We see before us today another miracle of Jesus Christ that bears particularly and personally on your faith, on my faith, and on our church. Christ once again reveals Himself as God incarnate.
The Gospel is opened for us today to reveal the calling of Christ’s foremost disciples: Peter, James, and John. Christ doesn’t call these fishermen in the Synagogue but on the water, in their boats, while fishing! And what does He call them to? He calls them to become evangelists, witnesses to the truth of life in Him, saying, “Do not be afraid, from now on you will be fishers of men” (Luke 5: 10). Having just seen the miracle of the great catch of fish where there weren’t any before, they’re ready to leave all else behind to follow Christ.
All of us as baptized Orthodox Christians have an obligation before God to live out our faith, not just to journey ourselves further up and further in the Life that Christ is, but to grow in the knowledge and love of Him. In fact, part of that growth in participation in the life of the Holy Trinity that we call deification, theosis, is achieved only by coming outside ourselves to love and to serve Christ by witnessing to His truth in this world.
Listen to what St. Paul says, “Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation… Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.” (II Cor. 5:17,20). By virtue of our putting on Christ in baptism, becoming a new creation in Him, we’re made His ambassadors to the world around us.
Our living out of our faith is our response to that calling as ambassadors. So, it’s incumbent on us to examine how we live our lives, how we speak, how we think, what we do, how we love, how we prioritize our worship and our time with God and with each other.
What is it that compels us to model our faith before others? Is it fear of punishment from God? Is it duty? The verse that everyone knows gives us the answer: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him, may have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16).
Having put on Christ in baptism, having been made a new creation, having become Christ’s ambassadors, we grow in the love that God Himself is the Author of, the love that God Himself models for us and pours out on us through His Son whom He sent to enter into human nature as man so that He could redeem that nature as God.
We who are in Christ are called to grow in that same love, to share that same love. This love is a love for the truth of God, for the fullness of life with God, because Christ proclaims and demonstrates Himself to be that Truth. We don’t desire a watered-down Jesus, Jesus on our terms; instead, we desire Jesus the Christ, the only “Lover of mankind,” as we affirm in the hymnody of the Church, the only One who can heal us and save us and make us more like Him.
If we are in Christ, the same desire to save the lost, to witness and speak the truth of God that Christ did, to heal the sin-sick, is also in us. We see this manifested in countless lives of the Saints who have come before us in every age. They have overcome their fears, their pride, and dared to love God to such an extent that they can follow Him and become great “fishers of men.”
If we find ourselves indifferent or our love growing cold, then we repent and begin to pray that Christ will give us His love, to help us to learn to love with His love. While we may understand the “why” of witnessing the Gospel and Orthodox Faith, it doesn’t take away from the fact that to many, coming outside ourselves to witness to the truth of our faith is daunting if not frightening. It demands humility, overcoming over-sensitivity and fear of rejection. Remember Christ’s words, “Do not be afraid, from now on you will be fishers of men” (Luke 5: 10).
It’s true: sometimes our witness to the truth that Christ is will be rejected. We may be greeted with indifference or even laughed at. St. Paul puts it this way: “We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness” (I Cor. 1:23). There’s no doubt that it’s easier just to remain silent, to get along, but this is not love. Instead, Christ God commands us to love sacrificially by witnessing to the truth that He is in a world in darkness.
We as parishioners and attendees of Holy Archangels Orthodox Mission have an inherent interest in following Christ’s call to become “Fishers of men.” A mission is, by definition, a missionary enterprise. A new mission begins not just so those Orthodox who live close to the new church don’t have as far to travel to worship. No, a mission means that the Church (with a capital C) is putting its flag down, saying, “this is a place that needs the Gospel and Orthodox Faith, this is a place where people need to hear the Gospel and come to the fullness of life in Christ, the Sacraments and all the tools He’s lovingly entrusted to us through His holy Church.
Growing a Mission, like founding a Mission, inherently involves ‘risk.’ As Christians, we call that risk, faith, because it’s grounded in trust that God will grow His Church, that He deeply loves the people of Annapolis, and that He “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (I Tim. 2:4). We trust that God will provide and we bless the means through which He provides. We are participants in this work and in its fruit: those who grow in their faith in Christ, those who return to their faith in Christ, those who come to the fullness of faith and life in Christ through His Church. All because those before us were not afraid to be “fishers of men,” to head Christ’s call in obedience just as the disciples Peter, James, and John did in today’s Gospel.
Our building up of our church, Holy Archangels, testifies to the truth of Christ and of the Orthodox Faith in Christ. For this reason, we serve as Christ’s ambassadors: we give of our time, talents, and our treasurers, so that we can build a church, another spiritual ‘hospital,’ not just for us, but for all those whom we do not yet know, but who will come to embrace the life in Christ with us through this church. This too is an act of love and sacrifice.
We’re taking a step of faith as a Mission: the Council and others through prayer, are looking to take the Mission to the next level: our own space, so we can grow and be faithful stewards of what Christ God has entrusted to us. A wise priest with much experience in missiology, put it this way, “there are some people who will come to a church in borrowed space, setting up and taking down; there are other people who will then come to a church in its own rented space; there are still other people who will come to a church that is built. Moving to our own space will require sacrifices from us, but it will bring us more in blessings as we acquire new brothers and sisters to share in this sacramental life in Christ with us, it will enlarge our spiritual hospital both for us and those whom God will bring through our doors. And so, we remember Christ’s words, “Do not be afraid, from now on you will be fishers of men” (Luke 5: 10).
Fr. Robert Miclean
Holy Archangels Orthodox Church
September 22, 2013
13th Sunday after Pentecost
Epistle: I Cor. 16:13-24
Gospel: Luke 5:1-11
