Speaker 1: Patristic nectar publications, nourishing the spiritually thirsty with the sweet
Speaker 1: teachings of the Holy Fathers and now Father Josiah.
Speaker 2: In the name of the Father and of the Son
Speaker 2: and of the Holy Spirit, Christ has risen. I prepared
Speaker 2: a homily for you this morning, dear ones, that I'm
Speaker 2: entitling doing God's will, from the end of the account
Speaker 2: of the Samaritan woman that you just heard. Just after
Speaker 2: this interchange with the people of her town of Sikhar,
Speaker 2: the disciples returned to Jesus, and they had gone and
Speaker 2: brought food to him. And when they presented the food
Speaker 2: to him, he said, I have food to eat that
Speaker 2: you don't know about. So my Sermont's going to be
Speaker 2: answering what is that food? But I'm not there yet,
Speaker 2: not there yet. First, a very happy Mother's Day to
Speaker 2: all of our mothers, grandmothers, great grandmothers, godmothers, spiritual mothers,
Speaker 2: all our precious nuns. We're so thankful to God for you.
Speaker 2: We have some special treats for you later. This is
Speaker 2: the fifth Sunday of Pasca. The day of Easter itself
Speaker 2: is first Sunday. Saint Thomas and his faith after touching
Speaker 2: the side of Christ is the second Sunday. After that
Speaker 2: we have the murdering women and their incredible devotion as
Speaker 2: a model. Then we have the paralytic that Jesus healed,
Speaker 2: and then today the Sunday of the Samaritan Woman. Next week.
Speaker 2: The marvelous gospel text on the blind Man Pasca is
Speaker 2: a treasure trove of edification from the Gospels, one encouraging,
Speaker 2: miraculous gospel after the other. This text may be the
Speaker 2: most rich theological text in the entire New Testament. This
Speaker 2: account of the Samaritan woman. So many amazing truths set
Speaker 2: forth in this engagement between her, Saint Foutini, the woman
Speaker 2: who would become Saint Foutini, and our Lord Christ. I
Speaker 2: want you to see a number of things. First, I
Speaker 2: want you to see the incredible humility that is the
Speaker 2: backdrop of this whole account. Remember what's happening. Why is
Speaker 2: Jesus at the well? He's tired. He's tired, The co
Speaker 2: eternal son of God is tired. Saint Ephim the Syrian,
Speaker 2: in one of his hymns, I think it's the seventeenth hymn,
Speaker 2: his collect him on Virginity, describes this incredibly gracious reference
Speaker 2: to Jesus being tired, Listen to what he says, Although tireless,
Speaker 2: he became tired in order to give you rest. Although
Speaker 2: tireless as the co eternal son of God in his humility,
Speaker 2: he condescended to take on our flesh and all of
Speaker 2: its natural passions and weaknesses in order to redeem us
Speaker 2: and save us. Although tireless, he became tired in order
Speaker 2: to give you rest. This text also shows the incredible
Speaker 2: thirst that Jesus has for the love of human beings,
Speaker 2: how much he seeks us, how much he wants us
Speaker 2: his mercy and love, which are highlighted in this text,
Speaker 2: especially his manifestation with this Samaritan woman. He sought her.
Speaker 2: He broke all the rules, beautifully broke all the bogus rules,
Speaker 2: all the made up rules, all the fallen rules, in
Speaker 2: order to save this woman, to make this woman participant
Speaker 2: in his own love. You also see in this text
Speaker 2: God's amazing thirst for the entire human race. He thirsts
Speaker 2: for them to know Him and his father in the
Speaker 2: Holy Spirit. He thirsts for us to join ourselves to
Speaker 2: Him in worship. This is why he says what he
Speaker 2: said about it's no longer time to worship in Jerusalem,
Speaker 2: nor has it ever been time to worship on Mount
Speaker 2: Gharrisiem in Samaria. But the Father desires that all men
Speaker 2: would worship him in space and in truth. We see
Speaker 2: Jesus's resolve for the revelation of full trinitarian worship. Those
Speaker 2: who worship the Father must worship him in spirit and
Speaker 2: in truth. This is the Father say, an affirmation of
Speaker 2: full Trinitarian worship the Father in He who is the
Speaker 2: Truth Christ, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We
Speaker 2: also see in this text that Jesus reveals himself as
Speaker 2: the Lord of history, the one whose hand is guiding everything.
