DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS
St. John 8:31-42 (5/24) CHRIST IS RISEN! Gospel for Saturday, Week of the
Paralytic
Abiding in His Word:
Sustaining the struggle to be united to the
Lord is what He calls “abiding in His word.” He shows what “abiding”
means when He confronted a group of “Jews who believed Him” (vs.
31). Just a little later in the
Gospel, these believers will be called those who sought “to kill”
Him (vss. 37,40). Is this surprising?
First, the Lord Jesus says “If you abide
in My word...you shall know the Truth” (vss. 31-32).
Remember that Scripture typically uses the word “know” to
express relationship - as in knowing someone rather than for acquiring
information. Since the Lord calls
Himself “the Truth” (14:6), knowing the Truth essentially means
knowing the Lord Jesus - as in relationship with Him. The Holy Fathers teach us that the more
we know Him, the more we are changed into His likeness. Thus, to know Christ our God is to
think, feel, desire, reason, and will as He does. In submitting in this way, one becomes
like Him which results in freedom (vs. 32), but this is not freedom
politically, economically, or socially, but inward freedom of the heart, soul,
and mind.
The Lord next refines our understanding of the
nature of the inward freedom He imparts.
It is release from domination by the passions that invariably accompany
our sin. For the Orthodox
Christian, “to abide in Christ” is to repent, acquire the Holy
Spirit, and develop true virtues, since one is no longer a “slave of
sin” (vs. 34). As this
happens, one is set free from bondage to sin, slavery to the passions, servitude of the desires to indulge in and live for the
flesh. One’s impulses become
stilled and even free from the pressures of others who are controlled by
sin. The Lord frees: “...if
the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed” (vs. 36).
Abiding in the word of the Lord also means to
“give place” to His words, that is, to His teachings and doctrines
(vs. 37). As one grows in the Lord,
one’s vision of reality is conformed to the Lord’s mind, until, at last, one finds himself thinking the Lord’s
thoughts after Him. One develops
what Fr. Florovsky called “the Scriptural
mind,” a mind wholly attuned to God’s heart.
Finally, abiding in the word of Christ means
to “do the works of Abraham” (vs. 39). The ancient Patriarch consistently
trusted God, always walked before Him blamelessly, and in all that he did, he
worshiped and honored the Lord reverently and in complete humility.
What then shall we say of “abiding in Christ”? The soul that abides in the Lord strives
to obey His word, cultivate relationship with the Lord, throw off bondage to
sin by repentance and develop the virtues in one’s
self. The Faithful who persevere
gain moral and spiritual freedom and grow to think God’s thoughts after
Him, ever trusting in God unquestioningly.
They become those for whom God truly is Father through love for the Son
(vs. 42) in the Holy Spirit.
O Lord, Thou has
permitted us to partake of Thy holy, divine, and life-giving Mysteries. Also establish
us in Thy Sanctification, that we may meditate upon
Thy righteousness. Alleluia!