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Today we are
going to begin a new series of talks more in line with a Bible Study
class. On days when we haven’t got a specific topic to talk about, we will
read and interpret the Apostle and Gospel readings for the coming Sunday.
The English text used will be from the Authorized King James Version of
the Bible, but we will also compare this with the Greek and rectify any
mistranslations as they appear. But before we see the readings I think it
would be beneficial for all to know how the readings are selected; in
other words, how do we know which reading to say on any particular day?
There are two cycles in the Church’s year: the movable cycle and the
immovable cycle. The first, the movable cycle is called so because there
are no fixed dates in this cycle. It depends entirely on when Easter falls
which has a movable date, for example: this year it fell on 27th April,
next year Easter will be on the 19th of April and in 2010 it will be on
4th April. Most of the year’s readings fall under this cycle so before I
explain what the immovable cycle is let’s see how the movable cycle works.
In the
Orthodox Church, the readings of both the Gospels and Epistles are divided
into daily readings in such a way that the whole New Testament is read
throughout the year except for the Book of Revelations. The order is not
the same as found in the New Testament, for example we do not begin with
Matthew and end with John: neither do the readings begin with the New Year
on 1 January or the Ecclesiastical year which begins on 1 September. The
First readings in the Church’s Gospel Book and Apostle Book begin with the
readings for the Sunday of Easter. Easter, or Pascha as is more
appropriate, is the day of the New Beginning, the New Age. We often call
it the eighth day because it symbolises the end of this world which was
created in six days and on the seventh the Lord rested. This eighth day is
a new day and is the new kingdom that Christians will inherit after the
Second Coming of Christ and where everything is transfigured and begins
anew for all eternity.
Thus
we don’t start with Matthew who begins with Jesus’ ancestral line and with
the incarnation of our Lord into this world, but rather with John who
begins his Gospel even before the world was created, by telling us that
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that
was made.” Thus John begins from the very beginning telling us that
Christ is God and that he always existed and everything that was created
was created by him. For the next few weeks we continue reading from St
John’s Gospel until Pentecost. On the Monday after Pentecost, in other
words the Monday of the Holy Spirit, we begin readings from St. Matthew’s
Gospel, which continue until the Feast of the Universal Exaltation of the
Cross on the 14th September. On the following Monday we begin readings
from St. Luke and these continue until we reach Great Lent. On the first
Saturday of Great Lent we begin with the Gospel of St. Mark, which will
lead us to Great and Holy Saturday where ends the cycle and begins again
with Easter Sunday. Thus we have four periods of readings with each period
assigned to one of the four Gospels.
Having
said this it doesn’t mean that during the Period of St. Luke we only read
from St. Luke’s Gospel. The Periods refer to the Sunday Gospels readings,
but the daily Gospels readings may also contain readings from the other
Gospels. Another thing that someone might find confusing is that some
readings are not taken from continuous verses or from just one Gospel. In
other words the Reading might begin with verses 1 and 2 of a certain
chapter then skip a few verses to begin again at verses 9 and 10 and
finish with a verse from another Gospel altogether. This you will notice
more during Holy week which often has combined readings from the four
Gospels to make one reading. The Apostle readings follow a simpler order.
They also begin with the First reading on Easter Sunday from the Acts of
the Apostles and all the readings until Pentecost are likewise from the
Acts. Paul’s letters are then divided into readings for the next 35 weeks,
following almost the exact order found in the New Testament, beginning
with Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians and so forth. These readings end
with the Saturday of Meat-fare Week and then from Cheese-fare Sunday until
Holy Saturday special readings are assigned for each day. The readings for
the Saturdays and Sundays of Great Lent are from Paul’s Epistle to the
Hebrews. That then is the movable cycle.
The
immovable cycle means exactly that. It doesn’t move, in other words every
reading in this cycle has a fixed date and is read on that date every year
unless it falls on a Sunday or is overlapped by the movable cycle. This is
the cycle for the fixed feasts for each month. To this belong feast like
Christmas, Epiphany, the Meeting of our Lord, the Annunciation and all the
Saint Days. When Saint Days fall on a Sunday it is usual for the Apostle
reading to be taken from the immovable cycle, in other words the reading
is the appointed reading for that particular saint, but the Gospel reading
remains from the movable cycle. This is because the main feast on any
Sunday is the Resurrection of our Lord. This rule is ignored when one of
the Lord’s feasts falls on Sundays. In such cases the resurrection is
ignored and everything is taken from the appointed readings for that
feast. The resurrection rule is also ignored for certain saints. This
Sunday for example, we should have had the Apostle reading for the 22nd
Sunday and the Gospel for the 8th Sunday in St. Luke’s cycle, but because
this Sunday we celebrate the feast for St. Matthew the Evangelist, both
readings are from the fixed cycle for the 16th November.
