Orthodox readings for 23 October 2019

King James Version (en)

King James Version (en)

Philippians, Chapter 1, verses 12-20

¹² He showeth what good the faith of Christ had received by his troubles at Rome

¹²But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel;

¹³So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places;

¹⁴And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

¹⁵Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will:

¹⁶The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds:

¹⁷But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel.

¹⁸What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.

¹⁹For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,

²⁰According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.

Read more:Philippians, Chapter 1

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1

1:12 The things concerning me - My sufferings. Have fallen out rather to the furtherance, than, as you feared, the hinderance, of the gospel.

1:13 My bonds in Christ - Endured for his sake. Have been made manifest - Much taken notice of. In the whole palace - Of the Roman emperor.

1:14 And many - Who were before afraid. Trusting in the Lord through my bonds - When they observed my constancy, and safety not withstanding, are more bold.

1:15 Some indeed preach Christ out of contention - Envying St. Paul's success, and striving to hurt him thereby.Not sincerely - From a real desire to glorify God. But supposing - Though they were disappointed. To add more affliction to mybonds - By enraging the Romans against me.

1:16 See note ... Php 1:15

1:17 But the others out of love - To Christ and me. Knowing - Not barely, supposing. That I am set - Literally, I lie; yetstill going forward in his work. He remained at Rome as an ambassador in a place where he is employed on an important embassy.

1:18 In pretence - Under colour of propagating the gospel.In truth - With a real design so to do.

1:19 This shall turn to my salvation - Shall procure me an higher degree of glory. Through your prayer - Obtaining for me a larger supply of the Spirit.

1:20 As always - Since my call to the apostleship. In my body - however it may he disposed of. How that might be, he did not yet know. For the apostles did not know all things; particularly in things pertaining to themselves, they had room to exercise faith and patience.

Luke, Chapter 8, verses 22-25

²² rebuketh the winds

²²Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth.

²³But as they sailed he fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy.

²⁴And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm.

²⁵And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.

Read more:Luke, Chapter 8

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8:22 Mat 8:23; Mar 4:35.

NOTES

The evangelist concludes both accounts of Jesus Christ's miraculous power with the words of the astonished witnesses: “Who is this, that He works such miracles?” Undoubtedly he wants to put this question to his readers as well. Naturally, he wrote for...

Today's reading offers us two stories: the story of Jesus calming the storm on Lake Gennesaret and the story of the healing of the Gadarene demoniac. At first glance, the two stories are connected only...

Today's reading offers us two stories: the story of Jesus calming the storm on Lake Gennesaret (vv. 22-26) and the story of the healing of the Gadarene demoniac (vv. 27-39). At first glance, the two stories are connected only by the external thread of events. Yet on closer examination this is not quite so. One could say that they are linked by the theme of the Kingdom, as are all the other accounts of miracles Jesus performed. But each such account has its own features, shading this theme differently and describing the appearing of the Kingdom from different sides.

So today: before us, on the one hand, is the transformation of a natural element, and on the other, the healing of a possessed person. Yet in both cases the human person, not the natural element and not dark forces, is in first place. For Jesus does not simply calm the storm; He interacts with His disciples, rebuking them for their little faith (v. 25), but even earlier He awakens from sleep (vv. 23-24). At first glance it may appear that Jesus only needed to awaken for the power of God to be revealed in all its fullness, putting an end to the storm. But if that were truly so, He would hardly have rebuked the disciples for their little faith: then they really would have had no other way out except to turn to the Teacher and ask Him to intervene in events immediately. Evidently, turning to Him was not what Jesus expected from the apostles in that situation. And if we remember that the Kingdom is first of all not a space but a relationship, everything falls into place.

