Membership in the Church of Christ
Sunday after Theophany
Ephesians 4:7-13; Matthew 4:12-17
"From that time Jesus began to preach and say: 'Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand'."
These are the words that end today's reading from the Gospel. We should understand that with the beginning of the preaching of the Gospel, the Kingdom of Heaven has clearly come closer for people; for those who believe in that Gospel, those who will accept the teaching of Christ, His Commandments, as a guide for life -- the way to the Kingdom of Heaven assuredly opens for them.
For those people, the Kingdom of Heaven is approaching now that they are building the Kingdom of God within themselves, according to the Commandments of Christ. In that the Lord testified that "the Kingdom of God is within" us (Luke 17:21), and when it is on earth within us, then we will also be worthy of the Kingdom of God in heaven.
Because, if we, according to the instructions of Christ, love our neighbours, when we try to help each other, root out evil, hatred, envy from our feelings, then we build the Kingdom of God within us. Then the Kingdom of Heaven draws near to us, for we are storing our treasures "in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys them" (Matthew 6:20). Being worthy members of Christ's body on earth, members of His Church, we thereby open the way to membership in the Heavenly Church. However, people should not deceive themselves -- they cannot consider themselves members of the Church of Christ based on their membership fees.
Spiritual membership in the Church of Christ cannot be measured by money or any material values in general. Membership in the Church of Christ begins with birth in Christ - with acceptance of the Sacrament of Baptism. Yet, that is just the beginning. Those born in Christ must grow and be nourished by Christ: through knowledge and assimilation of His divine teaching, through participation in Divine Services, and through acceptance of His Gifts in the Sacraments, through prayer and life in Christ.
A few remarks about the participation of Christians in the Sacraments.
Participation of Christians in the Sacraments is an indispensable condition for membership in the Church of Christ. During the joint public Divine Service (Liturgy), according to our communal prayer, the Sacrament of transformation of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ is performed. We must all partake of those Mysteries from the same cup. The Lord commanded that whoever eats of them "will live forever", as he “abides in Me, and I in him" (John 6:51,56).
Consuming those Mysteries from the same cup brings us closer to Christ and at the same time to ourselves.
At the same time, we must also have a true understanding that in every performance of the Sacrament we perform or see external visible actions, but the Holy Spirit descends invisibly and sanctification takes place in a transformation that cannot be observed with our bodily eyes.
Such spiritual transformations occur both at baptism and at the consecration of water, and in the Sacrament of Penance, as well as in the Sacrament of Communion (Eucharist). The Lord, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, sanctifies and transforms everything according to His promise and assuredly according to our faith. According to our faith it will be given to us (Matthew 9:29).
In today's reading of the Gospel, the words that the evangelist Matthew quotes from the book of the prophet Isaiah are given:
"The people who sat in darkness saw a great light, and to those who sat in the land of the shadow of death, light shone." (Matthew 4:16).
Isaiah spoke about the enlightenment of the people by the light of God, Christ, more than 700 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was and is the light for the world, which illuminates the way to salvation for everyone. The evangelist speaks of this (John 1:9), and the Lord Himself testifies to this:
"I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8:12).
Some people, who consider themselves very intelligent, also think that Christ may have been a light for the world during His time on earth; though now, they say, in the last almost two thousand years, mankind has come so far in the development of science, technology, and civilization, and so many wise books have been written that the light of Christ can no longer enlighten the modern world...
Indeed, humankind has made great technological progress, especially in the last one hundred and fifty years. In our times, people walk on the moon, reach other planets of the solar system with rockets, maybe they will also walk on them. Yet, people have never been under such an all-encompassing threat of destruction, for many of them have turned away from the light of Christ and are in darkness.
The darkness of uncertainty, the evil plans of the leaders of different countries, different social and ideological systems, which possess weapons of total destruction and ruination, those weapons can be set in motion with the push of a button. And among those who possess such weapons, there may also be psychologically unstable people, just as can be found among us ordinary people... And thus, an unprecedented darkness now hangs over all humankind.
That is why, in our times, humanity needs the light of Christ - the light of love, brotherhood, more than ever. But many people do not want that all-encompassing light of Christ; they close themselves off from it with all kinds of human ideological veils, various philosophical systems.
When people do not want to accept the light of Christ, when they nurture evil and hatred, which can lead to the terrible consequences of total destruction, then God is not to blame. God the Creator gives people the freedom of choice, the freedom of will to accept the light of Christ or withdraw from it. God also endowed people with intelligence to know the truth and the way of their salvation.
Let's pray and work, let us do everything that depends on us so that the light of Christ enlightens more and more people, because only the light of Christ's teaching, the evangelism of the gospel, can warm human souls, melt away evil, envy and hatred, lust for power and other negative human sinful passions and encourage them to show love for one's neighbours.
Therefore, as in the past, we put our hope in Christ, in His divine light, which first shone in the darkness, in Galilee, "in the land of the shadow of death," to then enlighten all the countries of the world - for the salvation of all people.
Amen.
Very Rev. Fr. Taras Slavchenko
Taras Slavchenko was born on March 8, 1918 in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region in Ukraine. After graduating from school and the Pedagogical College, he entered the language and literature faculty of the Scientific Pedagogical Institute. Having successfully completed it in 1938, he served as a teacher in a secondary school.