Sunday, May 9, 2004
Christ is Risen! (Tone 5)
Sunday of the Samaritan Woman
Kellia: Deuteronomy 4:1-9 Apostle: Acts 11:19-30 Gospel: St. John 4:5-42
Deuteronomy 4:1-9, especially vs. 1: "O Israel, give heed to the statutes and the ordinances which I teach
you, and do them; that you may live...." Before each Orthodox Christian receives the Mystery of Christ in Holy Baptism,
the Church prays that he might be inscribed in God's "Book of Life." The Church further begs God to remove all delusion
from the catechumen that he might know the Lord as "the only true God," and that by His grace he might "walk in all [His]
commandments." Notice the correspondence between the latter phrases of the prayer and the language of today's reading.
The important truth in the prayer and the reading is this: "if a man do these things, he shall find life in them." The issue is
to "find life," to "live."
In this present reading, the Holy Prophet Moses strives mightily to impress on God's People that they will find life in the
practice of the Faith. Yes, his teaching is as true for us Orthodox Christians today as it was for God's people of the Old
Covenant: spiritual death and destruction are possible for us; but to live, to "go in and take possession of [that] which the
Lord, the God of your fathers, gives you" (vs. 1), requires that we "give heed, keep and hold fast to the Lord [our] God"
(vss. 1-4). Let us affirm that the Holy Faith delivered to us by the Apostles and Prophets is a matter of urgency, a choice of
life or death. Finding life, very plainly, demands obedience, constancy in prayer and worship, and watchfulness over heart
and soul.
Notice how the Prophet stresses the need for obedience as the way to life. God has revealed how we are to walk - how we
are to live. In turn, we are to "give heed to the statutes and the ordinances" of God (vs. 1). Obedience begins with attention
to what God requires. There is no "adjusting" or "accommodating" to fads, opinions, or trends. God's revelation is not
subject to revision. As Moses says, "You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it; that you may
keep the commandments of the Lord your God" (vs. 2).
The Prophet reveals that participation by a significant number of Israelites in the pagan worship of the Moabite idol - the
"Baal of Peor" - was tantamount to adding to God's statutes and ordinances (Nu. 25:3). The People were invited to the
idolatrous sacrifices which included cultic "harlotry with the women of Moab" (Nu. 25:1), to attend the sacrifices, to eat at
the feasts and to worship the idols (Nu. 25:2). Those who succumbed to the allure of these debased fertility rites were
doomed to death by execution and the plague (Nu. 25:8-9). We find life not by adding forbidden activities into our lives
that attract us, but by obeying the word of God.
Moses reminds the Israelites that those "who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive this day" (Deut. 4:4). Obedience
is nourished by regular prayer and Orthodox worship. This is why the Church cautions us about frequenting "the meetings
of heretics and schismatics," or "forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some" (Heb. 10:25).
There is blessing promised in regular prayer and worship: "...in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts
and minds through Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:6,7). Finally, the Prophet teaches us to keep our souls diligently "lest you forget
the things which your eyes have seen, and...they depart from your heart" (Deut. 4:9). As Archimandrite Ioannikios
Kotsanis says, "Without watchfulness...ignorance is not recognized, it is camouflaged, it hides, it is full of conceit,
especially in the contemporary technological, conceited, and arrogant man." Let us post guard on our souls that the Lord of
Life may continue to abide in our hearts.
From my youth up many passions have warred against me. But do Thou help and save me, O my Savior. Yea, let my
humble heart be lighted by Thy fear, lest it rise and fall from Thee.
