Building Christian Families

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

On this first Sunday of Great Lent we celebrate the Triumph of Orthodoxy with the return of respect for the Holy Icons. An important question is before us: How is Orthodox Christianity going to triumph in the secular world of today? I think the path lies through the Divine Liturgy and the services of the Church, personal prayer and in the family, reaching out to love and guide our children and others. The Gospel today from the Gospel of St John, chapter 1, verses 43 to 51 offers us a path ahead.

Jesus Christ has just been baptised by St John the Baptist in the river Jordan and been followed by Andrew. Then Andrew finds his brother Simon and tells him that he has “found the Messiah.” When Andrew brings Simon to meet Jesus, the Messiah tells Simon “You shall be called Cephas’ (which means Peter)”—from the word for “rock” in both Greek and Aramaic. That sets the scene for today’s Gospel: Jesus Christ has found his first two disciples—St Andrew and St Simon Peter.

Now, in today’s Gospel, Jesus goes to Galilee and gathers further people to Him, beginning with St Philip who becomes the third apostle. Many others are interested in Jesus, including Nathanael, who will later follow and serve Jesus Christ. This Gospel does not tell us why some are chosen as apostles, while others simply become followers of Christ—disciples seeking to serve Him. Nathanael is of special interest here. On the one hand, he questions, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”—a quite reasonable question about a small backwater village in Galilee. Yet, on the other hand, Nathanael tells Jesus Christ, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel.” Nathanael’s faith in Christ is linked to the fact that Jesus told him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Jesus sees that Nathaniel is “an Israelite … in whom there is no guile”—that is, with no wish to deceive others. Our Gospel reading today closes with Christ’s words to Nathanael, and I quote: “You shall see greater things than these…. Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.”

Nathanael does become a lifelong follower of Jesus Christ. He is mentioned only once again in the New Testament—in the Gospel of St John, chapter 21, verse 3, identified as “Nathanael of Cana”—a village in Galilee eight miles from Nazareth, where Jesus had performed His first miracle of turning water into wine.  In one of the many appearance of Jesus Christ after His crucifixion, on this occasion by the Sea of Tiberias, Nathanael is one of the seven followers of Christ to whom Jesus reveals Himself after His Crucifixion. We do not know if Nathanael was St Bartholomew, but he must have given a service of some significance for Christ to have revealed Himself in this way [See Synaxarion, 10 May].

There were only 12 apostles, but many disciples who followed Jesus Christ during His life on earth. So, what was happening? What was Christ seeking to achieve? I think it would be right to say that Christ was seeking to build families who would love and serve Him. He was deeply respectful of children. For example, the Gospel of St Mark, chapter 10, verses 14 to 16, Jesus said to the disciples, and I quote: “Let the children come to me, do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

The Christian writer Elisabeth Elliot begins her book, The Shaping of the Christian Family, with two quotations. The first is from the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, chapter 6, verses 5 to 7; and I quote: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them upon your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up,” concludes those important verses. The second quotation is from the Orthodox Saint, Theophan the Recluse; and again I quote: “The spirit of faith and piety of the parents should be regarded as the most powerful means for the preservation, upbringing, and strengthening of the life of grace in children,” concluded St Theophan.

I think that is precisely what Jesus Christ was seeking to achieve —to bring the Word of God into the hearts of all those whose lives He touched, and to strengthen “the life of grace” in everyone, both children and adults. In keeping with that goal, Elizabeth Eliot’s father, Philip Howard, wrote, and I quote: “When we give the first part of the day to Bible reading and prayer, we get our own hearts into tune with God and we can then work more smoothly and efficiently. It is like the tuning of an instrument before the symphony that there may be no discord [that is, no conflict or lack of harmony]. As we wait before God, He may point out to us sins that need to be confessed and forgiven, weaknesses that need to be overcome, failures that need to be corrected, and when these are made right we are ready for His use. As we consciously cast our cares upon Him, our minds are relieved of the burden of our troubles and set free for dealing with the problems of our own work or those of others who may come to us for help,” concluded Philip Hammond [pp. 56-57].” That is quite orthodox guidance on how prayer helps us to deal with whatever problems may arise in our lives.

Elizabeth Elliot writes that she remembers her father as a witness in the words of St Paul in First Thessalonians, chapter 2, verses 10 to 12; and I quote: “You are witnesses, as is God himself, that [my] life among you believers was devoted, straightforward and above criticism. You will remember how dealt with each one of you personally, like a father with his own children, comforting and encouraging [you]. told you from [my] own experience,” wrote St Paul “how to live lives worthy of God who is calling you to share the splendour of his own kingdom,” concluded St Paul. Certainly, that was how Jesus Christ treated everyone in His life on earth. We too can reach out to be part of that model of prayer and loving concern.

Elizabeth Elliot herself and her husband Jim followed in her parents’ footsteps by becoming missionaries, not in Belgium, but in Ecuador. However, Jim was killed there by frightened native people he had sought to bring to Christ. Later, Elizabeth and her daughter Valerie returned to live in the jungles of Ecuador to forgive and befriend the people and draw them to Christ. It was only in preparing this sermon I learned that Elizabeth Elliot died in 2015, after the experience of ten years with dementia. I feel considerable empathy with her, as my wife, Kh. Sylvia, is now twelve years into dementia.

We never know what will happen in the future. Many people with dementia draw closer to the Lord in the midst of confusion. For example, when I pray the Lord’s Prayer with Sylvia before she goes to bed, she will sometimes interrupt at the words: “Thy Kingdom Come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” by saying firmly, “Yes!”

I conclude with the words of St Theophan the Recluse. He wrote in The Path of Prayer; and I quote: “Our praise should begin each time with the songs [and words] that have been given to us—and then fall silent when the [Holy] Spirit begins to sing praises…. This must not be a cold contemplation of the qualities of God: it must contain a living awareness of [those qualities].… In order to reach up high one must have a ladder. One does not throw away a ladder after climbing it once, because one will need it again,” concluded St Theophan. All of us can join Elizabeth Eliot and Kh. Sylvia and many other Christians in climbing the ladder of prayer again and again.