ARE WE READY TO GIVE WHATEVER CHRIST ASKS FOR?

ARE WE READY TO GIVE WHATEVER CHRIST ASKS FOR?

Fr. Luke A. Veronis

A young man kneels before Jesus. He is rich and respectable, and by every outward measure he is a good man. He has kept the commandments of God since his youth. He approaches Jesus and asks the most important question anyone can ask. “Good Teacher, what good deed must I do, to inherit eternal life?” The young man is thinking about eternity and how to please God.

Our Lord offers a simple answer. Keep the commandments. Do what God has taught us. And when the young man confidently responds that he already has done this throughout his life, Christ challenges the young man in a way he could never dream. “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come and follow me.”

The rich, young man is shocked. He looks at Jesus and then turns away from him with deep sorrow for the young man had many possessions and wasn’t ready to give up his comfortable life.

St. John Chrysostom carefully points out that this young man's sin was never that he was rich but that he allowed what he possessed to possess him. He allowed his possessions, his riches, his comfortable way of life, to be his life! And he wasn’t ready to give that up.

Maybe he came to Christ simply looking for another commandment to check off his list of being good. Jesus, however, asked for the one thing the young man never offered to God. Himself, without reservation. He never offered the prayer “Here I am Lord. Send me. Do with me whatever You want. Your will be done. Not mine, but Your will be done!”

The Lord doesn’t want a part of ourselves, but He wants our entire being. And the young man couldn’t offer himself. So, he turned away sorrowful. Not condemned. Not rejected. Just sorrowful, because he couldn’t offer what Christ desired.

How would we respond? Would we act any different? Are we willing to offer our complete self, truly praying “Your Will Be Done!”

Yes, it is hard to truly follow Christ. It may even seem impossible to live up to the extreme calling of Jesus. The disciples themselves were shocked when they witnessed this interaction and later asked their Lord, “Who then can be saved?”

Yet, Jesus responded with something we all need to understand. “What is impossible for humans is possible for God.” Yes, Christ’s calling to leave everything and follow Him, to truly walk the narrow and straight path that leads into the Kingdom of God is surely not easy. It never has been and absolutely isn’t easy today. So, let’s never fool ourselves and turn Christianity into some comfortable, acceptable, easy way of life. One option among many to choose whenever it’s convenient. That’s not Christianity!

“What is impossible for humans is possible for God!”

That’s what we see in the saints we honor every day. Men and women who chose the narrow, difficult path. They chose to die to the world and offer their lives completely to Christ. They chose to allow Christ to fully live in them. We see this every day when we celebrate the memory of the saints and this week, I want to lift up three of the saints who chose to accept the invitation of Christ and not walk away from Him, but to do something the rich, young man was unwilling to do.

Tomorrow we celebrate St. Kosmas Aitolos. He’s an 18^th century saint born in west central Greece, or what was back then a part of the Ottoman Empire. He came from a poor family, living at a time when children from such families had little opportunity for education. Yet, Kosmas had a thirst to learn. He had a desire to especially learn about God and his faith. And this desire led him to leave his village, travel around trying to find a school where he could learn to read. Eventually, he made his way to Mount Athos, where he learned to not only read but was inspired by the life of the holy fathers there. He heard the invitation of Christ to leave everything and follow Him, and he did so by becoming a monk.

“From studying the Holy Gospel, I discovered pearls, diamonds, treasures, riches, joy - eternal life. I found Christ saying that no Christian can be concerned only with how to save himself but must be concerned with those who don't know Christ and who have never heard the Good News. The greatest treasure in the world is our Orthodox Faith and whoever loses this, loses everything!”

After living in a monastery for 19 years, he felt God calling him to go out into the world and help the people that were lost and confused. The Greek people had been under four centuries of Ottoman rule, and its people were drifting away from the Faith simply because there was no one to teach them. For the next 20 years, Saint Kosmas would walk from village to village in what is now Northwest Greece and Southern Albania preaching in village squares, teaching the people how to follow Christ and His teachings, and before leaving each village, challenging the village elders to start a school so that their children would be able to read and discover themselves the treasure of faith. His bold preaching eventually led to his own martyrdom on August 24, 1779.

So tomorrow, we remember Saint Kosmas. Then on Friday, we remember St. Moses the Black from the 4^th century. Moses possessed nothing that looked like wealth. He possessed an angry heart and a violent spirit. He was a feared leader of a band of robbers in the Egyptian desert, a man whose size and power were known and dreaded throughout the dessert. His “great possession” was his reputation to make people afraid of him.

Through encountering the monks of the dessert, Moses encounter Christ in them. And they, like Jesus with the rich young man, invited him to change. Could they trust a dangerous leader of a gang to truly change?

“What is impossible for humans is possible for God!”

And the impossibility of a violent gang member becoming a humble monk of God is within the possibilities of the Lord. Saint Moses wept through the night vigils, fasted past what his body could bear, and allowed himself to be tested and doubted until the same monks who distrusted him came to call him a father of the desert. He chose, every day, to die to self, to die to his past, and embrace the new creation he became.

At the end of his life he warned his fellow brothers that dangerous raiders were coming to the monastery. He would not let his brothers take up arms, and he would not take one up himself. He laid down the very thing that had once made him so feared — his capacity for violence — and was killed forgiving the men who killed him, as his Lord had forgiven the men who killed Him.

Finally, on this upcoming Saturday we remember who Holy Scriptures call “the greatest man born of woman” - Saint John the Baptist. John's “great possession” to give up was his own reputation. He preached in the wilderness and thousands came to hear his call of repentance and be baptized by him. Some even wondered aloud whether he himself might be the Christ, the long-awaited Messiah of Israel. What fame to give up!

Yet, the moment Jesus appeared in the Jordan River, the Baptist understood “He must increase, while I must decrease.” And he willingly gave up everything – boldly speaking the truth to King Herod and Herodias surely meant a dungeon and finally a sword. Saint John wouldn’t soften the truth to save his life. He had already given over his greatest possessions to follow God.

Notice that none of these three men turned away sorrowful after the Lord called them. They understood that “What is impossible for humans is possible for God!” so they gave over whatever they possessed.

Saint Kosmas left the world to go into a monastery and then left the monastery to go back into the world in order to help his compatriots not lose their souls. Saint Moses left his gang and reputation of fear and violence to discover a new life in humility and sacrifice. Saint John the Baptist left the temptations of the crowds and fame to decrease and Jesus increased.

When Jesus invited each of them to sell all their possessions and come follow Him, each of them did that in a different way. They did what the rich young man wouldn’t do because they understand that “What is impossible for humans is possible for God!”

So, the question today’s story puts to each of us is not really “what must I do,” as if eternal life were a checklist. The question is what am I still holding onto that I’m not willing to give over to Christ? It may be our possessions and wealth. It may be our plans for the future. It may be our family. It may be other idols we hold on to in our lives.

As we celebrate these three great saints this week, allow their examples to challenge and inspire us. Whatever we are called to give up, Christ challenges us to place Him first and above all else. Yes, it is surely a hard choice to make and a very difficult path to walk. Yet, “What is impossible for humans is possible for God!” Saints Kosmas, Moses the Black, and John the Baptist answered the call and showed us an example to follow.