Speaker 2: Whenever we're in political conflict, it's always a relief to me.
Speaker 2: Besides all the grief, the endless wars are such a burden,
Speaker 2: such a burden, they seem to never stop my whole
Speaker 2: bloody life. But what puts that's a smile on my
Speaker 2: face is when all of our arrogant political leaders telling
Speaker 2: us what's going to happen the Golden Age, this, and
Speaker 2: this is going to happen for sure, and that's going
Speaker 2: to happen there for sure, and they don't know what
Speaker 2: in the world they're talking about, and Evidently they haven't
Speaker 2: learned from the last war and the one before that,
Speaker 2: and the one before that and the one before that,
Speaker 2: where it never goes as they say it's going to go.
Speaker 2: There's one who can tell you that one. That's him.
Speaker 2: He's painted there because he sits at the right hand
Speaker 2: of the Father, on the throne of God, until all
Speaker 2: of his enemies become a footstool for his feet, and
Speaker 2: his hand guides all the destinies of men. He causes
Speaker 2: men to rise up, and then he throws them down.
Speaker 2: He moves this left, and he moves that right. Listen
Speaker 2: to Jesus in this incredible account with the Samaritan woman.
Speaker 2: Three times he tells the Samaritan woman what the real
Speaker 2: time is, what's really going on? Historically? An hour is coming,
Speaker 2: he says, when neither here in this mountain nor in
Speaker 2: Jerusalem will you worship the Father. Here he's telling you
Speaker 2: that right now, the system of worship which they have
Speaker 2: had for over one thousand years, it's that's four times
Speaker 2: as old as our country. They have had this system,
Speaker 2: and it was revealed by God. Don't miss this. How
Speaker 2: extreme an affirmation Jesus is saying. Here, He's saying it's
Speaker 2: done no more. An hour is coming when neither here
Speaker 2: in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.
Speaker 2: I'm sure they were thinking, what what do you mean.
Speaker 2: It's been going on for a thousand years and God
Speaker 2: commanded it through Moses, and Jesus says it's over, despite
Speaker 2: the radical Zionists who are trying to reinstitute it. Right now,
Speaker 2: it's been dead for two thousand years, and it was
Speaker 2: over because the Lord of History said it was over.
Speaker 2: Now the Holy Trinity will be worshiped throughout the whole world,
Speaker 2: as is the case and has been for two thousand years.
Speaker 2: That's number one. Next, he says, an hour is coming,
Speaker 2: and now is when the true worshippers will worship the
Speaker 2: Father in the spirit and truth. So now he's proclaiming
Speaker 2: that it's happening right now. It's not just coming, it's
Speaker 2: now here that Christian worship, authentic Christian worship is breaking out.
Speaker 2: It was breaking out in his disciple group, but that
Speaker 2: disciple group would take it to the whole world. And
Speaker 2: then a third word, the Lord of History issues about
Speaker 2: the Gospel age. He says, do you not say there
Speaker 2: are yet four months? And then comes the harvest. Behold,
Speaker 2: lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that
Speaker 2: they are white for harvest. Already, he who reaps is
Speaker 2: gathering fruit for life eternal. This affirmation by the Lord
Speaker 2: of History probably was the hardest one for them to accept.
Speaker 2: He had a few disciples, there ones a few disciples,
Speaker 2: and here he's saying, the hour right now is that
Speaker 2: the whole world is going to be reaped. I'm going
Speaker 2: to gather them all into my storehouse. If you had
Speaker 2: sat the disciples down and told them that this little
Speaker 2: bunch of fishermen, a dozen fishermen, and they were young,
Speaker 2: some were teenagers, teenagers, that they were going to convert
Speaker 2: the world, that in a very short time, like within
Speaker 2: fifty years, we would have leaders writing significant treatises to
Speaker 2: the emperors to make apologetic defenses of the Christian faith.
Speaker 2: And within two hundred years a third of the empire
Speaker 2: would be Christian, and within three hundred years it would
Speaker 2: be completely Christian, and by the end of the fourth
Speaker 2: century it would become the legal religion of the world.
