Judgement...Where do we fall?

 

            Let’s look at the readings for today, especially that of Jude 1:1-10, the pronouncement against false teachers.  False teachers have always been in our midst, and, if you have been reading the blog for a period, then you know this is a topic I’ve covered very recently. This past Sunday was the Sunday of the Last Judgement and the Church for this week has continued our theme of judgement. Jude clearly outlines what happens to those who teach and believe false teaching. That they will enter eternal judgment, just like those at Sodom and Gomorrah.

            First, in the Orthodox Church, the priest as spiritual father of the parish, and likewise the bishop as spiritual father of the diocese has the hardest position within the church, because not only are they responsible for their own sins, but responsible for the sins of those who they are meant to guide. Just as my father was responsible for me when I was younger, before I left his care and began to live on my own. The spiritual fathers that Jude discusses within these words, are those who have led the flock astray, who have taught the wrong things. Orthodoxy means right teaching, or right belief. This means that the church has held fast to the teachings of the Apostles, Church Fathers, elders, and teachers, who in turned learned from those who came before. As a priest or bishop, one is expected to hold fast to those teachings, because they have been carefully guarded and preserved for the entire existence of the Church. When men stray from these teachings, they rebuke themselves, revile the very practices and beliefs that Christians have held and in turn condemn themselves. On the day of the Last Judgement, they will be as if the Lord never knew them!! How sad! They will be cast with devil and his angels into eternal torment. Those who have held firm to the faith, will be brought into everlasting life and eternal glory with Christ and the angels who serve Him. Straying from the path the Lord has outlined for us, believing that we have it figured out more than Him is dangerous. Trying to interpret the scriptures without guidance, trying to flatter the Lord with our free-flowing prayer, and in general being prideful are all ways of us self-serving our needs instead of the needs of our souls. The way of life of a Christian must be taught to us by our spiritual father, the priest, just like we were taught by our parents when we were younger. As my mother would say, “Don’t try and invent the wheel.”

            Dear brothers and sisters, as we prepare for the coming of Great Lent next Monday, we are coming to the point of the year where we will be in our greatest spiritual battles. No Lent for me has ever come without great distress and spiritual struggles that have tested the very core of my faith. This year I can assure you will be no different. And I pray that the same struggles come your way. Not because I believe that you should suffer. Rather, it is because without these struggles, the enemy has already won. These struggles are because the enemy sees your works and fears them. He sees your efforts and tries to wrestle you out of the palm of God’s hand. I pray that we do not fall away like those Jude discussed in his epistle. I pray that we do not reject serving Christ like the angels who fell from heaven with the devil. This Lent, let us strive for spiritual purity instead of spiritual prelest.

 

Amen.