Homily on the Epistle for the 13th Sunday After Pentecost
By Saint Innocent, Archbishop of Kherson and Tauride
By Saint Innocent, Archbishop of Kherson and Tauride
Have you heard the thunder? Have you seen the lightning? This lightning flashed here; this thunder resounded in this very church. For was it not here, from this very sacred place, that the apostle’s lightning-like word was proclaimed today: “If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus… let him be accursed!” (1 Cor. 16:22). What are all the thunders and lightnings compared with the one curse of God? Thunder and lightning strike at a particular time and in some particular place upon the earth; but the curse of God, once pronounced in Paradise, has continued to this day to make the whole earth bring forth thorns and thistles. Thunder and lightning may kill the body, may take away temporal life; but the curse of God may cast both soul and body forever into the fiery Gehenna. Therefore, we must look more carefully into ourselves: are we standing beneath this terrible thunder? Are we in some way drawing this unquenchable lightning down upon our own heads? Has someone perhaps already been struck by it? For this, too, may happen: someone may already have been struck by it and yet feel nothing of his affliction, just as one struck by physical thunder and lightning does not know his condition; and if he can be restored to life, it is through the help of a beneficent hand belonging to another.
“If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus… let him be accursed!”
Thus, nothing more than a lack of love for the Lord Jesus is enough for the wrath of heaven to come crashing down upon us. Yet we ordinarily think that the curse of heaven strikes only the very worst of criminals, that for this one must be a Cain, a Judas, or an Arius the blasphemer. On what do we base such a thought? On this: that God is merciful, and that other people are not so bad or wicked. But where, and in whom, has all the mercy of God been revealed more fully than in the Person of His Only-Begotten Son, who died upon the Cross for us? If I do not love this very mercy, that is, the divine Person of my Redeemer, what remains for me but judgment, wrath, and punishment? “We are not yet so wicked as to be objects of heavenly wrath.” But where, and in whom, is all our righteousness and justification found, if not in that same Person of our divine Mediator? If I do not love this righteousness in His Person, what remains for me but my own unrighteousness, and consequently the wrath of heaven?
If the Person of our Savior were not, in Himself, so worthy of love, perhaps there might be some excuse for not loving Him. But now He is precisely such that, looking upon Him, one must say: our Savior “is altogether love!” How, then, can one not love this love? And what remains for the one who does not love it but wrath and judgment?
Therefore, even if the apostle had not spoken this fearful word concerning those who do not love the Lord Jesus, our own heart, which loves Him, ought to pronounce it. In such a case, there can be only one excuse—ignorance. But whoever knows the Lord Jesus, knows what He has done and suffered for us, and yet does not love Him, has no excuse for his sin; he is an open enemy of everything holy and therefore inevitably faces rejection.
“If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus… let him be accursed!”
Who, then, loves the Lord Jesus, and who does not? This is an extremely important question, for with love is joined every blessing and, consequently, eternal life; while with the lack of love comes manifest condemnation and, consequently, eternal death.
The one who does not strive to know the Lord Jesus—does not love the Lord Jesus: to know what He has done and intends to do for us, and what He desires and requires from us.
The one who does not strive to keep His commandments, to imitate His example, to become like Him in his thoughts, character, and actions—does not love the Lord Jesus.
The one who does not love to think of Him, as often as possible, to picture His life as vividly as possible, to place himself in His invisible presence, and to give Him an account of his conduct—does not love the Lord Jesus.
The one who does not love His word, which He has left us in the Gospel; who does not love the Church established by Him; who does not love the Mysteries given by Him—does not love the Lord Jesus.
The one who is indifferent to His glory, who does not strive to spread knowledge of Him, who does not defend His name, who does not stand up for the holiness of His Gospel—does not love the Lord Jesus.
The one who is indifferent to His glory, who does not strive to spread knowledge of Him, who does not defend His name, who does not stand up for the holiness of His Gospel—does not love the Lord Jesus.
The one who does not wish to give up temporal blessings for His sake, to endure reproach and persecution from the world—does not love the Lord Jesus.
The one who does not await His glorious coming, who is not guided by the promises He has given, who does not sacrifice to them the vain hopes of this world—does not love the Lord Jesus.
You see for yourselves, brothers, that I am taking the most ordinary characteristics of love, and, so to speak, its unavoidable qualities—such qualities and signs without which even earthly love would be unworthy of its name. But when we gather even these few characteristics together into a single image and apply it to ourselves, how many will we find who love the Lord Jesus? It follows that scarcely any of us are not standing beneath the fearful word of the apostle of Christ! We stand beneath it and do not think about our danger! On the contrary, we think ourselves completely safe—and why? Because we bear the name (the name alone) of Christians, belong (also in name alone) to the Church of Christ, and perform (mechanically) some of its rites; that is, we place our hope in and consider ourselves safe precisely because of those things on account of which we ought to be afraid and tremble!...
May the attention of those who are still capable of being roused from spiritual sleep and carelessness be awakened! It was not without purpose that the apostle’s word struck my mind in the midst of the present service and compelled me to open my mouth to repeat it aloud to you, for I had not intended to speak with you today.
Perhaps there are among us precisely such souls for whom this awakening was necessary. And for whom is it not necessary? Who can boast of having such love for the Lord Jesus as we ought to have, as He has deserved from us?
Therefore, let us all receive the apostle’s word with fear, and, when we return to our homes, let us reflect: does it fall upon us also with all its weight? Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
You see for yourselves, brothers, that I am taking the most ordinary characteristics of love, and, so to speak, its unavoidable qualities—such qualities and signs without which even earthly love would be unworthy of its name. But when we gather even these few characteristics together into a single image and apply it to ourselves, how many will we find who love the Lord Jesus? It follows that scarcely any of us are not standing beneath the fearful word of the apostle of Christ! We stand beneath it and do not think about our danger! On the contrary, we think ourselves completely safe—and why? Because we bear the name (the name alone) of Christians, belong (also in name alone) to the Church of Christ, and perform (mechanically) some of its rites; that is, we place our hope in and consider ourselves safe precisely because of those things on account of which we ought to be afraid and tremble!...
May the attention of those who are still capable of being roused from spiritual sleep and carelessness be awakened! It was not without purpose that the apostle’s word struck my mind in the midst of the present service and compelled me to open my mouth to repeat it aloud to you, for I had not intended to speak with you today.
Perhaps there are among us precisely such souls for whom this awakening was necessary. And for whom is it not necessary? Who can boast of having such love for the Lord Jesus as we ought to have, as He has deserved from us?
Therefore, let us all receive the apostle’s word with fear, and, when we return to our homes, let us reflect: does it fall upon us also with all its weight? Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
