Forgive me the sinner.

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“’Verily, verily I say unto you, the hour is coming . . . .’”

As Fr. Deacon so vividly reminds us at the end of his emails in the words of St. Macarius the Great, “Brethren, one day we will all die.” Indeed. Blunt. Right to the point. Succinct. No beating around the bush. “’[T]he hour is coming.’”

It does not serve any of us well to ignore these words (Sr. 8:7; 38:22). They are not words of warning, though they could be, but rather simply words of Truth and reality; of fact and not of fiction. Death is not a punishment foisted upon us by an angry God. It is rather the logical consequence of breaking a branch from off of a vine – do so and watch it wither and eventually die. Death is the fruit of disobedience there in the Garden of old, the result of willful separation from the Word of God: Do this and this is what will happen (Gn. 3:1-24). But, let us also be clear: we were not created for death. Death is as unnatural as sin is! The only reason death may be viewed as natural is from the fallen perspective, that is, death is natural in a fallen world, but not in Paradise for which we were created by the hand of God and from which we were driven because of our rebellion. “God made not death,” Sacred Scripture assures us in the Wisdom of Solomon (WS 1:13-16). And, again, in that same Old Testament book,

“For God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of His own eternity. Nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the world; and those who take hold of his side do find it” (WS 2:23-24).

We are assured and should believe that this God – the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ – does not take “pleasure in the destruction of the living,” something our God repeats again and again in Sacred Scripture (Ek. 18:32; 33:11; Ts. 2:11; 2 Pe. 3:9). Even today, the Son of God, the Word of God made flesh through Whom all things came into being from non-existence assures us of God’s intentions: to save and redeem, to resurrect and restore all who by necessity must die. “’Verily, verily I say unto you, . . . I am come that they might have Life, and that they might have it more abundantly’” (Jn. 10:10). This coming from the lips of the Good Shepherd of the sheep. Do not think that the Son of Man has come to destroy, “’but to save [men’s lives]’” (Lk. 9:51-55).

‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have Everlasting Life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved’ (Jn. 3:15, 16-17; 12:47; 1 Jn. 4:9-10).

If God wanted our death and our destruction, then why go to all this trouble to save and preserve life? Of course, another question might be, “If God went to such a great extent to save and preserve life, then why all this talk by the Church of repentance?” Because, beloved, we all must die and stand to face our Saviour Who will also judge us – our lives, our faith, our love – but He will do so with a righteous judgment, unlike the kind we cannot render. Although God has done all the heavy lifting (think of the Cross He bore which we did not), we must nevertheless “buy into” what He has done for us in love, participate willingly in His grace outpoured, and cooperate with Him. To use St. Paul’s words, we are to “work out [our] own salvation [in Christ] with fear and trembling” (Pp. 2:12). In other words, there is coming a day when the voice of the Crucified and Risen Son of God will sound forth like thunder and shake the wilderness (Ek. 43:2; Ps. 28 [29]:1-11; Ac. 10:42), emptying the graves of all to stand before Him Who will judge each with a perfect judgment, making known that which is unknown, revealing that which has not been revealed, bringing darkness into His light. All will hear the voice of the Son of God. All will be raised by that Voice, souls and bodies re-united. Some to “’the resurrection of life’” while others to “’the resurrection of condemnation [damnation]’” (Dn. 12:2; Mt. 25:31-46; Rm. 14:9, 10, 12; Nicene Creed). Each of us will be reviewed, examined, and judged according to what we have done or left undone, and of particular interest to our Lord, will be our words – what we have said (Mt. 12:37; 16:27; Rm. 2:6; 1 Cr. 3:8; 2 Co. 5:10; 1 Pe. 1:17; Rv. 20:12-13).

Our lives, beloved, are to align with the glory of the Kingdom of God. Our faith, hope, and love are to be ablaze with the glory of the Kingdom of Heaven. If we “hear” the Word of the Lord, it is the same as to believe His words and to live His Life, Death, and Resurrection, today, which His words are full of! For, as Jesus once told His Disciples, “’The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life’” (Jn. 6:63). To hear is to believe is to obey. Our faith and our works are inseparable. What the soul is to the body, so our faith is to our works.

You see, beloved, what God the Almighty has done for us doesn’t trump what we who are not almighty must still do for Him . . . . . because of Him. We must all hear the voice of the Son of God now – today – and do what He says: “’Repent, and believe the Gospel’” (Mk. 1:14). Prepare. Make ready. Keep awake and vigilant for the Son of Man will come at an hour we are not anticipating (Mt. 24:32-51; Mk. 13:28-37; Lk. 21:29-36). We can try and gamble and play the odds, but we will lose. “’Blessed [however] is that servant whom his [Lord], when [He] cometh, shall find so doing.’”

“’Verily, verily I say unto you, the hour is coming and now is, when the [spiritually] dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live.’”

And, again, “’Verily, verily I say unto you, he that heareth My Word and believeth in Him that sent Me, hath Everlasting Life and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto Life.’”

Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!

PROPERS:

1 Th. 4:13-17

Jn. 5:24-30