“Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love.” So St. Paul admonishes us through today’s Epistle from I Corinthians. This passage, which introduces the subject of authority in the Church and our need to submit to it, is framed in the context which St. Paul first introduces it, “love.” In this way, St. Paul echoes Christ’s call to those who minister, His bishops and priests, that theirs is a servant leadership, not of this world.
Christ says, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. 26 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. 27 And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Matt. 20:26-28)
This teaching on servant leadership in the Church also forms the basis for the life of all Orthodox Christians. It’s set in the context of Christ’s admonition, that, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mark 8:34).
This admonition forms the basis for understanding St. Paul’s words that „all be done with love.” Love is an often misunderstood word in our culture—like, lust, infatuation, affirmation, have all become its synonyms. But God is the Author of love and so love really means this: desiring for others that which God desires for them. If we truly love others, we desire that they come to know Christ God Himself, the Author and Sustainer of life, and grow in their knowledge and love of Him, which means deification, greater participation in His divine life.
And so here we realize another truth about love: love is reciprocated if it is to have its full, healthful, and salvific affect. God loves us but cannot force us to love Him and follow Him in return. No one can command another person to return love as that is not love.
The same is true in the Church, Christ’s Body, the place where, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ’s love is revealed to us with the reality of the Kingdom of Heaven through the Sacraments, the Divine and deifying Services, the Communion of the Saints, and the opportunity to love God and our neighbor, that is, first, our brothers and sisters in Christ. It is from such encounters that we can then venture forth to love those in the world.
We’re reminded in of this very practical aspect of love, that is, that it must be without hypocrisy. Christ God reminds us that the one who says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, [a]how can he love God whom he has not seen? (I Jn. 4:20). Likewise, in today’s Gospel we are admonished not to take God’s gracious gift of life with Him, of participation with Him for granted. The vineyard is symbolic of the Church and God’s Kingdom. We reject His gracious gift at our own peril.
But like God’s love, the bishops and priests of His Church cannot force anyone to do that which is good for their soul’s healing and growth. The saying is apt, „You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” God shows His love for us through His Church: He offers us the life-giving participation in the Sacraments, discipline, accountability through Confession, but we have to be willing to submit ourselves to receive it: our fasting, prayer, preparation, Confession, is all part of that desire to love God more and be in His near presence, that is, in Communion with Him. The Eucharist is the pinnacle of that participation.
But without our “yes” to Christ and His Church, without our willing submission and obedience and accountability in the Church, we’re left to our own devises, our own self-delusions, our own opinions and we will not find healing and salvation in them. Any subjectivity of the one, true faith, that is, the one, true life in Christ, is not Orthodox Christianity, is not the way that leads to Him who is life. This is where our submission comes in: All of us, from the Bishop and priest to every parishioner of every church is called to submit himself in Christ and His Church, to love in a sacrificial manner, just as St. Paul says in today’s Epistle, “that you also submit to such, and to everyone who works and labors with us.”
The priest isn’t here to give you what you want; true love, God’s love, demands an account of the clergy, as Christ assures us, that they impart to you what we need: the timeless truth of Christ and the sure path of deification and salvation “once delivered to the Saints.” The recipe for this healing, growth, and salvation hasn’t changed in 2,000 years of Christian witness in the Church. It is the truth of Christ revealed through the Church, through Him who is the “Way, the Truth, and the Life.” (John 14:6). He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
When we submit ourselves to the teaching, disciplines, and accountability in the Church, what we’re really saying is, “Yes, I desire to take Christ’s yoke upon me.” And He, for His part, reassures us, saying, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” This is the recipe that Christ God has entrusted to us that we may have peace in our lives. We cannot have peace apart from Christ; He is the „Prince of Peace.” He is the One who alone can give rest to our souls and in whose hands we entrust in return our present and our future, in whom alone is our hope.
Of the Church, St. John Chrysostom says, “Here is a hospital; not a tribunal.” Nothing could be more truly said: The Church truly is a spiritual hospital for our souls. The sacramental life in Christ’s holy Orthodox Church is therapeutic, not juridical. We speak of sin in Orthodox Christianity as ‚sickness’ because we see its sad effect on us, on our relationships, and on the world around us. Christ offers us healing through growth in Him, through godly submission and obedience to Him and His Church. This is His great love for us. He offers us freedom from our sinful passions and true enlightenment through the illumination of our souls, through our growth in the knowledge and love of Him and our growing participation in His divine life. A Romanian proverb says, “Obedience is the shortest path to heaven.”
It remains for us to decide how much we allow God into our lives, and how much we allow Him to work in us and through us and how obedient we are willing to be. The calling is clear and the choice is clear. We’ve been led to the living water of Christ in His holy Church. May we readily drink from it, in humility, godly submission and love. As St. Paul admonishes us today, “Stand fast in the Faith, be brave, be strong,” and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ will be with you.
Fr. Robert Miclean
Holy Archangels Orthodox Church
26 August 2018
Epistle: I Cor. 16:13-24
Gospel: Matt. 21:33-42
