Fr. Sean's Easter IV Sermon

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. 

We are now more than halfway into Eastertide, this glorious season in which we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. As I mentioned last week, all of the Gospels appointed for the services in the latter half of Eastertide come from an extended passage of the Gospel of St. John where Jesus, before his death, taught the disciples what would happen. He said: "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you." In the light of the resurrection, the Apostles now understand that the going away meant Jesus' death, which came with great sorrow. But now that he is with them again, Jesus prepares them for another departure, but one that comes with great joy. Each of his appearances helped the fledgling church understand the new reality in which they lived. They had to remember his past teaching in a new light and also learn to expect his coming Ascension and Pentecost. 

This might seem an easy task, and I often expect that the Apostles could easily have seen what was happening! After the resurrection, I always assumed that those who knew Jesus would have immediately changed their whole lives to preach the good news, but this was not so. In chapter 21 of the Gospel of John, we see Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, James, and John going fishing again, catching nothing. These men used to be fishermen, and now they are returning back to their old jobs, seemingly unsure of what to do next. They do not immediately understand their roles as Apostles nor do they see their lives in the service of Jesus--instead they return back to their old jobs! 

This amazes me, but then I consider how radically different their expectations must have been. Before the resurrection, it seems clear in the Gospels that the Apostles still assumed that Jesus would lead some sort of political rebellion and upheaval against the Romans and lead the nation of Israel as they conceived of it into a new independence. Jesus' arrest and death shattered the Apostles. And yet, after the resurrection, I imagine that the Apostles were still wondering if they would be involved in a revolution, taking back their land and nation from the oppressive overlords. But in each of his appearances, Jesus refuses such interpretation of his resurrection. 

Back to John 21 with the depressed, tired, and sad group of failed fishermen in an empty boat--Jesus then, as you well know, appears on the shore, tells them to cast on the other side of the boat where they miraculously net 153 fish. When they get to shore and eat a meal with Jesus, he then tells Peter three times to feed his sheep, thereby reorienting the life of Peter and those Apostles back to his kingdom. Instead of going back to their old jobs, and instead of doing it on their own, they now must accept Jesus and his commission--accept his commands and way of life, and accept that the reality of his kingdom is radically different than their assumptions. 

Their reorientation and acceptance of Jesus post-resurrection, I think, is a good metaphor for our season right now, but also for our whole faith. We live more fully in the kingdom of God as we learn to accept God's will and receive his way of life into our own. In fact, I do not think it too much to say that reception is a framework of our faith. The Apostle James was also on that boat, and his Epistle for this morning is a perfect example of how to reorient our lives to receive the grace of God. 

DEARLY beloved: Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. 

James starts with a radical view of reality. The Father of lights, God Almighty is perfect--he never changes nor turns from his purposes. This could seem to be a statement of a far-away and distant God. A god of the deists, who built the complex machinery of the universe in order to let it run and develop. And yet, our God, as creator, is a giver of gifts--He is a God who gives not just creates. James teaches us that we should view reality as giftedness. He continues:

Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. 

Not only is God the creator, he is our Father. Through his word of truth, the second person of the Holy Trinity, he created us as his sons and daughters. We are the recipients of his goodwill, and it is his will that we should be the first-fruits of his creatures, meaning that we are exalted over the rest of creation. We did not merit this on our own--it is a gift from God. In light of this reality of giftedness, our response must be one of thankfulness. 

An attitude of thankfulness brings more than just a good feeling, it is a reorientation of one's life. Thankfulness works against the idea that we are individuals set free to follow our own path. Instead, we receive a purpose and path from God. Thankfulness works against the idea that I have the power to demand anything from God or others. It is the opposite of wrath, that particular anger which resents the existence of God or others as His creation. James puts it this way:

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. 

Left to his own devices, man separates himself from God as he refuses to receive reality as God has willed. If one cannot receive the gifts of God and receive reality as a gift, then he will grow in wrath, using himself and creation for improper ends. So James concludes:

Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

James advises us to lay apart, or cast off, filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness. One of my favorite phrases! Superfluity means an unnecessary excess of something. Naughtiness is a very old English word, which just means disobedience or bad behavior (which in our time has taken on the definition of indecency) but the root of it, naught, means nothingness. Disobedience is the cooperation with nothingness, the opposite of Life and Goodness and Truth. Superfluity of naughtiness, then, is the unnecessary excess of nothingness. That is a succinct diagnosis of our age, but it has also always been the case with the world since the end result of the world, the flesh, the devil, is the denial of God, of reality, and so it always results in nothingness.

And again, James reminds us that to cast off that life of darkness, we should not start by created a to-do list, or a self-help course for individual happiness. Notice that the path to God starts by receiving. "Receive with meekness the engrafted word." That is the only path for salvation, for only the gift of God, the engrafted word is able to save us. 

In all of this, the emphasis is on God–our task is to receive. To open our wills and intellects and affections to his beautiful gifts. The holiness we desire as Christians is not mysterious or even difficult to attain. God will produce holiness in us as we accept His work. Jean-Pierre de Cassaude put it brilliantly: 

“Let us realize that all we have to do to achieve the height of holiness is to do only what we are already doing and endure what we are already enduring, and to realize too that all we count as trivial and worthless is what can make us holy. How I would like to preach the virtues of holy will, and teach everyone that nothing is easier, more ordinary, and more within reach than holiness…All I want is for you to carry on as you are doing and endure what you have to do but change your attitude to all these things. And this change is simply to say "I will" to all that God asks.” 

As we accept just how powerless we really are, we will start to see just how much we need God’s help in all that we do. And as we open up to receive His work in our lives, God will grow in us His very life: that is, the life of virtue and freedom. We make it difficult as we hold on to our ways, persist in our own pleasures or sins, and think that we know what is best. But what is much easier is to receive the life of God and accept each change in our lives as another chance to endure in humility and to fall upon the power of God. This openness to the Divine life comes through our reception of God’s work. 

We receive God's work primarily in the sacraments–they are, in fact, a school for learning how to receive the grace of God. At baptism, the baby comes completely helpless and is given that which by nature she cannot have: divine life. At Confirmation, you do not prove yourself in front of the bishop! You kneel in front of him, and as he lays his hands on you, he grants to you the seven-fold gifts of the Holy Spirit. At Holy Eucharist, you do not receive the Body and Blood of Jesus because you deserve it. It is a pure gift. Before you receive we behold his Presence and say: “Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof but speak the word only and my soul shall be healed.” At Confession, you really cannot claim anything! In fact, you bare the darkest depths of your soul, and then God lovingly offers you Absolution. In Holy Unction, you come sick and unable to heal yourself–then the priest anoints you with Apostolic healing. At Holy Matrimony, you do not take your spouse. You do not drag your spouse down the aisle while you hold her wrist. No, matrimony is a mutual reception of love, blessed and united by the love of God. And finally at Holy Order, men do not stride up to the bishop to receive the laying on of hands. We prostrate first, and humbly kneel as we receive Christ’s priesthood, not our own. All of the sacraments teach us that our life is ordered by the reception of God Almighty who seeks to work in each and every one of us. And even more, it is not just in the Sacraments but  also by His will throughout all the little ways we receive the love of God throughout our lives. As we ponder his great gifts--such as life itself, our salvation, His continual presence with us--then we can grow in thankfulness and open ourselves more and more to receive Him. This process does not stop for we can always receive more of the greatest gift of all: the infinite and almighty life of God Himself. 

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.