St Luke’s transcribed sermon by David Nada
Coming into the new year, we approach Christmas and the birth of our Lord. The church in her wisdom- during this time- gives for us the gospel of the birth of Saint John the Baptist.
It was the job of Saint John the Baptist to prepare the way for Christ. I think it’s a really important time in the year that we get to hear and see this gospel. When I read the gospel for today’s liturgy there was a verse that stuck out to me which didn’t usually stick out, and that was verse 61;
“his mother answered and said, ‘no he shall be called John’, but they said to her, ‘there is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.’ So then they made signs to his father that he would what he would have him called.”
The very first thing that stuck out to me there was that even from birth and even from naming, St John’s life was different. He was called to be different. The usual tradition at the time was to call your son after his father or someone in the family. But from the begging of his life, Saint John was called to be different. If you see what his purpose of his life was- which was to carry the light of Christ and to prepare the way for Christ- then this is a calling for all of us. We are all called to be different and I think sometimes being different can be quite scary in our day and age.
And recently someone who came up to me had just finished their HSC and they said to me, ‘I want to study law and business but should I study medicine because that in itself is a Christ-like profession in that you’re constantly helping people and healing people.’ This made me realize that in every action that we do -regardless if it’s the action that we do at work or with the people around us- we have an opportunity to be different. There is obviously an assumption that in jobs in business that it’s like it’s a dog eat dog world and you have to be stepping over people to kind of get your way, but that’s because It is not normal to do things that are Christian and it’s not normal to turn the other cheek.
I really wanted to focus today on this concept of being different as something that we as Christians should really take pride in that we should really take pride in being able to stand out and to be the salt of the earth. We give the world its flavour. We give the world its light. So, then that brings me on to the second verse in this in this gospel, which really caught my attention, which is what is the result of being different? In verse 76 to 79 of today’s Gospel, we read;
“And you child would be called the Prophet of the Highest for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the remission of their sins through the tender mercy of our God with which the day-spring from on high has visited us to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
I think is very clear that there’s a lot of sadness and darkness in the world around us. Never in the history of humanity have we had the same rates of depression, the same rates of suicide, the wars that we see around us, the social injustices. There is a lot of darkness in the world. So, we may take great pride in things which we’ve worked hard for in our life, and rightly so in terms of our work and our families. But really, there is great work to be done and the harvest truly is great, to be different, to be a light unto the world. To show people the love of Christ, which is a radical love that changes lives. We see that more so in Christ’s life than anyone else. It was Christ who when he sat with the tax collectors and the adulterers they said, why are you doing that? That is not normal. It was Christ who walked hours and hours in the middle of the sun to see the Samaritan woman. It was Christ to constantly went out of his way to show the world that to be a light you have to be different. And if we look at this kind of motif of ‘the light’, we see the Old-Testament-equivalent is the ‘minora’ or the ‘lampstand’, that we read of in Exodus. Exodus 25 Christ God gives very clear instructions on how to build this light, and it’s extremely specific. I think what it calls to is that all of us are in different walks of life. All of us are placed in different parts of life and different workplace, in different family environments, in different countries, and in different cities, and in every single place we are called to be this light.
So, there is kind of three parts to this; there is why, how, and what.
1. Why am I called to lead this life?
Father Tadros Yacoub Malaty says that “The light sorry the light given by this ‘manora’ in the dark tent would have been a powerful symbol of God’s light and holiness in our dark and sinful world.” So that is the why, if we are to draw people to Christ if you are to give people the gift that is the peace and love of Christ that we are all able to partake of in communion; the why is to share this light with others to not just keep it to ourselves.
So, it’s very easy to say ‘okay, we need to be different, we need to be a light on the world. I need to be the salt of the world’, but;
2. How do I become light if I feel like I’m dark inside, or if I feel like I’m full of sin to think of who am I to bring people or what am I?
It’s quite a hard question to answer, how do I become a light? I think we’re very blessed in this time as we approach the nativity that the how is very clear, that the how is said in a very simple verse;
“draw near to Me and I will draw a near to you.”
Pope Kyrillos instituted the idea of having a liturgy every single day. I guess the theologians have kind of studied that since have come up with this concept called theosis. The idea is that the more we partake of the body and blood of Christ, the more we have communion the more we become like Christ. So that if every day I wake up and I pray then I go to church and I have communion, then throughout my day I’m thinking of Christ, then at night before I sleep, I read my Bible and I pray, I’m constantly drawing near to Christ.
“draw near to Me and I will draw near to you, partake of Me and I will be in you and you will be of me so that we carry that light.”
So if I want to know how to become a light to people, how do I behave so in order to uphold what we hear that sometimes you are the only gospel one gets the chance to read. In order to know how to truly be that gospel, the answer is in drawing near to Christ, in being Christ’s like so that in every action, in every day, in every word, and in every interaction with everyone around meI am being Christ’s like. And this can only be achieved through drawing near to Christ through consistent and constant prayer.
I really love father Sam and father Dan who on New Year’s Eve here at Saint Luke’s instituted this idea that every month, there’s a certain action and as a church we all practice that action. That action for this specific month of January was to do one act of kindness every single day, for instance, if someone drops something at the shopping center you pick it up for them. These are kind of the Christ-like little lights which may mean nothing to you, but to the person who receives the kindness could mean everything, and has possibly changed their day, and maybe even their life.
So then that brings us onto the what- The why is to show people the light of Christ, the how is to draw near to Christ in prayer, in communion, in Psalms, in singing praises. And then that brings us to the what- the only what that is important to all of us is the what of love. That is the only way really to draw people in, to practice love the way that Christ taught us. To finish off this idea of what I just wanted to read Luke 6:32 to 36, which is really how to be a Christian. How to be different from the world, because these practices of love that are outlined in these verses are not normal. These are not things that the world would normally teach us. These are;
“But if you love those who love you what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? for even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. But love your enemies do good, lend a helping hand hoping for nothing in return and your reward will be great and you will be sons of the highest. For he is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore, be merciful just as your father is merciful.”
We also read;
“Turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, give someone your cloak, and do not ask for it back.”
These are practices that the world finds radical. These are practices that really distinguish us from everyone else. These are the practices by which we are called to be different.
So if I want to know why- the answer is to spread the light of Christ and to be different. The how – is to draw near to Christ and he will draw near to me. The what is to show love to the world that the world does not expect that nor teach us and to do good in that way.
The result of all this is written in today’s Gospel, which says “to guide our feet into the way of peace”; Luke 1:79. St Cyril the Great says of this verse “The world was knocked about in the very dark mazes and in the shameful ignorance. The cloud of ignorance forbade the multitude of people from seeing the Lord Jesus the redeemer. He is the God of truth and justice. The Lord of all was manifested to the Israelites, a light to them and a son to their souls”.
Glory be to God forever Amen.