Speaker 2: The civilized Well, are you kidding me? They would have
Speaker 2: laughed at you. But when the Lord of History speaks,
Speaker 2: it happens. He knows what he's talking about. It's an
Speaker 2: incredible revelation. In this text, Jesus reveals himself as a
Speaker 2: radical missionary come to harvest the entire world. In chapter three,
Speaker 2: just before this, he tells Nicodemus to forget the old
Speaker 2: stop being interested in propagating Moses's law and your pharisaic traditions,
Speaker 2: because they have no future, and you made them up.
Speaker 2: Unless a man is born again, he will never enter
Speaker 2: into the Kingdom of God unless he's born of water
Speaker 2: and the spirit. He won't even see it. And Nicodemus
Speaker 2: said to him, what are you talking about? And Lord said,
Speaker 2: how could you be a teacher of Israel and not
Speaker 2: understand these things? How did you, Nicodemus, get so caught
Speaker 2: up in this made up rabbinic nonsense that you can't
Speaker 2: even understand what the prophets have been talking about. He
Speaker 2: tells them how people are going to be saved, how
Speaker 2: they're going to be enlightened, and then he tells them
Speaker 2: that it's going to be all over the whole world.
Speaker 2: He describes to Nicodemus the means of salvation is not
Speaker 2: keeping the law on the traditions of the Jewish elders,
Speaker 2: but being born again of water. Having explained how one
Speaker 2: is saved, he then shows exactly who he is seeking
Speaker 2: to save by going and meeting with this woman, someone
Speaker 2: they would never have spoken to. And the answer is
Speaker 2: given in that question. Just two days after this interaction,
Speaker 2: after he's done with the Samaritans, and what a witness.
Speaker 2: Can you imagine? The Lord exhausted, he had nothing to
Speaker 2: eat like we eat. And then they say to him, Lord,
Speaker 2: the Samaritans, do do you think you could please stay
Speaker 2: here with us? I mean, you can't blame them. They
Speaker 2: just have become convinced that Christ is the Messiah, the
Speaker 2: long for Messiah, And they say to him, could you
Speaker 2: please stay with us? And he changes his whole plans
Speaker 2: and stays two full days with him, two full days
Speaker 2: with the outcasts, living in their homes, eating their food.
Speaker 2: He shows Nicodemus how to be saved, and then he
Speaker 2: shows immediately afterwards who he wants to be saved, which
Speaker 2: is everyone. And he chose this woman for a reason.
Speaker 2: A heretic and totally degraded, five husbands and living with
Speaker 2: a man. She just couldn't get it right. She just
Speaker 2: couldn't get it right. Poor thing, and then the Samaritans
Speaker 2: hear him, and then they proclaim that it's not just
Speaker 2: for them. They come out and they said, we have
Speaker 2: come to believe that he is the savior of the world.
Speaker 2: Do you see how virtuous these people are, these heretics,
Speaker 2: incredible people. He had already performed all sorts of miracles
Speaker 2: in front of his own people, God's people, the Jews,
Speaker 2: and they didn't believe in him. These people, he didn't
Speaker 2: do a single miracle. It says that they had him
Speaker 2: for two days, asking him questions, and he talked, and
Speaker 2: then they proclaimed their utter faith in him, and not
Speaker 2: just that he was telling the truth, but he was
Speaker 2: the savior of the whole world. This is an incredible text.
Speaker 2: You also see in this text the missionary plan that
Speaker 2: would govern the whole church's witness for the last two
Speaker 2: thousand years, very clearly in Saint Putini. And by the way,
Speaker 2: this woman ended up becoming an incredible missionary, Her sister,
Speaker 2: her kids, they all worked together, travel all over the place,
Speaker 2: ended up being martyred. You see the missionary plan. It
Speaker 2: starts with personal testimony, it always does. It leads then
Speaker 2: to interest on the part of those who hear and
Speaker 2: an exposure to Jesus's words and then it leads to conversion.
Speaker 2: That's it. It's not that complicated personal testimony. Someone you
Speaker 2: know has tasted life in Christ, has touched the church.
Speaker 2: It gets talked about. It's followed by interest. What is that?
