Two Loves

September 29, 2024

1 Cor 1.21 – 2.4

Luke 6.31 – 36

St Macarius the Egyptian (4^th Century) says: ‘The world of Christians is one thing – their way of living, their mind, and speech, and action, is one – and the way of living, and mind and speech and action of the men of this world is another. And the difference between them is great.’ (St Macarios, Homily 5.1)

We could say that the source of the difference between the Christian and the men of this world is found in the love of their hearts. If we who think we are Christians would examine our own hearts by this rubric, would we discover that, following again St Macarius, although we differ from the world in outward form and appearance, and in a few points of religious ordinance, in our heart and mind we are bound with the same earthly bonds, never having acquired rest from God and the peace of the Heavenly Spirit in our heart because we never sought it from God.’ (Homily 5.1)

That is to say, going back to the LORD’s word in this morning’s Gospel: Like men of the world, ‘we love those who love us, we do good to those who do good to us.’ But our enemy we do not love.

When asked, is there a sure sign that one has become a ‘Christian,’ St Silouan of Athos answered that there is. He is a Christian, he said, who loves his enemy. St Silouan was but repeating the words of St John the Theologian, whom we commemorated on Thursday last and whose first epistle was our assigned reading for that day: ‘God is love [agape]. He who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him.’ That is, we could say, in him who loves God and even his enemy, God begins to become incarnate. It is therefore by loving our enemy, loving those who hate us, doing good to those who do not do good to us, ‘that we know and believe the love God has for us’ (1 Jn 4.16) because, again, if we are doing the love of God, God is becoming incarnate in us.

We know Him, in the love we are trying to practice, a love that is not according to us. if it were according to us, if we followed our will, then it would be a love that does good to those who are good to us, that loves those who love us, that hates our enemy and does not wish to do good to our enemy let alone forgive our enemy.

This I find to be a very hard saying. I will let you speak for yourself. As for me, by this rubric I am no Christian because I do not to love my enemy; I do not want to return good for evil or love those who do not love me. But I do not lose hope. I take heart in the words of the LORD: ‘I came into the world to call not the righteous but to call sinners to repentance.’ And St Paul, from this word of the LORD, says in his epistle to Timothy: ‘The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am first.’ If the essential mark of a sinner is that he does not love his enemy, then I, with St Paul, am the first of all sinners. But if the LORD came into the world save sinners, of whom I am first, then He came into the world to save me and, if I ask Him, to bring me into His love so that in Him I can love even my enemy.

Even as a sinner, however, I have observed that when I return evil for evil – or let’s soften it a bit and say – when I return unkindness for unkindness, insult for insult, anger for anger, I am drawn into a cycle that only gets darker and more tangled. The unkindness, the anger, the insult thrown at me by the one who has made himself my enemy with his unkindnesses toward me is like the snare the Psalmist speaks of so often. When, at the very least, I restrain myself and choose, even though I don’t want to, not to return the unkindness with unkindness, the insult with an insult, the anger with anger, I find that I escape the snare because I chose not to step into it.

Our LORD and Savior has commanded us in another place: ‘If you would be My disciple, you must deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me. Only by losing your life for My sake will you find it.’ When I choose to renounce my will and not to trade anger for anger, insult for insult, unkindness for unkindness, I am denying myself. I am taking up my cross, for I am choosing the pain of denying myself the pleasure of trading anger for anger. That pain is a form of the agony of the cross the LORD commands us to take up. If I choose to endure that pain of denying myself the pleasure of giving in to the anger, I am following Christ in that moment. I am losing my life in that moment. Even if it’s in a small way, I am nonetheless choosing to be crucified with Christ. And, if I am crucified with Christ, that means I am uniting myself to Christ in His Resurrection, it means that I am following Him into His Tomb to be united with Him in His death. And, if I am united to Christ in His death, it means I am uniting myself to Him in His Resurrection.

I believe we experience the likeness of Christ’s resurrection at the very least in the calm that follows when we choose not to step into the snare of the devil and return evil for evil. And I would offer that this, the bare act of choosing not to give in to my anger or to act out my hatred, this is the seed of my becoming merciful as Our Father in heaven is merciful. It is the first small step of that famous journey of a thousand miles. Even in that small step, I’ve turned away from the west and the snares of the devil, to the East and the Resurrection of Christ. Like my Mother, the Most Beloved Virgin Mary Theotokos, even if in a small way, I am receiving the commandment of the LORD into my actions and therefore into my soul as the Seed of the LORD’s Holy Spirit as She received the Seed of God in Her womb. In that one instant, in that one moment, the Son of God, incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, is being conceived in me.

Now, anyone who has tried to follow the commandment of the LORD to love those who hate us, our enemies, know from their own experience that this is hard to do. In fact, it is impossible. This is why love for one’s enemies is the sign of a Christian. The worldly man cannot do this. For, those who are of the world are marked by laziness and cowardice. They choose not to act in courage, and they give in to their love for pleasure to hate their enemy. They choose not to embrace the pain of doing the LORD’s commandments even when and perhaps especially when they don’t want to.

Turning again to St Macarius: ‘Most men wish to inherit eternal life, but do not refuse to follow their own wills. Not denying themselves, choosing not to ‘hold out’ against the conflicts, the struggles, the labors and various temptations of the devil that must be borne on the way to the Kingdom of Heaven, they wish nonetheless to inherit eternal life. But this is impossible.’ (Homily 5.6)

This brings us back to the word of Our LORD in this morning’s Gospel. He says, following the Greek closely: ‘Become merciful as your Heavenly Father is merciful.’ One isn’t suddenly a ‘Christian,’ following St Macarius. One becomes a Christian. It’s a process. It’s a journey. It’s an inner exodus. ‘Become merciful,’ the LORD says. It’s the same as when He says to those He raises up from their bed of sickness: ‘Take up your bed and walk.’ Take up your cross; deny yourself, follow Me by choosing to put to death all that is earthly in you, choosing obedience to My commandments, to the will of God, and not to your own will. That choosing is the struggle; and that struggle can be fierce because I am choosing to deny what I want to do in order to do what the LORD commands me to do.

But in choosing to take up this struggle, dear faithful, this is how we abide in the love of God. Christ is the Way. He is the Path we walk when we take up our bed and walk. He is the Beginning and the End of the whole process. Even when you begin with steps that you may think are very, very small, you are taking those steps on the Path that is Christ. You are stepping into the love of God.

And if you keep on struggling, you are abiding in the love of God. And if, when you fall and find yourself hating your enemy, you choose to confess your sin rather than ignore it or hide it from God, you will find that you are still abiding in the love of God; for, if we confess our sins, says St John, the LORD is gracious and faithful to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

So, if we hold to the struggle and do not give in or give up, and if we get up each time we fall, then the end of our struggle will be to become even in this world as God is (1 Jn 4.17). For what is impossible for us to do – to raise ourselves from death to life and to become living and glorious, good and beautiful like God is – this is possible for God. Those, therefore, who choose in the fear of God, with faith and in love to draw near to Christ by doing His commandments will find that what was impossible for them has been accomplished in the Faithfulness and Love of Our LORD, God and Savior, Jesus Christ to whom are due all glory now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen! Glory to Jesus Christ! Most Holy Theotokos, save us!