Preparing for Growth

An Old Russian Icon of Christ Enthroned in Paradise

By Bp. Joseph Boyd (Ancient Church of the West)

Introduction 

Today, on the Sunday called “Sexagesima,” meaning “Sixty Days before Easter”, or the second Sunday before Lent, we are contemplating the arrival of our spiritual winter, a time of dormition and death, a time of hibernation and struggle, which we call Lent. Lent will be here shortly, and we are making preparations for the voluntary difficulties that this season brings. We fast from sweets, wine, oil, meats and eat simple, unfulfilling foods like bread and beans, rice and oats, greens and vegetable soups. We cut down our portion size and eat only one regular meal a day. We skip meals and offer up our Wednesdays and Fridays as special days of fasting and prayer. All of these things are difficult. All of these things are sacrifices to humble us, let us feel our own mortality, and to see ourselves for who we really are - frail creatures with a short life, relationships hanging by threads, and a small flash of light in a vast darkness. Our insignificance is the key to our meaning, because in embracing our frailty and our brevity, we can actually do meaningful things in life. All the comforts, accolades, titles, possessions, and even experiences fall away, and we glimpse something that is important, solid, eternal and transcendent above all - God. In the light that He offers us when we truly seek Him, we can see ourselves, and see how He loves us and cares for us. Realizing this, everything else becomes unimportant. In this light we live and move and have our being. In this light we grow. 

Our Hearts as a Garden

Growth, which is the expression of the life that we have been given by God, is the opposite of death. Growth is the increase of life, the multiplication of self, and the continuation of the gifts of God. Growth only occurs when we are rightly oriented towards the light, when our hearts are open and unfettered, and when we allow the water of God’s word to flood into us, seeping into the core of our being, our consciousness. In this place of light and water, the seeds that Christ has sown in us through the traditions of the Church - the stories from the Bible, the witness of holy people, the investment of our parents in our lives, the fellowship and encouragement of our local community - all spring up in us and become living plants. These plants form our identity, and they bear fruits of righteousness. Virtues arise from these seeds, as they are watered, receive light and grow. These fruits of the Spirit then increase ten, fifty, one hundred-fold, and spill out into the community, for those who are hungry, isolated, and without light and water to enjoy. Our fruit is offered up for the world, and its offering imitates the offering of Christ’s self on the Cross, which blesses and transforms the world, and makes death a pathway to life. 

Enlarge the Place of Thy Tent 

In the Old Testament Reading today of Jeremiah 30:18-21, it says - "Thus says the LORD: I am going to restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob, and have compassion on his dwellings; the city shall be rebuilt upon its mound, and the citadel set on its rightful site. Out of them shall come thanksgiving, and the sound of merrymakers. I will make them many, and they shall not be few; I will make them honored, and they shall not be disdained. Their children shall be as of old, their congregation shall be established before me; and I will punish all who oppress them. Their prince shall be one of their own, their ruler shall come from their midst; I will bring him near, and he shall approach me, for who would otherwise dare to approach me? says the LORD."

In the Old Testament, the “agrarian planting analogy” that we heard in the Gospel Reading this morning was not as common as it was in the New Testament. The Old Testament was often more likely to talk about the children and grandchildren of a nation, a righteous covenant that was established with blood between God and our Fathers, and to talk of human seed and the effects of an overflowing and blessed population like the “sands of the sea” and the “stars of the sky.” This is a less abstract and more immediate analogy, and it still finds its perfect expression in the Church, where godly families are formed, filled with virtue, and go out and convert (“transform”) the world for good. This is pictured in how the Scripture talks about “tents” here. A tent was a symbol for a family, and as the family increased, so did the size and number of the tents that were circled around a central fire. 

The tent analogy was used generations before, during the time of Uzziah, Jeremiah’s king, Josiah’s, great-great grandfather. Isaiah 52:1-5 says, “Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more. For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.”

This principle of growth and blessing is what we see in our reading of Jeremiah, where God is comparing His people to the “Tents of Jacob.” The cities of the people of God will be rebuilt after their destruction and oppression by Assyria and the rise of the Babylonian Empire, but this vision of rebirth, life and growth in Jeremiah’s prophecy was not accomplished in his lifetime. Jeremiah was known as the “Weeping Prophet”, because he only saw the death and destruction of the unfaithful people of God, who only served God with their lips and not with their hearts (Jeremiah 12), and who loved the ritual and law of the House of God more than lives lived according to God’s ways of mercy and truth. (Seen in God’s rejection of the fake piety of 2 Kings 22 and 23)

Growth as Blessing

In Scripture, we see the blessings of God manifest as the gift of children, faithfulness, and continued worship of God in His holy place. The world goes on as it ought to be, spinning in an orbit around the Holy Mountain of God, where God dwells, and where He shines with grace, love, healing and health for his people. Life is found in the daily liturgy of worship that works its way out through every area of life, and the political and social elements of the culture receive power from this spiritual harmony. The Covenant of God becomes the moral character of the people, which then forms the conscience and actions of young and old, and enforces itself through the laws of the land. The king is a servant of God, subservient to this order, and deriving his authority from its proper function. 

The Internal Struggle

When those who are empowered to steward and protect this covenant abuse it, then death immediately follows. Enemies overcome the land, the people are enslaved, and the king’s reign is delegitimized. Civil strife, war, and death follow, as a result of the loss of God’s covenant, and those who are charged with keeping it maintain it as a morality play, as a source of authority without true belief or a real relationship with God, and thus give it lip service. “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” (2 Timothy 3:5) This is what Jeremiah says in chapter 12, verses 10-13 and 17, where the “Weeping Prophet” says - “Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. They have made it desolate, and being desolate it mourneth unto me; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart. The spoilers are come upon all high places through the wilderness: for the sword of the Lord shall devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh shall have peace. They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns: they have put themselves to pain, but shall not profit: and they shall be ashamed of your revenues because of the fierce anger of the Lord. … if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith the Lord.

