The word that St. Paul uses to describe this relationship of cooperation in today’s Epistle is “synergoi,” “synergy,” saying, “we are God’s fellow workers.” This is no 50/50 relationship: 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, in order that we may grow in Christ-likeness and change, conforming ourselves to God’s will. Obviously, this is a great challenge, but a necessary one if we’re to grow in Christ and be deified.
If Christ, showing us the Way, submitted Himself to the Father in all things, how much more should we, submit ourselves to the Church. As Westerners we all tend to struggle with having a ‘teachable spirit,’ with grafting ourselves into the Church that is above culture and time, just as we struggle with the idea of being part of a family, a community in the Church because so much of this is broken down around us in the culture.
But this means that you and I have an even greater need for the Church, living in this culture that promotes the autonomy of the individual over our sense of connection with family, place, community. We have an even greater need to trust God and His work in us through the Church, even as we are so often influenced by so many ‘winds of doctrine’.
For this reason, an Orthodox priest, as father of all those communicants of the church he pastors, isn’t here to give you his ‘opinions’ about Christ, the Church, or the Orthodox Faith. Rather, he’s here to strive to give you the truth, to love as Christ loves, to teach, to preach, to adjure as a father in Christ in keeping with the sure path that’s been entrusted to us. God loves us too much to leave us to our own devises! Instead, He gives us pastors, spiritual fathers, confessors, to teach us accountability in His Church—if we’re open to receiving that guidance. The tenets of Orthodoxy can be learned in books, but the heart of Orthodoxy is learned thru humility and godly obedience, and thereby, cooperation with the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Apropos, St. Paul reminds us today: “no other foundation can anyone lay that that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” As I strive to ‘build’ into each of you, I’m called and responsible to Christ God and to my bishop, to give you the fullness of the truth of Christ, even if you struggle with it or, reject it. Think, for example, of the encouragement to pray daily, to come to Vespers, to make regular confession, to prepare to receive the Eucharist, to put Christ first and witness to the Truth He is, to come before Christ’s presence in the outward dress and inward humility we see in the icons of the Saints around us. These admonitions can all be challenging, but these ‘tools’ of our salvation are all vital—so great is our challenge today to live for Christ in this secular world where it’s so hard to build community and model healthy family life in Christ.
For our part, we’re each responsible for how we build on what we’ve received and 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 prioritize the Kingdom of God over all that’s temporal and passing away so that we may become inheritors of that Kingdom and help others find their way into the Kingdom as well through our example of struggle, repentance, and faith.
Our cooperation, our daily, even moment by moment, “yes” to God, is predicated on such faith, or, at least, the desire for faith. And faith is one of those big concepts that often eludes us. Faith means letting go of our control, our own wills, and struggling to trust God. Taking a big step of faith can induce fear. The more pride grips us, the more we can fear the spiritual surgery God may be doing in us to grow us in cooperation with His work in our lives.
The disciples, for their part, were in constant fear following Jesus, and, they were in constant need of more and more faith. They seem to be placed in one perilous situation after another. In today’s Gospel, we find them tossed about on the sea, the waves and the wind making them much afraid. To add to their fear, Christ is seen walking to them on the storm-tossed waves. Imagine their fright! They assume He’s a ghost.
Christ’s words to them though are comforting, even as they are to us in our struggles with more trust, more faith. 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.” The Lord gives Peter what he asks and commands Peter to come. This is a big step of faith on Peter’s part. And, Peter walks on the water! We often forget this when we consider this passage. For a few steps, Peter exhibits the faith necessary to get to Christ. He keeps His focus on Christ.
When Peter gets distracted—in this case, by the winds and the waves, taking his focus off Christ, he begins to sink; he’s now in trouble; his faith has wavered. So it is with us: we are easily distracted. But God is with us, if we will avail ourselves of Him, striving to put our trust in Him and not in the ‘wind’ and the ‘sea,’ the distractions of our temporal life swirling around us.
Faith means repenting when we do sin and immediately striving to get our focus back on Christ. But as Peter evidences to us: faith is hard work; it’s hard keeping our focus on Christ. But when we fail to do so, what are the consequences? We can become fearful yet again, bogged down in the mundane of the material world, our pride, our passions, our worldly preoccupations, our self-focus—and we ‘sink,’ we spiritually ‘sink’. This is when we need to remember Christ’s comforting words to us, “It is I. Do not be afraid.”
And so, God in His love and mercy for us, 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 them.
What foundation are you building on? Are you making use of the ‘gold’ that Christ God has entrusted to you? As St. Paul admonishes us today, “let each one take head how he builds on it.” Our building with Christ begins with cooperation and a teachable spirit, praying for an increase in faith and trust in God, striving to keep and get our focus back on Christ. Let’s pray that through growth in faith, trusting in God’s work in us, we may continue to grow in obedience, humility, repentance, and love for God and His holy Church, making use of all the tools He’s entrusted to us. In this way, we’ll take several steps forward in faith and be 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 10, 2014
Christ Walks on the Water…and calls us to Faith
Epistle: I Cor. 3:9-17
Gospel: Matt. 14:22-34
