do not have in person contact with the fullness of the Good News of Jesus Christ in the form of a local Church Parish with a full time Priest. So many missional Priests work unrealistic bivocational hours to make ends meet for their families because they believe in the healing touch of Jesus. What can you do for Orthodox missions in America? You can pray, give, go. You can pray and light a candle in Liturgy or pray in your prayer corner at home. You can give in the offering plate at your local Church Parish and you can give to the one and only North American missional priest fund @ www.ocmamerica.us. You can also apply as a Priest or Deacon for relief for your local missional Church Parish @ www.ocmamerica.us. We can offer relief in these cases. To learn more, go to our home page @ www.ocmamerica.us.

LOOKING ON TO FEBRUARY 11^TH

Matthew 25:13-40 “A man going on a journey called his servants and entrusted to them his goods; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them; and he made five talents more. So also, he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.’ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not winnow; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sowed, and gather where I have not winnowed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.” As he said these things he cried out: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

It is no secret that the Lord wants us to be courageous in our faith and to utilize our endowments to grow in closeness to Him but to also be in touch with our own talents, no matter how vast or meager, and bring others to the faith; bring glory to the wealth of His Kingdom. This coming Sunday we encounter one of the Parables Christ brings forth to His disciples to help instruct them, and His Church, on the need for courage and trusting in the Lord’s will for us.

In the Gospel reading, we see a wealthy merchant entrusting his goods to three of his servants. If we are to look at the Greek word for ‘goods’ in this parable, it is understood that the merchant was not just providing some of his goods to these stewards, rather entrusting the entirety of what he owned to them. This was no small transaction. Just like the Lord Who has an abundance of faith to give us, much is expected from us to reciprocate this faith.

The first two servants showed courage and faith in their ability to bring more profit to their master. They understood the task, they loved their master, and were moved to be fruitful with the amount that was given to them. The third servant, however, lacked the courage to move forward, perhaps even upset that specific instruction was not given to him, buried what was given to him in the sand, and was content to just give it back to his master in the end.

Archbishop Dimitri of Dallas writes of this account: Although the master apparently did not tell the servants what to do, the first two, taking advantage of their freedom while recognizing their role as stewards of his money and desiring to please him whom they loved and trusted, worked diligently to prove themselves good servants. The third, on the other hand, was not so happy to be left on his own, wished he had been told exactly what to do and accomplished nothing. To him, the master was a hard man. Without telling him what to do, he yet expected something from him. He reaped where he had not sown, that is, because he was the master, some people spared no effort to do what they perceived as his will. The unprofitable servant could have at least sought counsel, so that he could do something for his master, but he so lacked confidence that he was afraid. He decided it was better to do nothing and just return the money.

This too is asked of us as stewards of the Church. Through our life in the Church to be aware that much is given to us, and with this abundance, to be courageous in our service to the Lord. Not to be envious of those who may have been given a greater ability, or to be fearful to use what was given to us, but to be content with our own talents and to utilize them in charity and love towards our neighbor.

Archbishop Dimitri concludes: God calls us and gives us responsibilities according to His gifts and to our own endowments. He recognizes the differences between us. The point being that we do this work because of His love for us and the love that we must return. To compare our vocation with others’ and then to fall into camps of jealous rivalries is to question His wisdom and to rebel against His will.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us take courage and believe in the healing provided us in the Church that we can overcome our passions and thus be removed from the quagmire of imagining ourselves unworthy to utilize our talents, not doubting our Master’s justice or wisdom. Christ defeating death by death was the freeing act to propel us into repentance and service. If there is hesitation to act early on, know there is great counsel in the Church to help guide us along the way. Take heart!

Let us not get caught up in jealousy of vocation seeking justice by worldly means, hunkering down into ideological camps. Trust that the Lord knows our endowments that our differences are to be used for His glory, not ours. Trust in the Lord and believe in the talents that He has given us to continue His Great Commission of making disciples of all nations. Let us not be afraid to trade with them.

Finally, let us break free of the habit of serving the Church with the worldly eyes of American style, skeptical economics that practices austerity for austerity’s sake burying our goods in the sand. But with faith and love draw near to Him investing our talents in our parishes and missions, investing in God’s people, knowing that this will be returned eternally.

