Speaker 1: Welcome to Hill Country Homilies. Weekly homilies from Holy Annunciation
Speaker 1: Orthodox Church in Liberty Hill, Texas. Holy Annunciation is an
Speaker 1: old calendar Orthodox Church sharing the faith of the Apostles
Speaker 1: and the love of Christ with all who seek His truth. Now,
Speaker 1: let's listen to this week's homily.
Speaker 2: And then the fathers on the Holy Spirit word in
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ. Well, I don't ever like to do a
Speaker 2: homily without any notes, but I don't know where they've gone.
Speaker 2: So we'll see what we can do for the Sunday
Speaker 2: of the public and the fairs.
Speaker 3: You know, the time.
Speaker 2: That we now enter into in the church is what
Speaker 2: we call the Triodean period, and the Triodean period is
Speaker 2: a time of preparation, is preparing us to enter into
Speaker 2: great Land. When we say Triodian and what we're referring
Speaker 2: to is actually the service book that we use from
Speaker 2: now right up until a pasta up until the point
Speaker 2: where we hit Holy Week, every service that we're going
Speaker 2: to be doing we take out of the Triodian and
Speaker 2: that includes the services of enduring Great Lent. So it's
Speaker 2: a little odd that we sometimes refer to the Triodean
Speaker 2: as that time period before the actual beginning of Great Lent.
Speaker 2: So this is what we've entered into. We're not to
Speaker 2: great Lent. We have four Sundays that are this Triodean preparation.
Speaker 2: The first Sunday is always the Sunday of the publican
Speaker 2: and the Pharisee, and that, of course is the gospel
Speaker 2: reading that we heard today.
Speaker 3: The Lord tells the parable.
Speaker 2: Two men go up to the temple to pray, one
Speaker 2: a pharisee and one a publican. The pharisee stands and
Speaker 2: lifts his head up to God and he prays, We're total.
Speaker 3: He prays with himself, God, I thank you.
Speaker 2: I'm not like other men, adulterers, cheaters, the unjust, even
Speaker 2: this Pharisee. And the Pharisee, who can't even bring himself
Speaker 2: to look up towards Heaven, just cast his eye down,
Speaker 2: beats on his chest and says, Lord, have mercy on me,
Speaker 2: a sinner. And the parable ends with Christ toning his disciples.
Speaker 2: One of these men went home justified, and that it
Speaker 2: was the publican.
Speaker 3: Not the Pharisee.
Speaker 2: Now, in understanding this parable, we have to understand a
Speaker 2: little bit about the positions of the publicans and the
Speaker 2: Pharisees at the time of Christ and the position of
Speaker 2: publican or tax collector was an absolutely despised profession, and
Speaker 2: it was despised when you understand how the Romans governed
Speaker 2: their empire as they moved out further and further out
Speaker 2: from Rome. When they would conquer a new territory, what
Speaker 2: they would do is they would appoint some of the
Speaker 2: locals to act as their tax collectors, people who knew
Speaker 2: the local population.
Speaker 3: Those people would.
Speaker 2: Then be given a quota for the amount of taxes
Speaker 2: that they had to send back to Rome.
Speaker 3: That they were responsible for.
Speaker 2: And the way that publicans or tax collectors made their
Speaker 2: living was they would extract as much as they could
Speaker 2: from everybody that was in their jurisdiction, and they would
Speaker 2: send back their quota or to Rome, and.
Speaker 3: What they collected above that they could keep.
Speaker 2: And so the incentive on the tax collectors was always
Speaker 2: to extract as much and much as much as they
Speaker 2: could from the people, whether as owed or not owed.
Speaker 3: Last Sunday we didn't actually.
Speaker 2: Have it because of the weather, but Zychias Sunday precedes
Speaker 2: the Triodians. Zechius, of course, as a tax collector who
Speaker 2: had cheated everyone and gotten greatly enriched until he had
Speaker 2: his great repentance. So the tax collector was absolutely the
Speaker 2: most despised occupation that there was. They were considered collaborators
Speaker 2: with the occupiers. There were traitors to their people because
Speaker 2: they were the ones that were going to enrich themselves
Speaker 2: off of the locals and send it to their occupiers.
Speaker 3: Well, they stayed very rich.
Speaker 2: And the Pharisees, of course, on the other hand, you know,
Speaker 2: nowadays when we talk about Pharisees, we think of that
Speaker 2: as a negative of being pharisyical, you know, being focused
Speaker 2: on the law. But in the time of Christ, remember
Speaker 2: the Pharisees were still the religious authority. They were considered
Speaker 2: at the top. They were highly respected, their advice was sought.
Speaker 2: You know, we even know from scriptures they had the
Speaker 2: high places at the banquet, and so they were a
Speaker 2: hugely respected.
Speaker 3: Part of the Jewish society. They were the governors of
Speaker 3: the church.
