Edward Kleinguetl
Cheesefare Sunday
February 19, 2012
Gospel: Matthew 6:14-21. Epistle: Romans 13:11 – 14:4.
Preparing for the Great Fast with Humility
Glory to Jesus Christ! Slava Isusu Christu!
Today on this Cheesefare Sunday 2012, and we find ourselves once again at the threshold of the Great Fast. We are given this time each year to stand with intellectual honesty before Our Heavenly Father to examine our relationship with Him. In terms of guidance for this process, our Early Church Fathers have provided us with today’s Gospel which speaks to us of forgiveness, fasting, and storing up the right type of treasure. What do these three themes have in common? For me, in a word, Jesus speaks to us of humility and our Gospel challenges us to consider three questions in preparation for the Lenten journey ahead:
- How is our relationship with God?
- How is our relationship with others? And,
- What are our true motives?
Reality check: None of us can claim we have perfectly fulfilled our duty to God or others. (see foot note 1) Let’s be honest with ourselves: we are all fallible human beings and fall short of what God originally created us to be. We all have our faults and failings. Yet, our primary objective is to enter into a deeper relationship with our Loving Father, which means striving to remove the impurities from our hearts. “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.” (see fn 2)
In our relationship with God, humility is the foundation for all the virtues, (see fn 3) which when practiced, help remove the impurities from our hearts. Jesus modeled humility for us: “Though he was in the form of God, Jesus did not deem equality with God, something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave.”(see fn 4)
In order to grow closer to God, we need to admit our own brokenness. It is interesting that in the three Sundays that began the Triodion, the theme of brokenness and human failing comes across quite clearly: We heard of Zacchaeus, the Publican and Pharisee, and the Prodigal Son. These Gospel readings also spoke to us about humility and repentance. Thus, one way we can grow closer to our Loving Father is by approaching Him in humility through the Holy Mystery of Repentance. Here we can come before God and acknowledge, like the Prodigal Son, that we have sinned and desire to restore our relationship to the original dignity as the Father intended –not hanging out in the pigpen like the Prodigal did and where our sins will lead us, but as a child of God. In the Holy Mystery, The Forgotten Medicine as it has been described, (see fn 5) we experience profound relief from having come before our Loving Father in humility, leaving our past personal baggage behind, and we find great joy in realizing just how much our Heavenly Father truly loves us.
One of my favorite images in the Gospel is of the Loving Father, upon seeing his son in the distance, racing toward him and embracing him. His offenses are forgiven and forgotten; his dignity restored (evidenced by the ring placed on his finger). As we prepare to enter the Great Fast, let us consider how we might approach our Heavenly Father in a spirit of humility and repentance.
Being reconciled with our God also helps us to approach others – through the joy we have experienced we have an increased desire to show mercy and compassion; to help others experience the love of God too. [Last week’s Gospel also stressed this when the king says: “I assure you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did it for me.”(see fn 6)]
I mentioned the image of the Father embracing the Prodigal Son and I suspect most of us, when we examine our lives, can see at least a bit of the wayward son within ourselves. Am I right? However, how many of us when we examine our lives also see the Loving Father within ourselves? Yet, we are also called to be like the Loving Father. (see fn 7) Jesus is clear in the Gospel: we are to love and forgive, to show mercy and compassion; to follow his example. As St. John Chrysostom tells us, “Nothing makes us so like God as our readiness to forgive the wicked and wrongdoer.” (see fn 8) Jesus also makes it clear in our Gospel today that we have a reciprocal responsibility: If we want our Heavenly Father to forgive us, we must forgive others. Human and divine forgiveness are intertwined. (see fn 9) This is something we acknowledge each time we pray the Our Father: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
Thus, as we prepare to enter the Great Fast, let us examine our relationship with our others. Are we willing to forgive – to truly forgive like our Heavenly Father? Do we consider ourselves to be the last of all and the servant of all (see fn 10)(like Jesus), or we do we tend to judge others as being less worthy of the Father’s love? As we prepare for Forgiveness Vespers later today, let us consider our willingness to be like the Loving Father and forgive others.
Finally, what are the true motives behind our actions? Is it seeking human approval and accolades, or do we do “all for the greater glory of God?”(see fn 11) Pride is often a stumbling block to humility – and as mentioned, humility is the foundation for all the other virtues. In our Gospel today, Jesus is quite clear: “Where your treasure is, there also is your heart.” (see fn 12)As an example of this, when Jesus speaks of prayer he tells us: “When you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.”(see fn 13)
As we prepare to enter the Great Fast, let us take time to examine the purity of our motives: are we seeking first the Kingdom of God and his way of holiness over us,(see fn 14) or are we trying to gain the world and its recognition instead? (see fn 15)
As we approach the Holy Table today to partake of the Precious Body and Life-giving Blood of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ – Christ truly present in our midst – let us pray for a spirit of humility and repentance in order to stand before our Loving Father and examine our relationship with Him with intellectual honesty. Let us approach the Great Fast with a true desire to enter more deeply into relationship with our Lord so that we, too, can share fully in the joy of the Resurrection; to accept our rightful place as children of God (see fn 16) and to see in ourselves Him as He is. (see fn 17)
Glory to Jesus Christ! Slava Isusu Christu!
1Cf. William Barclay The Gospel of Matthew, Vol. I. The New Daily Bible Study series, (Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky, 2001): 255.
2Matt. 5:8.
3See Gregory of Nyssa, Sermon No. 1, On the Beatitudes. Taken from Ancient Christian Writers: The Works of the Fathers in Translation, Vol. 18, ed. Johannes Quasten and Joseph C. Plumpe, Transl. by Hilda C. Graef, (Paulist Press, New York, 1954): 88.
4Phil. 2:6-7.
5See Archimandrite Seraphim Aleksiev, The Forgotten Medicine: The Mystery of Repentance, (St. Xenia Skete Press, Wildwood, California, 1994).
6Matt. 25:40.
7See Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming, (Image Books / Doubleday, New York, 1992): 119-133. See also Luke 6:36: “Be merciful just as your Father is merciful.”
8St. John Chrysostom, “Gospel of Matthew: Homily 19.7.” Taken from Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, Vol. 1a, “Matthew 1-13,” Manlo Simonetti, ed., Thomas C. Oden, gen.ed., (Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 2001): 139.
9Cf. Barclay: 256.
10Mark 9:35.
11“Ad majorem Dei gloriam;” motto of the Society of Jesus.
12Matt. 6:21.
13Matt. 6:6.
14Cf. Matt. 6:33.
15Cf. Matt. 16:26.
16See John 1:12 and 1 John 3:1.
171 John 3:2. See also Gregory of Nyssa, Sermon No. 6, On the Beatitudes: 148-150. “Even though you are too weak to perceive the Light Itself, yet, if you but return to the grace of the Image with which you were formed from the beginning, you will have all you seek in yourselves.”
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