Our ability to serve and support the Church is a gift, come near to the Lord and with our blessed actions bringing others with us giving them the opportunity to see the true faith so that the Lord may declare us all good and worthy servants.

Rev. Dn. Chris Purdef

February 2nd

The fortieth day after His birth, the All-holy Virgin brought her divine Son into the Temple of Jerusalem, in accordance with the Law, to dedicate Him to God and to purify herself (Leviticus 12:2-7; Exodus 12:2). Even though neither the one nor the other was necessary, the Lawgiver did not want in any way to transgress His own Law, which He had given through Moses, His servant and prophet. At that time, the high-priest Zacharias, the father of John the Forerunner, was serving in the Temple. Zacharias placed the Virgin, not in the temple area reserved for women, but rather in the area reserved for virgins. On this occasion two very special persons appeared in the Temple: the Elder Simeon and Anna, the daughter of Phanuel. The righteous Simeon took the Messiah in his arms and said: Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation (Luke 2:29-30). Simeon also spoke the following words about the Christ-child: Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel (Luke 2:34). Then Anna, who from her youth had served God in the Temple by fasting and prayer, recognized the Messiah and glorified God. She then proclaimed to the inhabitants of Jerusalem the coming of the long-awaited One. But the Pharisees who were present in the Temple, having seen and heard all, became angry with Zacharias because he had placed the Virgin Mary in the area reserved for virgins, and they reported this to King Herod. Convinced that this was the new king spoken of by the Magi from the East, Herod immediately sent his soldiers to kill Jesus. In the meantime, the holy family had already left the city and set out for Egypt under the guidance of an angel of God. The Feast of the Meeting of our Lord in the Temple was celebrated from earliest times, but the solemn celebration of this day was established in the year 544 A.D., during the reign of Emperor Justinian.

St. Nikolai Velimirovic reflects: “Speaking about the gradual spread of the celebration of Christ’s Nativity, St. John Chrysostom said: “Magnificent and noble trees, when planted in the ground, shortly attain great heights and become heavily laden with fruit; so, it is with this day.” So it is also with the day of the Meeting of our Lord. From the beginning this day was commemorated among Christians, but the solemn celebration began in the time of the great Emperor Justinian. During his reign, a great pestilence afflicted the people in Constantinople and its vicinity, so that five thousand or more people died daily. At the same time a terrible earthquake occurred in Antioch. Seeing man’s inability to prevent these misfortunes, the emperor, in consultation with the patriarch, ordered a period of fasting and prayer throughout the entire empire. And, on the day of the Meeting itself, he arranged great processions throughout the towns and villages, that the Lord might show compassion on His people. And truly, the Lord did show compassion, for the epidemic and earthquake ceased at once. This occurred in the year 544 A.D. From that time on, the Feast of the Meeting began to be celebrated as a great feast of the Lord. The tree, in time, grew and began to bring forth abundant fruit.”

Taken from the Prologue from Ohrid. 

This Sunday February 4^th begins the cycle where the Church asks us to slow down a bit and look towards a magnificent season that is coming upon us. It is a prelude, if you will, as we inch towards the Triodium period – a brief season with specific Gospel readings that prepare us for that time of Bright Sadness – the seven-week period of Great Lent, ripe with rich services, more prayer, more fasting, and more grace that get us ready for Holy Pasca.

In Luke 19:1-10, we see Zacchaeus as the far outlier of the story due to his status among his people as a tax collector. But what truly makes him stand out is that he raises the banner for us all to prepare as Christ is coming! Just like Zacchaeus, we have the choice to be among the crowd parroting the culture, or to rise above it.

The Gospel states that Zaccheaus was a little fellow, a man of small stature, who hears that Christ was in his midst. Could it be that his heart was set on fire towards repentance by the previous miracle Christ performed in Jerico when He healed Blind Bartimaeus? Regardless, he was intent on seeing Christ at all costs.

That is why Zacchaeus climbs the tree to be above the crowd as the Church Father’s have likened his action to an attempt to come out of this world, to stop seeing everything through worldly eyes, and to raise his sight to a spiritual place. From that spiritual place he sees Jesus coming and Jesus knows that he’s looking for him as He commands Zacchaeus to come down from the tree and allow Him into his house, into the inner chambers of his heart.