So
after that rather long introduction let’s hear the Apostle reading for St.
Matthew’s feast. The reading is from the First Epistle of St. Paul to the
Corinthians, chapter 4, verses 9 to 16.
“Brethren, God hath set forth us the apostles last,
as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world,
and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise
in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are
despised. Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are
naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace; And labour,
working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we
suffer it: Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the
world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day. I write not
these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you. For though
ye have ten thousand instructers in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers:
for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Wherefore I
beseech you, be ye followers of me.”
The reading is
a common reading for most of the apostles and we will hear it again in two
weeks when we celebrate the feast of St. Andrew the first-called. Let’s
now see the meaning for each verse:
1) “Brethren, God hath set forth us the apostles
last, as it were appointed to death:
Paul is
explaining how the apostles must seem in the eyes of non-believers. For
them it is not logical for those who have been appointed by God to be his
representatives, to be his ambassadors that they should not also share in
the glory of Jesus Christ whom they preach. All they can see is that God
has shown them to be in the sight of men as the lowest of all men like
those who are condemned to death and are walking to their place of
execution. But are they not in fact walking the same road to Golgotha as
did Jesus Christ? Jesus’ glory was hidden from most men until he was
Crucified and Resurrected and even after this, it was only revealed to
those that believed in the Resurrection. To all who lack faith they cannot
understand the difference between the temporary glory of earthly kings and
the eternal glory of Jesus Christ in the heavenly kingdom. The glory
promised to everyone who takes up his Cross and follows in the footsteps
of our Lord, who follows this road to Golgotha. In this sense all
Christians who have inflicted upon themselves a humble life, often
accompanied with harsh rules of conduct, are seen by non-believers as
people who are depriving themselves of the glory and pleasures of this
world and are therefore like convicted prisoners who have been deprived of
their freedom to enjoy life.
2) “for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and
to angels, and to men.”
Paul continues
saying that the way of life of the Apostles, the way of life for all
Christians makes us a strange spectacle to all the world: to the angels
who look upon us with wonder and admiration because we are willing to be
humiliated for our faith and with mocking and sneering from men who cannot
understand our way of life.
3) “We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise
in Christ;”
Indeed to
those who do not believe in Christ, we appear like fools and stupid. Only
fools would deprive themselves of life’s pleasures, only someone lacking
in mental stability would believe in a God who was put to death by his own
people. Only someone with the mind of a moron would give up his own life
and become a martyr for a God that doesn’t exist. For this same reason
they alone are wise and well balanced because their intelligence places
them above the simple and gullible followers of a man who said he was God,
but was then beaten and humiliated and crucified like a common thief.
4) “we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are
honourable, but we are despised.”
Here, the
Greek text does not say despised, but un-honoured or without honour. Thus
it should read “we are weak, but ye are strong; ye
are honourable, but we are without honour”.
The faith of
Christians appears as a weakness to non-believers, a weakness associated
with uneducated people who are ready to believe whatever anyone tells
them. Even today many educated people, especially in the field of Science,
tell us that religion is manmade and people inclined to believe in a God
have weak characters. It is something concocted by man to control the
masses by putting the fear of God into them. Therefore Christians are weak
because they have allowed themselves to be controlled in this way, but
they are strong because they are above the average man who allows himself
to be brainwashed. Again they are honourable in the sight of their fellow
non-believers and Christians are despised. They seek for the honour and
glory of men which is a recognition of their importance and position in
life based on their education and material wealth. As for Christians there
is no earthly honour for living a life of humility, for turning the other
cheek. Where is the honour in being meek and gentle and in allowing
oneself to be led as a lamb to the slaughter? Where is the heroism when
one doesn’t retaliate and fight back. Is this then not a sign of weakness,
a sign of cowardice which would indeed be seen as despicable.
