Homily for the Tenth Sunday of Matthew (St. Luke of Simferopol)

Homily for the Tenth Sunday of Matthew

Matthew 17:14–23

By St. Luke, Archbishop of Simferopol and All Crimea

(Delivered on September 2, 1945)

The Lord Jesus Christ descended from Mount Tabor, filled with profound and great thoughts about the glorious Transfiguration that He had just accomplished. He revealed His heavenly light to the world through His chosen disciples. Oh, how He wished for this light to shine in the world, for people to embrace it in their hearts, so that all nations would walk along the path illuminated by His heavenly light!

He descended from the mountain into a crowd of people, who were making noise and arguing; and the tumultuous, base spirit of the crowd struck His heart painfully, so highly attuned. The father of the possessed lunatic boy approached Him. He asked only for healing – not out of reverence for the Son of God, nor from love for the Savior of the world, but solely from the desire to receive physical help from the Miracle-Worker.

The Lord remembered the people, who were miraculously fed by Him with bread and fish in the wilderness, a people coarse and carnal, to whom He said: "You seek Me not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled" (John 6:26). And bitter words burst from His heart: "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you?" (Matthew 17:17)

The Lord was estranged in spirit from the majority of the people. He was not understood, was insulted, called a deceiver and flatterer, a servant of Beelzebub. He had to endure interactions with enemies who hated Him, maliciously seeking His life. It was difficult for Him; anguish and sorrow filled His heart. "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you?" (Matthew 17:17)

Not only did the Lord Jesus Christ suffer from this anguish. Concerning the Righteous Lot, the nephew of our Patriarch Abraham, we read in the epistle of the Apostle Peter that he, living in Sodom, was tormented by the "conduct of the wickedly depraved... for that righteous man, living among them, was tormented in his righteous soul day after day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds" (2 Peter 2:7-8).

In the current apostolic reading, you heard the words of Saint Paul: "I think that God has judged us, the last apostles, to be as if condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men" (1 Cor. 4:9). He speaks of the common fate of the apostles and all heralds of Christ's gospel. They serve as a spectacle for the world that does not know Christ, who mocks them and persecutes them. However, the angels gaze upon their holy struggle with great joy and reverence. "We are fools for Christ's sake" (1 Cor. 4:10). The Athenians considered Saint Paul's speech to be madness in the Areopagus. The governor Festus said to him, "You are mad, Paul! Much learning is driving you mad" (Acts 26:24).

And concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, it was said that He was beside Himself, that a demon was in Him, that He was mad. "Even to this day we suffer hunger and thirst, and nakedness and blows, and wander about" (1 Cor. 4:11). Is this not rejection, is this not the enmity of the world? "We are reviled, but we pray; we are as the dung of the world, as the dust trodden under foot by all until now" (1 Cor. 4:9–13).

But this is not only the fate of the saints. To all Christians, Saint Paul said: "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." Let us also recall the words of the Lord: "If you were of the world, the world would love its own; yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you... A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also" (John 15:19–20).

In the 43rd Psalm, the Prophet David states: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter" (Rom. 8:36). Of course, this does not apply to us; we are not killed for confessing Christ today. However, this was not only the case during the ancient persecutions of Christians by Roman emperors. It was so relatively recently as well. In the 17th century, in Japan, missionary preaching converted over 200,000 Japanese to Christianity. The Buddhists and pagans became enraged and initiated a terrible persecution against them. The roads were lined with numerous crosses on which Japanese Christians were crucified.

We are strangers in this world. "For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come" (Hebrews 13:14). We yearn in this world, just as the Jews yearned by the rivers of Babylon, reminiscing about Zion. Oh, how heavy it weighs upon me to walk the streets of Tambov, seeing and feeling that I am alien and unnecessary to the vast majority of the people. They do not need my calls to the path of Christ, my ministry; they are unaware of my sorrow over the hardening of their hearts. Before me arise the blessed images of ancient Holy Rus, where the entire people were filled with reverence for their Savior and willingly followed their saints. If they are interested in me, if they seek me, it is only as a doctor from whom they expect the healing of their physical ailments; yet they do not speak with me about the ailments of the soul, do not ask for spiritual assistance, as they do not feel the need for it.

Thus, all of you, Christians, my small flock of Christ, languish and suffer from your spiritual alienation. I know that many of you bear the heavy cross of alienation even within your own families. I understand how difficult it is for you to hear ridicule from husbands and brothers, even from fathers and mothers, regarding your piety, your love for Christ, and your prayers.

Be patient, be patient, as our Lord endured, as Saint Paul and all the Apostles endured. Imitate the great Paul, just as he imitated Christ. If you are reviled, as he was reviled, do not respond with evil for evil, but pray for those who offend you, as he and all the Apostles prayed; and only in prayer will you find peace for your souls, for Christ will hear it, He who bore the heavy cross of alienation and reproach for so long. And He will comfort you, weary and burdened ones, extending your hands to Him, pouring out the sorrows of your hearts.

Only in God will your soul find rest. From Him comes salvation; in Him is your refuge.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.