Today the herald of the Feast of the Nativity bids us be attentive: Today is the Sunday of the Forefathers of Christ—the 11th hour of Advent: the Lord is coming!
This Sunday the Lord invites us to recall his earthly forefathers, both those before the Law and those after the Law of Moses. On this day, we begin to ponder in advance of the Feast what it means that God took on human flesh and human nature and became one of His own creation, adding Himself to the genealogy of that created human order He Himself called into being by His own Word.
The list of those ancestors of Christ—the forefathers—contains a list of the “who’s who” of the Old Testament—Saints and sinners alike, men and even women who were either sinners or foreigners. The women point to the prominent place that they will play in mankind’s redemption through the Virgin Mary, the new Eve, and the women disciples of the Lord. Underscored here is that Christ came to redeem all of humanity, human nature itself, in order to create a new race of Adam—not one based on gender, race, place, or time, but one grounded in the firm and eternal foundation that is our identity in Christ God.
Already, even before He sent out His disciples to preach the good news to “all nations”, Christ Himself hails, in part, from Gentile seed. The Jew of Jews, St. Paul, reminds us of this truth in today’s Epistle, saying, “there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.” (Col. 3:11).
We who worship here today are inheritors of this promise that God made to Abraham when He declared, “in your seed, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 26:4). Many Jews saw this promise as given purely through the Abrahamic blood line, grounded in this world and, in turn, partaking of the fallen race of Adam.
But God had something greater in mind: the renewal and regeneration of the human race where everyone is called. No one is excluded from the calling to be renewed with Christ, the new Adam, to become a co-heir with Him. In Matthew’s genealogy Christ’s ancestors include both righteous and unrighteous, faithful kings and murderers, Jews and Gentiles, kings and peasants, men and women. The hallmark of all is cooperation with the work of God through faith, cooperation with the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives, faith.
It’s not the sum of their sins, but the faithfulness of the forefathers’ repentance which is remembered and summed up in Psalm 50, “a broken and humbled heart God will not despise.” The Prophet and King David, who composed this Psalm from the depths of his soul, repenting of murder and adultery, testifies to this truth. For this reason, we pray this psalm every morning that we may remember repentance and remember God’s gracious forgiveness.
But what if we don’t avail ourselves of this great gift of God’s mercy? What if we keep putting off repentance out of fear, which is, in reality, a form of pride, of over reliance on self and not on God. What if we buy into the consumerism and materialism of our present world and forget God and our calling in Him? What if we begin to take God’s grace and love for granted, this greatest of gifts, which is our new life in the human nature which Christ has renewed? Today’s Gospel is an invitation but it’s also a warning to not take God’s mercy and love for granted. All are called, but not all choose to be among the chosen of God. If we refuse, others will come in our place. God’s life is never forced upon us; we can choose death, that is, apartness from God and His life.
Those who reject the fullness of the life in Christ are not worthy of that life. Jesus says, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). He calls on us who thirst, to come and drink (John 7:37). And, most audaciously, Christ says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice, I will come into him and dine with him and he with Me.” How do we dare despise this invitation to share in koinonia with the King, our Creator, our Savior?
God loves us too much to hold back from warning us beforehand of the consequences of neglecting His gracious invitation, of disavowing ourselves of communion with the Life that He alone is, as He does with this parable of the great supper in today’s Gospel.
St. Paul too, for his part, warns us specifically of some of the passions that will keep us from this life in the Kingdom with God if we do not turn from them, saying, “therefore, put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
Now is the time for repentance. Now is the time to make confession and renew our baptism in Christ. Now is the time to prepare for His coming. Advent is meant to spur us on to make our souls ready to greet Christ when He comes, as we prepare to receive Him in the Eucharist of the Feast and as we await His glorious and Second Coming.
Now is the time for us to rouse ourselves to action—to repent in word and deed. We, for our part, make ready to receive the King of all, humbly born in a manger in a cave for our salvation that He may make us humble, in turn, to teach us the way of true courage, humility, dying to self that we may live for Him and with Him for all eternity. Christ is coming again to judge the living and the dead, and each one of us.
So let us rouse ourselves from all spiritual lethargy, all fear all pride, to live lives reflective of the new creation we’ve become in Christ, “where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.”
We are called to continue to grow through deification. Let us repent with sincerity of heart, that we may with good conscience, receive Christ God at His glorious nativity.
Christ God is here, in our midst, ready to welcome us to His supper, ready to dine with us, to commune with us, to heal us, to make us whole. May we say “YES!” to God’s gracious invitation and make ready our souls to receive the King of kings and Lord of lords, who has become incarnate in the flesh by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary for our sake and that of the entire human race.
Fr. Robert Miclean
Holy Archangels Orthodox Church
Sunday, December 16, 2012