5) “Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and
thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace;
and labour, working with our own hands”
The Greek text
has the word “ἀστατοῦμεν” meaning
unsettled, which in the King James is translated as “no certain
dwellingplace” and in other translations as homeless. Both are correct in
meaning, but wandering from place to place would be a more exact
translation.
The apostle is
saying that from the day that they received the apostolic calling and
until that present day, they have been living with a multitude of
inconveniences and misfortunes. They have been hungry and thirsty and
without clothing to protect them from bad weather. In other words they
didn’t preach the word of God to be rewarded with a daily meal. They
didn’t preach because they were lazy and instead of doing an honest days
work found it easier to rely on charity. In doing God’s work they were
often rewarded with beatings and fists in their faces, and they didn’t
have the comforts of a permanent roof over their heads. Their mission was
to spread the Good News of the Resurrection which meant that they had to
move from village to village, from town to town and country to country
travelling thousands of miles and this mostly on foot. And they didn’t
remain idle as some supposed, but laboured with their own hands to earn
their daily bread. This Paul also verified when writing to the
Thessalonians saying that: “at no time did they eat another man’s bread
for free, but worked for their upkeep labouring day and night so that they
wouldn’t be a burden on anyone. And this they did even though they were
entitled to ask from the believers to be supplied with food and shelter
because they wanted to be an example for others to follow. And they even
commanded that if anyone was not willing to work then neither should he be
given to eat: a rule that they themselves followed to the letter. (2Thess.
8-10)
6) “being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we
suffer it: Being defamed, we intreat:”
Being reviled,
abused or jeered at, we bless. This is the same teaching we heard from
Christ, but with the words “love thine enemy, do
good to them that do you harm” This is the test if one truly
follows in Christ’s footsteps. It’s easy to love thy neighbour, but to
bear no hard feelings for someone who does you harm and on top of that to
bless him is indeed a test of ones faith. Many who try to practice this
commandment fall into a false delusion. They accept being abused without
retaliation, but say within themselves that they suffer it for Christ’s
sake, in other words they make martyrs of themselves. Many Jehovah
Witnesses do the same when they go from door to door and often hear
abusive language or have the door shut in their face. They bear the abuse
as thou they are martyrs, but that is not what Christ or Paul had in mind.
One blesses and prays for those who do us wrong because we actually love
them as our brothers. They do not realize the wrong they are doing because
their spiritual eyes are still closed and they are like blind people
living in darkness. It is as Christ said on the cross
“forgive them for they know not what they do”.
If we love them then we would pray for them that their eyes may be opened
to see what we see and then they will change from their ugly ways. We hate
what they do, but not the person. We must see in all men that they are
God’s children created in his image and likeness just as we are. When we
can do this then we can suffer or more correctly endure being persecuted
with patience. When we are defamed, that is when we are slandered we try
with words of kindness and love to calm and pacify the situation.
7) “we are made as the filth of the world, and are
the offscouring of all things unto this day.”
In the Greek
the word for filth is refuse (rubbish) and offscouring is the residue left
after cleaning grain. Thus Paul is saying that they have become in the
eyes of non-believers as objects that have no worth similar to the rubbish
that people cast out and like the chaff that remains after separating the
wheat which has no value except for food for the swine.
8) “I write not these things to shame you, but as my
beloved sons I warn you.”
Paul is
justifying why he has written all these things to them: he doesn’t want to
be misunderstood that he is accusing them of such unchristian behaviour;
he doesn’t want them to feel embittered or ashamed, but to accept his
advice as from a father to his children because that is how he himself
sees them.
9) “For though ye have ten thousand instructors in
Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten
you through the gospel. Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.”
Even though
you might have so many instructors and teachers to teach you about Christ
and the Christian faith, yet you do not have many fathers, only one is
your father and that is me, because through the enlightenment and power
that Christ has given me, I have spiritually given birth to you and given
you a new life through the Gospel. Therefore I beseech you as my beloved
children follow me and be as I am, use my way of life as an example and
mimic me.
