DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS

Genesis 18:20-33    (4/10)     1st Reading at Vespers, Thurs. of the 5th Week of the Great Fast

 

The Great Mercy: Genesis 18:20-33, especially vs. 21: “I will therefore go down and see, if they completely correspond with the cry which comes to Me, and if not, that I may know.”  The Rabbis puzzled over the question: “Did God not know whether Sodom was wicked?”  Of course He did, but, let us consider this Divine “going down” to Abraham and to Sodom.  It is a type of the Incarnation of God the Son, and let us never lose sight of the truth that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15), to save those who are willing from Sodom’s destiny.  For if any - fifty, forty-five, forty, thirty, even ten would have turned and received the great mercy - then Sodom would have been spared.

Above all, behold the great mercy of God leaping like fire amidst the dry and sinful tinder of mankind in order to inflame true love in our hearts.  May the Fire Divine unite us to Him, He Who came down as a man.  He lived with us but not as a theophany, as in the case of the three Angels.  He came as Jesus, a walking mercy and a divine gift to be known and received.  He was one of us, but in true love, mercy, and humility - gleaming and shining brightly upon our hearts to disclose His love -  not for the self-righteous, or stubborn sinners, but for the repentant.  How God’s love ignites love in sinners and arouses us to repent and even to plead for other sinners.

In the heart of God there burns an eternal determination to “go down and see” if the cry that is coming up to Him utterly corresponds with the wickedness He knows is present in men.  Doubtless, the specific sin of sodomy transgresses the holy Law of God, and so do many other sexual sins (Lev. 18).  Still, God’s Prophets teach that the city of Sodom perished primarily not for sodomy but because of “...pride..., pleasure, in fullness of bread and in abundance...,” failure to aid the poor and needy, and for haughtiness (Ezek. 16:49,50).  Such sins as these reveal the Divine descent as a great mercy that enables those who will, to cry, “I am wounded with love” (SOS 2:5).

The great mercy of God that “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4), aims to awaken love “as He pleases” (SOS 2:7), especially in those like Abraham who welcome Him, offering Him hospitality when He visits (Gen. 18:1-8).  God in mercy shares His plans with such persons: “Shall I hide from Abraam My servant what things I intend to do?  But Abraam shall become a great and populous nation, and in him shall all the nations of the earth be blest.  For I know that he will order his sons, and his house after him, and they will keep the ways of the Lord, to do justice and judgment...” (Gen 18:17-19).  In this manner, from among the ranks of fallen men, God enlists those who will join Him in extending great mercy and salvation to others.  He would not have any condemned in judgment.

Let God reveal through this passage how His great mercy can and will ignite that same love even in your heart and enable you to plead with and for other fallen sinners.  Note: Abraham did not single out his nephew, Lot, as he insistently prayed to the Lord (Gen. 18:23-32).  Doubtless, he included Lot in his prayers, but, if he had only Lot in mind, He would have been much more specific in seeking that young man’s deliverance from the coming judgment of Sodom that God revealed to him (Gen. 18:20).  No, awakened mercy in sinners leads us to pray for others in their sin, even to importune for them.  When one knows, from receiving God’s grace, that others also “are worthy of tears for the punishment and condemnation to which they make themselves liable,” as St. John Chrysostom says, then who is not ready to “come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy....” (Heb. 4:16) - for ourselves and for others.

O Compassionate Savior, remove all delusion far from those ensnared in godless doubt and immorality, and fill them with repentance that they may fulfill Thy will and find life therein.

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