Sunday, January 18, 2003
Athanasios and Cyril, Patriarchs of Alexandria
Kellia: Isaiah 49:8-15 Epistle: Hebrews 13:7-16 Gospel: St. Matthew 5:14-19
Isaiah 49:8-15 LXX, especially vs. 8, "Thus
says the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard you, and in a day of salvation have I succored
you: and I have formed you, and given you for a covenant of the nations, to establish the
earth...." The Nativity Canon of the Orthodox Church invites the Faithful to "cry unto the Son,
born of the Father before the ages without change, Christ our God Who hath been Incarnate in
these last days of the Virgin, without seed, shouting, O Thou Who hath elevated our state, Thou
art holy, O Lord."
In this plea, the Church unites her voice with the Prophet Isaiah who spoke centuries before the
Lord Jesus actually was conceived in the Virgin's womb. Both invite us to consider God the
Father and God the Son, "Who hath elevated our state" and "has had mercy on His People" (Is.
49:13 LXX) through the work of God the Holy Spirit. Conversely, the words of our Heavenly
Father spoken through Isaiah bring our hearts back down to earth where, in an acceptable time, a
day of salvation, God the Son was formed in the womb and given to us as a covenant of the
nations to establish the earth within the reign of the Kingdom of God (vs. 8).
What does our Father in Heaven want us to understand through His Prophet's voice? He desires
that we know what the impact on the world will be because its Creator has come and stood in the
streams of the Jordan. Let us rejoice with the heavens and be glad, "for the Lord has
....comforted the lowly ones of His people" (vs. 13). He has not forsaken us nor forgotten us (vs.
14). Rather, an immense construction was begun, what we have learned to call "the Kingdom of
God;" it is a rule and a dominion that truly will "establish the earth" (vs. 8). His Kingdom will
mean freedom, illumination, nourishment, mercy, and the removal of all impediments between
men and God. Let us consider these 'results' that are coming upon the earth.
"To them that are in bonds," God says, "Go forth!" (vs. 9). St. Nikolai of Zica asks us, "Who is
more utterly a captive than he who is bound by sin?" No one! Alas, all of us are bound by the
chains of our sins. Yet, the One Who stands in the waters comes to repeat His Father's word,
"Go forth." He assumed our sins in the Jordan when He received a Baptism of repentance (Lk.
3:3); for He knew no sin, was free of sin, yet shouldered all the sins of all mankind which He
then took to the Cross so that with the thief we might cry "We all have sinned, O Son of God.
Have mercy upon us, O Thou Who hast abolished the might of death and taken hades captive."
Furthermore, the Lord came to enlighten mankind - to bid "them that are in darkness show
themselves" (Is. 49:9). The "true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world"
(Jn. 1:9), came to fill us with Light and make us "the light of the world" (Mt. 5:14).
"The living Bread which came down from Heaven" (Jn. 6:51) nourishes all who eat of it, for
"Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life" (Jn. 6: 54). These "shall not
hunger, neither shall they thirst" (Is. 49:10).
The One Who stood in the waters of Jordan comes with mercy for the afflicted: "for the Lord has
had mercy on His people, and has comforted the lowly ones of His people" (vs. 13).
Every impediment that stands between God and every human being has been removed, for God
Himself has come to us. "I will make every mountain a way, and every path a pasture for them.
Behold, these shall come from far: and these from the north and the west" (vss. 11,12).
Despair not, Beloved of God, He has not forgotten us. Frail, fallible, human mothers and fathers
may, on occasion, forget their children, "yet I will not forget you, says the Lord" (vs. 15.)
O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy endureth for ever. To Him that
established the earth upon the waters; for His mercy endureth for ever. [Ps.135:1, 6 LXX]