Speaker 2: Do you think I can come? If they come? Where
Speaker 2: did you read that? Can I see that? What did
Speaker 2: you say he did for you? They get exposed and
Speaker 2: then He's got them? Then yeah, then there is and
Speaker 2: then it works again and again and again. This is
Speaker 2: the sary plan. Notice also, by the way, I haven't
Speaker 2: got to the main point in my sermon yet. I'm
Speaker 2: just telling you how incredible this text is. When I
Speaker 2: said it is perhaps the richest theological text in all
Speaker 2: of the Gospels, I wasn't joking. Other Zacharias, who you
Speaker 2: know I love so much is the great Elder at
Speaker 2: the monastery of Saint John the Baptist in England. He
Speaker 2: says that this text is where we find that the
Speaker 2: Lord gave the greatest teaching in the entire New Testament
Speaker 2: to a ruined woman who was a heretic without a
Speaker 2: word of reproach. Let me repeat that the Lord gave
Speaker 2: the greatest teaching and the entire New Testament to a
Speaker 2: ruined woman who was a heretic without a word of reproach.
Speaker 2: Grace is more powerful than anything at all. Jesus makes
Speaker 2: saints out of sinners. He has no interest in shaming anyone.
Speaker 2: And lastly, in this list of amazing remembrances from this text,
Speaker 2: since nineteen seventy nine, we have remembered the martyrdom of
Speaker 2: Saint Philumenos, a beloved Hira monk from Cyprus. Our Cypriots
Speaker 2: have to be happy about that. He was actually a
Speaker 2: monk of the monastery of Stavrovuni. He and his brother
Speaker 2: both became monks. His brother went to Mount Athos, and
Speaker 2: father Philumenos went to the Holy Land, went to the
Speaker 2: West Bank, and there he became the official hiromonk, the
Speaker 2: priest at the church of Saint Foutini Innabolis, the church
Speaker 2: of Jacob's Well, which is still there by the way,
Speaker 2: and he took up his residence in that church as
Speaker 2: its guardian under the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and he did
Speaker 2: services every morning and every evening. Hurt Confessions nineteen seventy nine,
Speaker 2: he was hacked to pieces by fanatical Jews, Zionists, illegal
Speaker 2: settlers who came to the monastery and to the church,
Speaker 2: interrupted the services, demanded that he remove all Christian symbols
Speaker 2: because this land is Jewish, it belongs to the Jews.
Speaker 2: You know what he said. He looked at them and
Speaker 2: he said, this was in church. He said, look at
Speaker 2: the ground, and the three crazies looked down. He said,
Speaker 2: to see that mosaic floor. You know who installed that.
Speaker 2: His name is Emperor Saint Constantine. And if you notice,
Speaker 2: he put a date AD three point thirty one. We
Speaker 2: have been worshiping in this church, in this place for
Speaker 2: seventeen hundred years. Whatever fantasy you've made up about this
Speaker 2: being Jewish land, you're dead wrong. And they left, and
Speaker 2: they came back later and murdered him in the church.
Speaker 2: They cut off his three fingers so he couldn't make
Speaker 2: the sign of the cross, and then they took an
Speaker 2: axe and severed his head in the sign of a
Speaker 2: cross and left him on the ground his precious relics, which,
Speaker 2: by the way, after five years, were incorrupt. His relics
Speaker 2: are in the church to this day. Let's never forget
Speaker 2: Saint Philuminos. May he pray for us now here's the
Speaker 2: point of my sermon. Here it is I got there.
Speaker 2: I got there. Let me just tell you that point
Speaker 2: of my servant. What I want you to see. What
Speaker 2: I saw more this year than I've ever seen. I
Speaker 2: never really noticed. It is how much this account Jesus
Speaker 2: used to teach his disciples to love doing God's will.
Speaker 2: This is why I've entitled my sermon doing God's Will.