On examination it turned out that even Jesus' closest disciples' relationship with Him was not so firm. As soon as the Teacher turned away, fell asleep, and left them without direct supervision in a critical situation, the Kingdom at once ceased to be a reality for them; they felt it again only when Jesus woke up and addressed them directly. This may be why the Gadarene demoniac healed by the Savior wanted most of all not to bear witness to the Messiah who had come into the world and to the Kingdom He had brought, but to stay beside Jesus so as never again to be separated from Him (v. 38). Meanwhile, what Jesus Himself needed was precisely witness (v. 39).

Still, taking into account the spiritual situation that had developed in the home region of the man healed by the Savior, it is no surprise that he would want to leave with his Deliverer. For he had already seen the reaction of his fellow countrymen to everything that had happened, including the miracle of his own healing (vv. 33-37). Here it was no longer a matter of little faith, but of real unbelief. These two spiritual states are often viewed as very close to each other; yet little faith is much closer to deep and strong faith than to unbelief. After all, little faith still presupposes faith in the biblical sense of the word, trust in the one whom or in whom one believes, and in that case the faithful person simply lacks the spiritual strength for the relationships born of faith to unfold in all their fullness.

Unbelief, as a rule, means a complete absence of trust either in someone specific or, in especially severe cases, in everyone and everything in the world. Even weak faith points the road to the Kingdom, and, gathering spiritual strength, the one who has such weak faith still has a chance to come there, especially since on this path a person never remains alone. But the absence of faith means a dead end, or a road to nowhere. If little faith is often conditioned by a person's objective abilities and capacities, especially at the beginning of the spiritual path, unbelief is always determined by choice. A choice that excludes the path to the Kingdom. And not because God wants to punish someone for a lack of trust, but because those who do not trust God choose another path - a path leading away from the Kingdom. And if the weak can be helped, then even God will not help the one who refuses to go, for He respects each person's choice and freedom. Even when that choice and that freedom mean a "no" thrown in His own face.

God is awesome in the great assembly of the saints; He is awesome to all who surround Him. O Lord God of hosts! Who is strong like You...

"God is awesome in the great assembly of the saints; He is awesome to all who surround Him. O Lord God of hosts! Who is strong like You, O Lord? And Your truth is all around You. You rule over the raging of the sea: when its waves rise, You still them." (Ps 88:8-10) This is the text often offered to us as a parallel to the fragment of today's Gospel. But let us look at these words.

Here the Lord appears as a fearsome Judge; He appears in Power and Glory. It is hard for us to judge the original meaning of the word "awesome" among the Jews, but already in the Vulgate and in translations into modern languages we find precisely such words as "terribilis," "feared," and so on, fully corresponding to our "awesome" or "fearsome"; and therefore this is already a fact of our many centuries of spiritual life. Now let us think, by contrast, how much silence and defenselessness there is in this figure of the Lord asleep in the stern. And when He wakes and appears in Power, He is still surrounded not by a host of angels, but standing in that little boat, surrounded by a handful of frightened fishermen.

But people with a more liberal-theological outlook can tell us in response to all this that the close connection of these two texts casts doubt on the authenticity of what happened and makes it look more like some kind of parable. We will not judge who is right. Each person has his own understanding. Yet, if we receive this text so existentially, we can also receive the spiritual interpretation that arises through turning to the prophet Isaiah: "But the wicked are like the troubled sea, which cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and mud." (Isa 57:20)

The image of the sea appears very often in the biblical text, and that is understandable: after all, the culture that became the manger for Jesus and the cradle for us is a Mediterranean culture. But the way the prophet Isaiah suggests reading this image gives us a great deal for understanding today's story about the Lord. The troubled sea is something that carries death within it, and sin is the path to death. But the Lord calms the troubled sea, because He does not desire anyone's death.

But "where is our faith?" Must we always wake the Lord? "Acquire the spirit of peace, and then thousands around you will be saved," said Seraphim of Sarov. These words of our remarkable saint seem to draw the image of today's reading, except that you must stand in the Lord's place. You are as if building a ship on which you lead everyone around you through the raging sea to a quiet harbor.

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