The New Life Revolution

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. God is one. Amen.

In the Gospel reading today from the 4th chapter of the Gospel of St Matthew, Jesus Christ withdraws to Galilee as soon as He learns that John the Baptist has been put in prison. Jesus knows that it is now time for His ministry to begin, as John’s ministry is ending. Both Jesus Christ and John the Baptist begin their public ministries with the same words: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” [Matthew 4.17; Matthew 3.2]. To repent is to feel great sorrow for something we have done. This is important. How and why do we repent? What is the kingdom of heaven? Let’s try to understand what Jesus Christ and John the Baptist were teaching in first century Palestine and in the New Testament and how that teaching applies to us today.

“In Orthodox thought, repentance is [a] longing for God [that follows] after a sense of having moved away from Him. [Repentance] is a conversion to God, and, as a result, is what scripture describes as a radical [turning] of [the] mind [and] heart [to God]” [Andrei Psarev, “Repentance” in John Anthony McGuckin, The Concise Encyclopedia of Orthodox Christianity, p. 381]. Although the apostles were all Jewish or converts to Judaism, many Jews in first-century Palestine had “moved away” from God. Essentially, Jesus Christ and His followers was urging all the Jews, and later the Gentiles, to listen to God and to return to Him. That message is appropriate for us today when a majority of people in the world are not Christians, although Christianity is still the religion with the largest number of followers, with roughly one-third of the world’s population [as set out on the website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_population_growth ].

As Deacon Andrei Psarev of Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary in Jordanville, New York, explains: “The [five] stages of how Orthodox understand the process of repentance… [are given in] the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15.11): [1] contrition [that is, deep sorrow for a past sin and determination to avoid future sin]; [2] [a strong dislike] of sin; [3] [a firm rejection of] evil; [4] confession; [and 5] reconciliation [that is, a return to friendship] with God and one’s neighbour…. [Today] Orthodox practice is that a Christian repents secretly of personal sins, while a more public acknowledgement of repentance may be appropriate in case of widely known offenses. It is Christ Himself who receives the believer’s repentance. The priest, acting as confessor, is only a witness, a spiritual therapist who gives advice, or who may prescribe a penitential remedy” [Andrei Psarev, “Repentance,” p. 381].

Deacon Andrei reminds us that: “According to the desert fathers, St Gregory Palamas and other church leaders, repentance signifies the beginning of the process of rebirth. Through this process a person becomes [in the words of] chapter 1, verse 4 of the Second Letter of Peter, ‘partakers in the divine nature.’ [Thus,] repentance is not simply a matter of rejecting sin and leading a life of virtue, but rather a transformation that helps the person to discover in the soul’s depth the very likeness of God” [p. 381]. That translation of the phase, “partakers of the divine nature,” from the Second Letter of Peter is from The Orthodox Study Bible. To see repentance as an on-going process of becoming “partakers in the divine nature” is a beautiful reminder of the words every Orthodox priest says to you, whatever your age, when you receive Holy Communion: “The servant of God (or the Handmaid of the Lord) partakes of the precious and all-holy Body and Blood of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ, unto the forgiveness of sins and unto life everlasting.” In other words, when you prepare yourself for and “partake” of Holy Communion, you are, as the dictionary states “taking a part in, sharing in, participating in” the divine nature. A note on this verse in The Orthodox Study Bible points out that: “Being renewed by God’s power, we become partakers of the divine nature. This does not mean we become divine by nature… What this does mean is that we participate in God’s energy, described by a number of terms in Scripture, such as [His] glory, life, love, virtue, and power. We are to become like God by His grace, and truly His adopted children….This especially occurs through the Eucharist, for when Christ’s Body and Blood become one with ours, we become Christ-bearers and partakers of the divine nature,” concludes the study note. For me, that links confession and the Eucharist. We are all sinners—lay people and priests, young and old, and yet—and yet—we are also each “partakers of the divine nature.” We each make a choice every day of our lives to turn away from sin and to turn toward God in order to become “partakers of the divine nature.” So, when we repent of sin, go to confession and receive Holy Communion, we make an important decision—a choice to draw ourselves closer to God—and we are drawn by God closer and closer to Him.

What we are reaching for is the Kingdom of Heaven. In the four Gospels, those words “Kingdom of Heaven” are used only by St Matthew, whereas Saints Mark, Luke and John all refer to “the Kingdom of God.” Matthew is seeking to draw many devout Jews to Christ; and he uses the word “heaven” rather than the divine name “God” to make sure that the divine name is not spoken wrongly. An anonymous early Church Father points out: “The kingdom of heaven … refers to the blessedness of the heavenly kingdom, which God has prepared for the faithful. The message is to prepare yourselves by penance and by patience to receive the blessedness of the heavenly kingdom,” concludes the Church Father [Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament Vol. 1a, p. 69]. So, there is a path to Christ in the first century and today. We can rejoice today that we are all on that path. Penance and patience lead to the kingdom of heaven which is the kingdom of God—the rule of God, a reality in heaven, and a hope for the future for all of us on earth.

A fourth century saint, Hilary of Poitiers has written beautifully of his own journey to find the kingdom of heaven. He wrote in The Trinity: “I began the search for the meaning of life. At first, I was attracted by riches and leisure . . . But most people discover that human nature wants something better to do than just to gormanize [that is, to eat greedily] and to kill time. [We] have been given life in order to achieve something worthwhile, to make use of [our] talents. [Life] could not have been given [to us by God] without some benefit in eternity…. Look at people who have practised patience, chastity and forgiveness. The good life for them meant good deeds and good thoughts. Could the immortal God have given us life with no other horizon than death?... Then I sought to know God better…. I understood that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us…. This gift of God is offered to everyone…. We can receive it because of our freedom which was given to us expressly for this purpose [that is, that we may know the Lord Jesus Christ]. But [before the Incarnation} this very purpose given to each person to be a child of God was bogged down in weak and hesitant faith. Our own difficulties can make hope painful, our desire[s] becomes infuriating and our faith grows weak. That is why the Word was made flesh; by means of the Word-made-flesh the flesh was enabled to raise itself up to the Word…. My soul joyfully received the revelation of this mystery,” continued St Hilary. “By means of my flesh I was drawing near to God, by means of my faith I was called to a new birth from on high…. I was assured that I could not be reduced to non-being,” he concluded [The Trinity 1.1-13; cited by Olivier Clement, The Roots of Christian Mysticism: Texts from the Patristic Era with Commentary, New City Publishers, Third Edition with Index 2015, pp. 18-21].

We are all sinners. We all have to accept that tendency within ourselves. It is part of the human condition after the fall of Adam and Eve. Yet as St Hilary of Poitiers has explained, there is also a stronger ability that God has placed within us—to follow a path of patience and penance, chastity and forgiveness that unites our flesh with the Word of God. The Gospel reading today makes it clear that because of the birth of Jesus Christ, we can each repent and be drawn into the Kingdom of God.

And so, we ascribe as is justly due all might, majesty, dominion, power and praise to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, always now and ever and unto the ages of ages.

Father Emmanuel Kahn