And of course, all the people are astonished at his because what does it tell us about Zacchaeus? Zacchaeus is the chief tax collector, also known as a Publican. Publicans were not popular among the crowds due to an on-going reputation as miserly and merciless merchants. At this time in the Roman empire taxes worked like this:

The emperor would say I need to raise X number of coins from this province and the elites would have an auction about who was going to get that concession to raise taxes and then whomever paid the most to the emperor got that concession. Then for the whole of the next period, whether it was a year or sometimes longer, that family was the only one that could collect those taxes. Meaning they essentially were like the elites of the day who had the power to break people, to subjugate them. They held control of all facets of life.

This is a form of Tax farming, which is not so uncommon in the world even today. Practiced by those who already had abundance, but what they have is not enough. In essence, overwhelming their fellow man. Thus Publicans, we read, have such a horrible reputation in the Gospels almost to the point of being irredeemable in the eyes of their countrymen. But we see here with Zaccheaus this is certainly not the case. The good news, brothers and sisters, is that we’re all redeemable in the eyes of the Lord Who is among us.

St Nikolai Velimirovic says: Zachaeus was a lover of money and had spent his entire life up to that time amassing money in every possible way; mostly sinful ways. He calls it a sickness that inevitably drags a man down to perdition. A fire that burns the more fiercely as more wealth is amassed. There is no sum of money that can satisfy the lust of avarice as fire is incapable of saying, “Don’t put any more wood on me, this is enough, so the passion of avarice does not know how to pronounce the word, “enough.”

Brothers and sisters in Christ, avarice is not so much a want or need to make money, rather it is a condition of those who already make an abundance and due to this sin, they think themselves under appreciated and seek retribution or justice. They put themselves in a position of power to lord it over people – to make themselves gods on earth. But our sense of justice in this world does not always follow the path of the Lord.

Zacchaeus had already set himself apart from the world. He recognizes that these activities had wounded him and had broken his heart. He repented. He does not run from his broken heart but does everything in his power to bring his heart to Christ. This is exactly what Christ seeks from us. Zacchaeus climbs the tree to seek Christ, but the way the Gospel reads it states that Christ sees him first. As He does for any of us when we too bring our broken heart to Him. He says, I see you. Come down from your place and I will come into your home, I will come into your heart.

Zaccheaus is so overjoyed at this union with the Lord that he doubles down on his repentance, and he proclaims that if he has defrauded anyone (which he has) he gives them back fourfold. As we see, his repentance shifts from the basic justice of paying back what he overcharged to that of almsgiving and giving away all that he had. The perfect icon of the almsgiver who shows us that this ministry should always be tied to our repentance and in conjunction with Christ. A broken and contrite heart God will not despise. Psalm 50:19.

Beloved, the one thing that always sticks out to me in this Gospel is, which is never fully answered, if Zacchaeus were to pay everyone back what he had defrauded fourfold, what does that leave him? Does he even have enough in his own treasury to not only pay people back but to do so fourfold? What we can logically conclude here brothers and sisters is that Zaccheaus is more than paying people back or restoring justice, he is indebting himself to his neighbor; he is embodying the sacrificial love Christ has for us.  He is sacrificing his wealth – his worldly possessions. He is so overjoyed that Christ has come into his heart, that there is nothing in the world that is worth saving or amassing that would even come close to what he has already gained in Christ’s healing. Rather, he is more interested in loving others properly.

Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra says about this type of love: “Today some people say that we don’t need love, we need justice. But we say that we’ll find justice up in heaven; here we need love. And because we know that justice depends on true love, it is justice which guides us, and gives the scepter to love. The aim of love is for one person to give joy to another; for me to voluntarily deprive myself of something so that someone else has more; for me to sacrifice myself so that the other feels at ease, feels secure in his life.”

Let us embrace this good news. That Christ, like He did with Zacchaeus, will see us even before we find him. Only by our intention to seek Him He will see us first and ask us to come into our home – our heart. St. John Chrysostom says, The Lord accepts not only deeds, but intensions.

If we are not ready yet to climb the tree, let us start here, brothers and sisters. Acknowledge that perhaps some of the things we have habitually incorporated in our lives may have wounded us – may have caused us to have a broken heart. Like Zaccheaus, let us not run away from this but turn to the Lord. Most of us do this in our parishes, our new missions.

These missions are our Tree of Zacchaeus. Let us start with an intention and climb up to the Lord.

Fr. Dn. Christopher Purdef