Speaker 2: They were involved also with the civil administration. But Christ
Speaker 2: tells us one of them goes home justified, that's the publican,
Speaker 2: and the other the pharisee, does not. And what is
Speaker 2: the difference between the publican and the pharisee was pride
Speaker 2: versus humility.
Speaker 3: You know. The pharisee, you know, makes a big show
Speaker 3: of himself. He puts himself in the center.
Speaker 2: And he brags about all the good things he's done. Oh,
Speaker 2: I've fast twice a week, I give my ties. Thank God,
Speaker 2: I'm not like these sinners. He makes himself a great show.
Speaker 2: Whereas the Pharisee knows his unworthiness, or the Republican knows
Speaker 2: his unworthiness, he knows that his only hope is mercy,
Speaker 2: where is the pharisee seems to think he's got it
Speaker 2: made because of his position who he is. And our goal,
Speaker 2: of course, is to have that same justification that the
Speaker 2: public can receive. And there's much in this parable to
Speaker 2: work with. But one thing that I think we have
Speaker 2: to consider very strongly is the lesson from the Pharisee
Speaker 2: is not just about his pride. That's certainly the overwhelming
Speaker 2: problem that he has, but there's a message for us
Speaker 2: in there as well, because when the Pharisee prays, what
Speaker 2: does he pray?
Speaker 3: I keep the fast?
Speaker 2: I tie to The Pharisee is basically saying, I am
Speaker 2: following all the rules. Look at me, I'm following all
Speaker 2: the rules. I am your example but all of that
Speaker 2: led only to his abasement. Because no matter how strictly
Speaker 2: we follow the rules, if our heart isn't there, strict
Speaker 2: rule following can't save us.
Speaker 3: Sometimes rules can anchor us.
Speaker 2: When we don't know what to do, when the storms
Speaker 2: of life are beating down on us. Rules and practices,
Speaker 2: things that are given to us. They can be a
Speaker 2: foundation or an anchor for us. Is keep us fixed.
Speaker 2: If I don't know what to do, say my evening prayers.
Speaker 2: If I don't know what to do, I'll say that
Speaker 2: Jesus prayer make a prostration. These are things that we
Speaker 2: can cling to, but if they ever become our justification,
Speaker 2: then we've crossed from faith into pride. You know, when
Speaker 2: the fast upon us, it can be very, very tempting
Speaker 2: to count those days that we are keeping a fast
Speaker 2: to mourn.
Speaker 3: A little bit.
Speaker 2: Oh we miss the dairy, we miss the meat. And
Speaker 2: every time we do that, what are we doing. We're
Speaker 2: drawing attention to ourselves like the Pharisee. And what are
Speaker 2: we saying? I've kept the fast. I've kept the fast.
Speaker 2: Look at me, I've kept the fast. But that won't
Speaker 2: save anyone without the heart of the publican without the
Speaker 2: humility of the publican. And as we prepare to enter
Speaker 2: into great length, this is the first lesson that the
Speaker 2: Church chooses to give to us. That pride can abase us,
Speaker 2: where's humility can bring us to justification.
Speaker 3: And it's such a temptation, I think.
Speaker 2: In this world we live in, you know where where
Speaker 2: if somebody disagrees with us, we have to you know,
Speaker 2: roast them, We have to just you know, really get
Speaker 2: you know, tell them how wrong they are. And we
Speaker 2: react out of anger. And that's all pride. You know,
Speaker 2: Anger is pride. Frustration is pride. It's everybody saying, you know,
Speaker 2: I'm not getting what I deserve, or how can this
Speaker 2: person possibly not agree with me? That's pride.
Speaker 3: And so we have to fight against them.
Speaker 2: And when I say well, I mean me, I mean
Speaker 2: every last one of us have to fight against that
Speaker 2: temptation to give into that pride the Pharisee and turn
Speaker 2: instead to the example of the humility of the publican.
Speaker 3: Because if we.
Speaker 2: Can find humility, that's the foundation of the entire Orthodox fronum,
Speaker 2: of the entire way of bringing the Church into our
Speaker 2: daily life is through that humility, through that trust. Because
Speaker 2: when the when the publican cries with his downcast eyes,
Speaker 2: have mercy on me, a sinner. Those are not tears
Speaker 2: of despair. Those are not tears of despair. There are
Speaker 2: tears of hope, because he has that faith that God
Speaker 2: can save him regardless of his myriad sin. The Pharisee
Speaker 2: stands assured in his own position. But the publican, with
Speaker 2: humble hope in Christ, will find himself justified. And as
Speaker 2: we approach into this time of great lent, may we
Speaker 2: too be given the humility of the publican, such that
Speaker 2: we may find ourselves justified. And may we, as we
Speaker 2: sang in the kentackn flee from the pride of the Pharisee,
Speaker 2: and instead let us cling to the humility and the
Speaker 2: tears of the public and the name of the Father
Speaker 2: and Son of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 3: Amada.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Hill Country Homilies. For more information,
Speaker 1: visit Holy Annunciation Orthodox Church at www dot Denunciation, tx
Speaker 1: dot com and please join us again next week.