Speaker 2: Of course, throughout our Lord's ministry, he was constantly modeling that,
Speaker 2: showing us how to do his will, because he himself
Speaker 2: labored always to do his father's will, and he did
Speaker 2: it perfectly. He set the perfect example. Think of the
Speaker 2: great examples of Getsemine in his Agonia there and he said,
Speaker 2: not my will, but thine be done. Think about Golgatha right,
Speaker 2: the perfect example going to the cross. He didn't just
Speaker 2: model it, He also explicitly taught us the supreme importance
Speaker 2: of doing God's will. This is very much highlighted in
Speaker 2: the Gospel of John itself. Four different times Jesus says
Speaker 2: something radical about how he himself cared about doing his
Speaker 2: father's will. The first one is in John seven. Jesus
Speaker 2: so submitted his will to his father that he said
Speaker 2: he never spoke. This is unbelievable. He never spoke a
Speaker 2: single word that was not willed by his father. This
Speaker 2: is John seventh, seventeen and eighteen. My teaching is not mine,
Speaker 2: but it is his who sent me. He who speaks
Speaker 2: from himself seeks his own glory. Not in any of
Speaker 2: his teaching did he get anywhere except from his father.
Speaker 2: His father gave him the words, and he said it.
Speaker 2: He said, if I spoke for myself without reference to
Speaker 2: my father, I'll be seeking my own glory. This is also,
Speaker 2: of course, why in imitation the fathers of the church,
Speaker 2: the church fathers, and the priests and bishops always labor
Speaker 2: to speak from someone else, from the Lord and from
Speaker 2: the saints, not from ourselves. When you hear a priest
Speaker 2: saying something that you've never heard before and he makes
Speaker 2: no reference, you should be scratching your head. There are
Speaker 2: some ethical issues that are very contested in today's modern
Speaker 2: Orthodox world. I won't mess mention them because it will
Speaker 2: steal your mind from what I'm trying to tell you.
Speaker 2: But my point is the way that you can smell
Speaker 2: innovation is you look for references. Is there reference to
Speaker 2: the scripture, is there reference to the church fathers. Are
Speaker 2: they quoting saints or are they speaking from themselves? Ask
Speaker 2: that question you can discern a lot In John chapter eight,
Speaker 2: verse twenty eight. He said, he who sent me is true.
Speaker 2: And the things which I heard from him, the things
Speaker 2: I heard from him, these things I speak to the world.
Speaker 2: I do nothing on my own initiative, but I speak
Speaker 2: the things as the Father taught me. Credible. This is
Speaker 2: John twelve forty nine. For I did not speak on
Speaker 2: my own initiative, but the Father himself, who sent me,
Speaker 2: has given me a commandment what to say and what
Speaker 2: to speak. And lastly, this is John fourteen ten. The
Speaker 2: words that I say to you, I do not speak
Speaker 2: on my own initiative, but the Father, abiding in me
Speaker 2: does his works. Can you imagine how much trouble we
Speaker 2: would have avoided in our lives if we practice this
Speaker 2: with our mouth, all the trouble we would have avoided,
Speaker 2: all the things we said that we dread giving an
Speaker 2: account for on the day of judgment, since Jesus said,
Speaker 2: we will render an account for every careless word that
Speaker 2: we have spoken. In this light curie liism, how wonderful
Speaker 2: it would be if we love God's will so much
Speaker 2: that we never even spoke a single word that God
Speaker 2: did not will us to speak. The Lord. Jesus modeled
Speaker 2: complete submission to the Lord God, and he also explicitly
Speaker 2: taught it. He didn't just model it and described himself.
Speaker 2: He also taught it, especially in the Lord's Prayer in
Speaker 2: the middle of the Sermon on the Mountain, which we
Speaker 2: pray these words several times every day, Kingdom Come, Thy
Speaker 2: will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Speaker 2: We make this a prayer, dear ones, every day, several
Speaker 2: times we say this, to do God's will. His will
Speaker 2: be done on earth, not ours. Learning to love God
Speaker 2: enough to do his will over our own wills is
Speaker 2: the process of Christian discipleships. It's what it means to
Speaker 2: take up our cross, to crucify our own desire when
Speaker 2: it's opposed to God's will. And this gospel text of
Speaker 2: the Samaritan Woman that we read today afresh is a
Speaker 2: magnificent window into how Jesus related to God's will. This
Speaker 2: insight is revealed when the disciples return to Sikar. Remember
Speaker 2: they've gone to get food, and that's the occasion in
Speaker 2: which he talks to Photinique. When they come back with
Speaker 2: the food and the woman's God. They bring the food
Speaker 2: to Jesus and they urge him to eat, and he
Speaker 2: says something amazing, these words, I have food to eat
Speaker 2: that you do not know about. So the disciples were
Speaker 2: saying to one another, no one brought him anything to eat?