Now these last
lines give me an opportunity to speak of something I was asked about 2-3
weeks ago by someone who on reading the bible was puzzled by the passage
where Christ says: “call no man your father upon the
earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.” (Matth. 23: 9)
He is not alone in his bewilderment, a great many people cannot understand
this passage and churches that don’t have Priests, but ministers accuse us
of deliberately ignoring the Lord. As Christ gave such a commandment then
why do we call our paternal dad and Priests by the title father? Is this
not a blatant disregard for what Christ has said? Well Yes, if we take the
phrase out of its context and think only on this one passage, if we take
it literally as an absolute prohibition then we are purposely ignoring the
Lord. But when trying to interpret passages from the Bible we must be very
careful to not isolate passages. We must search for the meaning not only
in the chapter we find it in, but also in the rest of the Bible.
So
when did the Lord find it necessary to say these words? He was
reprimanding the behaviour of the Scribes and Pharisees who with their
manner and clothing wanted to make an impression that they were important
and worthy of the highest respect. They glorified in their own appearance
and demanded to be called Rabbi, Master and teacher. They didn’t call
their priests father which was an honorary title reserved for great men
who had died like Abraham. Their overall attitude was one of authority and
greatness and Jesus was warning the people to ignore their outward
appearance. Thus he said don’t call anyone Rabbi in other words Master
because there is one who is above all of them, Christ is the Master of all
men and the rest are like brothers and equal among themselves. He then
said don’t call anyone on earth Father because one is your Father, which
is in heaven. But in context with want he had already said he is referring
to the authority of a father. The complete authority and power over any
person is not someone’s paternal father or spiritual father compared with
God the Father who is the original father in that he created all people,
The paternal father is just the instrument used to give us birth and
likewise the Priest the spiritual father is the instrument that was used
to give us our rebirth through baptism. They are like guardians of the
person compared to God who is the father and gives life. Thus the emphasis
of want Christ is saying is not on the words whether they be rabbi, father
or teacher but rather on the authority and power the Scribes and Pharisees
tried to impose on the people by using these titles.
But
let’s not leave it at just that: but verify this interpretation with other
passages from the Bible. If Christ meant that it was prohibited to call
anyone but God father, then he himself would have been careful not to use
the word when referring to any human being. But he does just that. There
are many passages in the New Testament where Christ refers to others using
the word father. When telling the rich young man to keep the commandments
he mentions among others to “honour your father and
mother”. (Matth 19:19) In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus
does he not name Abraham as father Abraham? And when he explained that he
was the bread of life did he not say that “Your
fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.”? (John 6:48-49)
When talking on martyrdom He says: And the brother shall deliver up the
brother to death, and the father the child.” (Matth. 10: 21) and
“I am come to set a man at variance against his
father, and the daughter against her mother: and “He that loveth father or
mother more than me is not worthy of me.” (Matth. 10: 37)
“For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and
mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But
ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by
whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; And honour not his father or
his mother, he shall be free.” (Matth. 15: 4)
When he came down from Mount Tabor he was asked to cure a boy possessed
with a demon and its say: “He asked his father, How
long is it ago since this came unto him?: (Mark 9: )
Then there is the passage where he tells us that if we knock we shall find
and “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is
a father, will he give him a stone? (Luke 11: 11)
So we see that
Christ used the word father countless of times which means that he did not
prohibit the actual word but that the authority a father has over a child
should not be above the authority God has who is the eternal father. If we
take the passage literally then what are we to call our fathers and our
teachers? Do not even those who accuse us also refer to their parents as
father and mother? But Paul also refers to himself as the father to his
spiritual children as we saw earlier. And this not only to the Corinthians
but also to the Thessalonians and to individuals like Timothy my own son,
and my son Titus and Onesimus who he says I have begotten in my bonds.
Thus it is not
wrong to call a Priest Father. It is a term of intimacy and love and
acknowledgement that through him we received our second birth, our
spiritual birth in the Gospel – our Baptism. But also we look to our
priests to continually play the role of a father and to nourish us with
spiritual food in the same way we look to our paternal father to nourish
and give us everything we need for the body. This is how the Church has
always understood this passage and that is why for 2 thousand years she
has addressed her clergy as “Father”. In all her wisdom and countless of
brilliant minds like Sts. Basil and John Chrysostom who were meticulous in
every word of scripture, would they not have questioned the use of father
if they believed it was wrong?
