Often, we think of God’s will as some overarching plan for our lives. We focus on the big picture, the long-term. We can forget that God’s will for us is discerned through a daily, even moment by moment, relationship and participation in the life of the Holy Trinity through His Church as we keep our focus on Christ, cooperating with the work of the Holy Spirit, obediently and humbly following the teachings of the Church—even as that following may be a struggle.
The word that St. Paul uses in today’s Epistle to describe this relationship of cooperation is “synergoi,” “synergy.” He says, “we are God’s fellow workers.” Now, this is no 50/50 relationship, of course: We aren’t equals with God. We cooperate with God’s work in us through our obedience to His teachings, to His Church, to the hierarchy, so that we can be pastored. Why? In order that we may grow in Christ-likeness and change, conforming ourselves to God’s will, learning to submit ourselves to each other, to grow in humility, faith, and love. Obviously, this is a great challenge, but it’s a necessary part of our deification.
If Christ, showing us the Way, submitted Himself to the Father in all things, how much more should we, submit ourselves to Him and the Church. Certainly, many Orthodox today may struggle with authority in the Church, with grafting themselves into the Church that is above culture and time, just as they struggle with the idea of being a family, a community in the Church because so much of this model is broken in the culture around us.
So, what does this contemporary challenge mean for us as Orthodox today? It means that you and I have not less of a need for the Church, but an even greater need for the Church, living as we do in a culture that promotes the autonomy of the individual over our sense of connection with family, place, and community. We have an even greater need to trust God and His work in us through the timeless teachings of the Church because the culture around us is influenced by so many ‘winds of doctrine’.
For this reason, the priests and bishops of the Church are here not to impart their opinions but the timeless truth of Christ, to strive to love as Christ loves, to preach, to adjure as in keeping with the sure path that’s been entrusted to us. If the clergy aren’t fulfilling this primary aspect of their ordination, then they have failed to live up to that high calling. God loves us too much to leave us to our own devises, to leave us without answers to the challenges to our faith presented by modern secular humanism. Instead, He gives us pastors, spiritual fathers, confessors, teachers, preachers, to teach us and give us accountability in His Church, to help us with our doubts and fears, to increase our faith—if we’re open to receiving that guidance—so that we build on the foundation of Jesus Christ and none other, as St. Paul reminds us today.
Each priest is called and responsible to Christ God and to his bishop, to give you the fullness of the truth of Christ, even if you struggle with it or, God forbid, reject it. Think, for example, of the encouragement to pray daily, to come to Vespers more often, to make regular confession, to prepare to receive the Eucharist, to fast, to put Christ first and witness to the Truth He is, to come before Christ’s presence in the outward dress and the inward humility we see in the icons of the Saints around us. These tools and pious practices can all be challenging in their own way, but each of them are good for us, can aid us as in courageously facing the challenge to live for Christ in this world where it’s so hard to be faithful.
For our part, we’re each responsible for how we build on, cooperate with the teaching and pastoring we’ve received, how we act on what we’ve been taught of that truth of Christ He’s entrusted to us for our salvation. And so, realizing what’s at stake, we have need to prioritize the Kingdom of God over all that’s temporal and passing away so that we may become inheritors of that which is eternal: His Kingdom. If we truly love Christ, there can be no complacency, either with regard to our own healing and salvation, nor with that of our family, friends and others.
Our cooperation, our “yes” to God, is predicated on such faith, or, at least, the desire for such faith. Faith means letting go of your control, your will, your way, and deciding to struggle to trust God more. Sure, taking a big step of faith is hard, can induce fear. The more pride grips us, the more we can fear the spiritual surgery God will do to grow us in the knowledge and love of Him, to cooperate with His work us, and, likewise, the more we may chafe against the Church.
The disciples, for their part, knew something about having to grow in humility and faith: they were in constant fear, constantly pushed to have more faith as they followed Jesus. They seem to be placed in one perilous situation after another. In today’s Gospel, for instance, we find them tossed about on the sea, the waves and the wind making them fear for their lives. To add to it, Christ comes to them, walking on those storm-tossed waves. Imagine! Seeing such an unbelievable sight; we can understand how they could think Him a ghost.
Christ’s words to them though are comforting, even as they should be to us in our struggles to courageously trust God. He assures them, saying, “It is I. Do not be afraid.” Literally, Christ says here, “I AM; He uses the divine name of God. Who else has the power over the laws of nature? Still dubious, Peter calls out, “Lord, if it’s You, command me to come to You on the water.” So, the Lord gives Peter what he asks for to teach him humility, to strengthen his faith. He commands Peter to walk to Him. And, Peter actually walks on the water! We often forget this when we consider this passage. For a few steps, Peter exhibits the humility and faith necessary to get to Christ, to do the impossible.
But when Peter gets distracted—in this case, “by the winds and waves,” and, here’s the key, takes his focus off of Christ, he begins to sink and be in trouble; his faith’s wavered, his focus is on himself, he’s drowning. So it is with us: we’re so easily distracted from focus on Christ. Peter shows us that keeping our focus on Christ, putting Him and His Church first in our lives, is hard. But when we fail to do so, what are the consequences? We can become fearful again, bogged down in the mundane of the material, temporal world, our pride, passions, worldly preoccupations, self-focus—and—we ‘sink,’ we spiritually ‘sink’. This is when we need more than ever to remember Christ’s words to us, “It is I. Do not be afraid.”
And so, God in His love and mercy, also gives us the tools we need to keep our focus on Him, to repent, to cooperate with the work of healing, growth, and salvation He’s doing in us. These tools are our daily morning and evening prayers, the divine services of the Church, our fasting, the lives of the Saints, the Holy Scriptures, and the Sacraments—all of which He offers us and guides us in through His Church. We don’t just need some of these tools, but all of these tools.
What foundation are you building on? Are you making use of the ‘gold’ that Christ God has entrusted to you to build on? St. Paul admonishes us today, saying “let each one take heed how he builds on it.” Our ‘building’ with Christ begins with cooperation and a teachable spirit, striving to follow the teachings of the Church with humility of heart, learning to grow in faith, praying for more trust in God, striving to keep and get our focus back on Christ—however many times we start to sink. Let’s pray that through growth in faith, trusting in God’s work in us, we may continue to grow in obedience, humility, and love for God and His holy Church, making use of all the tools He’s entrusted to us. In this way, Christ God will extend to us His strong arm. We will find ourselves among those who build on the foundation of Christ with ‘gold,’ and not as those who are saved, “as through fire” (I Cor. 3:15).
Fr. Robert Miclean
Holy Archangels Orthodox Church
Sunday, August 21, 2016
Christ Walks on the Water…and calls us to Faith 4
Epistle: I Cor. 3:9-17
Gospel: Matt. 14:22-34