Speaker 1: Did he?
Speaker 2: Jesus said, my food? Do you know what we said? Next?
Speaker 2: My food is to do the will of him who
Speaker 2: sent me, and to accomplish his work. Don't miss this
Speaker 2: incredible and revealing insight. The great Saint Nikolai Velimirrovitch, who
Speaker 2: reposed in the Lord in nineteen fifty six here in
Speaker 2: America at Saint Tikon Seminary, he comments this. He says,
Speaker 2: see what a delight the Father's will is to Christ.
Speaker 2: He does not see the doing of it as his duty,
Speaker 2: but as his food. Oh, what a divine example, and
Speaker 2: what a gentle reprimand to all of us who speak
Speaker 2: every day of our duty as though it is a burden. Indeed,
Speaker 2: looking at the Lord and his willing performing of his crippingly, heavely,
Speaker 2: crippingly heavy duty among men, it must be said with
Speaker 2: good reason that no one in the world can do
Speaker 2: his duty to God if it has not become to
Speaker 2: him as pleasant as his daily food. Did you hear that?
Speaker 2: I'm totally undone by this. Many of us, I think,
Speaker 2: are hoping simply to remember God's will a little bit
Speaker 2: each day, Just remember it in our crushing zeal to
Speaker 2: obey ourselves all the time and to do what we
Speaker 2: want when we want. We think that's freedom, that's slavery.
Speaker 2: Many of us are just hoping to remember God's will
Speaker 2: a little bit in this crushing zeal to obey ourselves
Speaker 2: our own desires. Some of us have learned to seek
Speaker 2: God's will and to be deeply suspicious of our own
Speaker 2: will and desire. Some of us. Don't make me be
Speaker 2: too honest as a pastor right now? I love you
Speaker 2: so zip. This is an exceedingly important transition to make
Speaker 2: as a Christian, from trying to use God and your
Speaker 2: plan to say no, no, no, I'm going to try
Speaker 2: to do his will and not my will. It's very
Speaker 2: important to learn to die, to pick up the cross
Speaker 2: and die to your own will, to seek God's will,
Speaker 2: to make that prayer that you say twice a day, honest,
Speaker 2: Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done on earth as
Speaker 2: it is in heaven. But here we see that Jesus
Speaker 2: goes far beyond that. He was not doing his father's
Speaker 2: will as his duty. No, he did his father's will
Speaker 2: as his very nourishment. My food is to do the
Speaker 2: will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.
Speaker 2: It's his sustenance, his life. His true joy is ministry
Speaker 2: glory to Christ, God, who is such a perfect human being.
Speaker 2: This is the attitude we all should take, dear ones,
Speaker 2: towards God's will. We should pray, teach me to do
Speaker 2: thy will for thou art, my God. Let us honestly
Speaker 2: seek to do God's will, not just as a duty,
Speaker 2: but if it's not there in your life, at least
Speaker 2: as a duty, and then move to a joy. I
Speaker 2: think this is how we manifest likeness to Jesus. We
Speaker 2: can ask are we really like him? Are we his
Speaker 2: authentic disciples? Is he really our lord? Because he himself says,
Speaker 2: whoever does the will of my father in heaven, this
Speaker 2: one is my mother, this one is my brother, this
Speaker 2: one is my sister. He has this in his mind.
Speaker 2: He looks at us and he wonders are we related
Speaker 2: to him? Will show that by doing the Father's will,
Speaker 2: to our God, our Heavenly Father, and to his only
Speaker 2: begotten Son, the perfectly Obedient One, and to the all
Speaker 2: Holy Spirit, be glory and honor forever and ever. Amen,
Speaker 2: Christ is risen. If the Ctcumans would please come to
Speaker 2: the foot of the Solea for prayer, and those who
Speaker 2: are going to be enrolled Us Ctacumans here to the
Speaker 1: Ambo Patristic Nectar publications nourishing the spiritually thirsty with the
Speaker 1: sweet teachings of the Holy Fathers.