Another
example where certain passages are taken out of context can be found in
the Ten Commandment. The second Commandment states:
“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any
thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is
in the water under the earth.” If we take it literally then God is
prohibiting all forms of art, but not long after he gave Moses the Ten
Commandment he then tells Moses to break his own commandment by making
“two cherubim of gold; of beaten work shalt thou
make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat”. (Exodus 25: 18)
So, is God
contradicting himself? Absolutely not! Because he was talking about idols
that would be used as deities where people would bow down and worship as
gods instead of the One true God. I think no more need be said.
I have used
most of tonight’s time on the Apostle reading which doesn’t leave us
enough time to give an in depth interpretation of the Gospel reading. As
already said the reading is for the feast of St. Matthew and the reading
is taken from the Gospel of St Matthew and the passage where he himself
describes his calling to the Apostolic throne. Here then is the reading:
“At that time, as Jesus passed forth, he saw a man,
named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him,
Follow me. And he arose, and followed him. And it came to pass, as Jesus
sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat
down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said
unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? But
when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a
physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth,
I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Matthew 9: 9-13)
As Jesus
passed by he saw a man named Matthew sitting in his office where he
collected taxes. We have spoken of Matthew before when we saw a brief
account of all four evangelists. His occupation was a Publican, or simply
a tax collector employed by the authority to collect the taxes from the
people. Publicans were hated and held in contempt as being the lowest of
all men because they forced people to pay much heavier taxes than those
imposed by the authority. This Matthew, hated by many because of his
occupation, Jesus saw and called him to follow him. For Jesus to invite
Matthew to be an Apostle means that he saw deep within his heart and saw
there the hidden goodness of his character. Matthew also must have had
previous knowledge of Jesus’ teaching and held him in high esteem. He
immediately arose and followed him. He didn’t hesitate to first put his
house and office in order, but left everything as it was and followed
Jesus who he had met for the first time. The other apostles did the same,
but Matthew had more to lose than the others. The fishermen Peter, Andrew,
James and John left their boats but they could always return to them and
their occupation of fishing if for some reason they chose to leave Jesus’
company. Matthew on the other hand would not have been able to return to
his position that he abandoned which would have been filled immediately by
many who saw it as an opportunity to get rich quick. And who would have
given employment to a former Publican?
Now
Matthew was so overwhelmed with joy that the Lord found in him someone
worthy of such a high calling that he wanted to celebrate this with his
friends. He holds a great feast in his house and invites Jesus to sit and
eat with them which he accepts. Matthew probably had in mind that if his
fellow publicans and other sinners with whom he associated with heard
Jesus then they also would follow him. When the Pharisees saw or rather
heard because it’s very unlikely that they were invited to the dinner, so
when they heard that Jesus sat and talked with Publicans and sinners they
were scandalized. No law abiding and pious Jew would have kept company
with Publicans or Gentiles let alone sit down with them at the same table.
Thus they asked Jesus’ disciples for an explanation: why does your Master
sit at the same table with scum who don’t even observe the Sabbath? Jesus
heard what they said and answered “They that be
whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” In other words
He is the physician of souls and was sent by the Father to heal the
sinners who are spiritually sick. If the physician doesn’t sit with his
patients and hear their pain how can he give them the right medicine to
soothe their pain? Thus he was telling them that we do not abandon the
sinner when we have the means to correct him and make him whole.
Jesus
didn’t bring judgement on the Pharisees who had the impression that they
were spiritually whole, he just said that because they assumed and thought
themselves in good spiritual health then they didn’t have need of a
doctor, they didn’t have need of him. But also he told them to go and
learn what the passage “I will have mercy, and not sacrifice” means. What
he is telling them is to go to the Synagogue where the law is kept and
read, and there to search the scriptures for this passage. They of course
knew the scriptures very well, but they only read them without putting
them into practice. The quote is from the Book of Hosea chapter 6 verse 6
“For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the
knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.” Thus with the help of
the Prophet, Jesus justifies that it is an act of mercy to sit with
sinners when it is for their spiritual benefit. You, he tells them, can go
and learn what the Prophet meant while I who understands will put it into
practice. He then again stresses that he didn’t come to call the righteous
but sinners to repentance. In other words he didn’t come to save them who
considered themselves as righteous because they obeyed the letter of the
law: the outward requirements like keeping the Sabbath, fasting on the
days required and offering their burnt offerings. What they lacked was the
spirit of the law and when they realized that they were sinners, because
they had no compassion, love or mercy for their fellow men, then he would
be there for them as well.
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