In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

In the Epistle, the words that the Apostle Paul is giving to us are very important for us to remember. These words talk about his experience of the Lord, and the love of the Lord. They speak of how the Lord, in His love, intervened in his life, and by revelation drew him into His one flock. The Lord not only drew him into His one flock, but in the end, made him a leader of that one flock, and also made him a very great expander of that one flock. The Apostle Paul was a living expression of that yeast that the Saviour, Himself, was talking about in parables. He was, himself, the enabler of so many other people to find Christ, and to come to Him.

It’s really important for us to remember this outpouring of the love of the Lord on the Apostle Paul, who, himself, admits that he had previously persecuted the Church, and had resisted this love. We see how the love of the Lord is both insistent, and persistent with us. The Lord tries to do everything He can to draw us together into His one flock in unity, in love, and in life.

This is really important, especially today, when we are hearing this Gospel-event about the exorcism of the man possessed by a multitude of demons. This man of the city was driven out of the city, away from unity, away from society, by the activity of the demons in his heart. This man is already encountering the love of the Lord, because as you recall – we saw it, and we heard it – the Lord is already commanding this crowd of demons to come out of the man even before we hear about a conversation. The Lord comes into the presence of this man who is already starting to say: “What do You have to do with me?” and He is liberating this man in the same way as He liberated the Apostle Paul from chains. The Apostle Paul’s chains were rather different from this man’s chains, but they were chains, anyway. The Lord sets us free. The Lord draws us into unity with Himself, and with each other.

It’s important for you, and me to remember this as we come here every week, and stand in the presence of the Lord, and His love. In fact, He, Himself, has drawn us to be here with His love, in the same way that He drew the Apostle Paul to Him by His love. The Lord is first in our lives. He is the only purpose of our lives. His love for us, and our love for Him are the only reasons for anything at all.

At the same time, however, when we are confronted with this man possessed by a multitude of demons, it is important for us to ask ourselves: How am I different from that demon-possessed man? Am I more like the Apostle Paul after he was set free? Is my love for the Lord like the Apostle Paul’s – intense, full of life, full of joy, well focussed, and life-giving? Or, have I allowed myself to become divided, and broken like the man who was possessed by demons? Perhaps I fall into the trap of believing that there is no such thing as evil. Some people like to say that there is no such thing as personal evil, but that evil is some sort of a concept or whatever, and that evil is “just there”. They say that evil is bad people, or people that are just out-of-focus, or misled or sick or something. These people are denying the reality of the forces of evil. Well, when we get into that department, we are prime prey to become like the demon-possessed man – broken, divided, paralysed, separated, and driven away.

What is the nature of our life here, among ourselves? How am I when I come to this temple? Am I in harmony with my brothers, and sisters? Do I live in forgiveness with my brothers, and sisters? Do I pray fervently for those who are very difficult for me to be with? Or, do I come here feeling all raw, angry, and just plain dark, and bitter? Do I come here with these passions afflicting me – feeling anger, and so forth? Do I come into the temple like that? If I come into the temple like that, then (if I am a Christian), I have to be crying out to the Lord (who saved the Apostle Peter, and who liberated this man from the demons): Liberate me, Lord, from these terrible passions. Liberate me, Lord, from the slavery to anger, the slavery to bitterness, the slavery to anything that divides me from my brothers, and sisters.

Do I come here into this temple having an agenda against my brother, and sister, and having no respect for my brother, and sister? Do I come into this temple feeling some sort of division between me, and someone else? When I have no respect for my brother, and sister, I have to realise, then, that I have no respect for Christ. No matter how difficult that brother or sister is for me to get along with (because of weakness, fallenness, or illness), that person is a creature of the Lord. In that person we must be able to see Christ. In the most difficult persons that we have to encounter, we must be able to see Christ. We must be able to respect Christ in that other person, no matter how much that person’s illnesses, weaknesses, brokenness make it difficult for me to be near that person. If I am truly an Orthodox Christian, and I truly have the love of the Lord Jesus Christ alive in my heart, if there are people who are so difficult for me to be with, then I must be offering that person to the Lord constantly in prayer, asking the Lord to heal that person, and to heal me. In fact, I need to ask the Lord to heal me first before I can manage to ask the Lord properly to heal anyone else. Who am I, with my house all dirty, filthy, and full of trash to criticise someone else whose house might be just a little bit dusty?

Often it is the case that when we get into moods like that, and we are grumbling about this or that person’s behaviour, that person’s ideas, that person’s disposition – in fact, compared to me, that person is in very good shape. When it comes down to real analysis of life, that person is in much better shape than I am, because my heart is so full of turmoil; my heart is so full of anger; my heart is so full of condemnation of my brother, and sister. When I have come to this state, how can I see Christ in the other? How can I respect Christ in the other? How can I be like Christ, then, who says: He who comes after Me must daily take up his Cross, and follow Me (cf. Mark 8:34)? He also says: As you have seen Me washing the feet of the Apostles, so you have to do to each other (cf. John 13:14, 15). We have to love, and serve each other like Christ. Having put on Christ, we have to demonstrate this love which serves, which gives life, which nurtures, which enriches, which lifts up, which unifies, which binds, which brings people tightly close together in the love of Jesus Christ.

It is important for us to remember this love of Jesus Christ, and what its true force is. This love is not warm, fuzzy, flabby, cozy, comfortable, sit-in-front-of-the-fire sort of love, but it is love which gives life, which raises from the dead, which liberates, which sets free, which delivers, which conquers death, and which conquers evil. It should not be called “which”, but “Who”. Who is this Love? Who accomplishes all of these things?

It is important for us to remember the Lord, and His love. It is important to be continually living in the context of this love, pleading with the Lord to renew this love in our hearts, and pleading with the Lord, by His love, to heal our brokenness, to bind us up, to renew us within ourselves, and together, with each other. Where there is brokenness, division, separation, driving away, the Lord is not at work. Where there is drawing together, where there is unifying love, where there is gathering, where there is life, where there is multiplication of joy, the Lord is greatly at work. It is our responsibility, all together, to be engaging in this work of the Lord.

We have to bring into the Kingdom of Heaven people who are bound and fettered by showing them through our love, through our joy, through our life, through our liberty, where life truly is, where hope truly is.

Brothers, and sisters, please let us make sure that our only purpose in life is to do what St Herman said, and says: “From this day, from this hour, from this minute, let us love God above all, and do His holy will”, and glorify the all-holy Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now, and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

† Archdiocese of Canada - Orthodox Church in America