Sometimes there can be “Too little, too late,” when a form of compliance and acknowledgment of God exists within a culture, but the people do not really believe it or follow it. Jeremiah saw the reign of Josiah, who endeavored to sincerely lead the people back to God, and instated proper temple worship and destroyed the idols and the high places. But it was not enough to turn away God’s wrath, because God saw that the people only honored Him with their lips. He was not in their hearts. 

2 Kings 23:21-27 “And the king [Josiah] commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the Lord your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant. Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah; But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the Lord in Jerusalem. Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the Lord. And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him. Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal. And the Lord said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.” 

Isaiah, who had lived fifty years before Jeremiah prophesied of this turn of events, said, in Isaiah 29: 13-16 - “Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding? (Mirrored in Christ’s own teachings in Matthew 15:8 - "This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.”)

What can we do when we find ourselves in a time of judgment, when we are the minority and a godly polity no longer exists? What do we do to prepare for the persecution that is to come? Like the Prophet Daniel, who confessed the sins of his people (Daniel 9:20), we can pray. Like the Remnant in the time of Elijah (1 Kings 19:18), we will not be the only ones called to this work of bearing up in times of suffering. The key is to see God using suffering, not as a tool for our destruction, but as a vehicle for our salvation. 

Experiencing Suffering as a Purification

In the Epistle reading from this morning, St. Paul shows how he was willing to suffer for the cause of Christ, how God had used that suffering to bear fruit, and how that suffering had planted the Gospel in the hearts of the Corinthians. 

In 2 Corinthians 11:19-31 St. Paul says - “YE suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise. For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face. I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also. Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not? If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.”

The key to St. Paul’s boast is that he was willing to suffer for others. He suffered so that they could hear the Gospel. He was not angry or regretful of the pain that he had experienced. To him it was worth it. As he say in 2 Corinthians 12:15 - “I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.” His suffering had become redemptive “kenosis”, self-emptying, which allowed him to see it as his own salvation, living according to the calling and purposes of God, and being like Christ. In this way, the pain, the thorns, the lashings, the chains, the bitings, the stoning, were all meaningful and a glory. He could glory in the Cross of Christ. Galatians 16:14 “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”

The Difference Between Bearing Fruit and Dying on the Vine

St. Paul’s attitude about suffering was the great difference between those who receive the Gospel and flourish and those who hear the truth and are choked out or withered on the vine. As Christ’s analogy of the Sower so beautifully illustrates. The hearts of men are like fields, like gardens, and the seeds that are betowed upon the by God are all equally generous and loving. God sows in all men’s hearts. He calls all to Himself. But, however, some grow and bear fruit, and others forget, lose the plot, strangle it with worldly concerns, and even refuse to take water, creating a barren desert within themselves, where God’s gifts cannot grow. This attitude of pain avoidance, or fear of discomfort, is central to a refusal to grow. It was this attitude that St. Paul rejected, because the Light on the Road to Damascus had showed him how little and insignificant all else truly was in the light of eternity. 

The Gospel. St. Luke 8:4-15 “WHEN much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable: A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way-side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be? And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand. Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the way-side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.”

The temptations, cares of the world and evil thorns which we all experience can only be worked out and overcome if we are true to the weeding, watering, and shining that we receive from God’s work, the Sacraments of the Church, and the accountability that we share with one another. This is extremely painful, as is the process of getting to know our own and others’ flaws. Confession and repentance is very hard, and it induces suffering in the short term, but only through it can we grow spiritually and be transformed more and more into the likeness of Christ. 

Summary

The key to understanding how all these Scriptures fit together is seeing the vision of what God wants for us, His love for us, and His purpose for our eternity with Him. We are given a choice, and we can follow Him in love, truly seeking Him all of our days, and prioritizing Him as our Lord, Savior, Creator and Lover; or, we can go through the motions of morality and niceties of a godless goodness, but without an inward passion for Him. Those who truly serve God will be able to endure the difficulties of life, which inevitably come, seeing them as challenges and purifications from God, for our good, and will shine brighter than refined gold as their defects and inward dross are pulled away by the heat of God’s goodness. Those who are serving God with their lips and not with their hearts, who are outwardly conforming to ritual, or who are trying to do good without God, will be unable to find purpose in suffering. Instead, they will become bitter and angry, becoming harder and harder, and what good seeds that they had internally, equally to everyone else that God created, will be choked out and killed. Inward deserts, refusing the water of God’s word, will only experience the blazing light of God’s presence as a horrible, parching fire. What could be an internal garden of paradise, full of sweetness and peace, watered constantly by the winds of the Holy Spirit, instead, become a living Hell that prefigures an eternal fire where those who wish to live separate from God and His Love damn themselves. What was meant for their good will become a constant curse and they who refuse the gifts of grace will wither away and become like the chaff that the wind blows away. “But the righteous are not so, but are like a tree, planted by the waters, bearing fruit in its season; and whatsoever he doth shall prosper.” (Psalm 1)

It calls to mind John 15:1-8 - "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

Only by preparing to receive suffering are we ready to experience life. By preparing to suffer, we prepare to grow.

Collect

O LORD God, who seest that we put not our trust in any thing that we do; Mercifully grant that by thy power we may be defended against all adversity; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.