DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS
Sat.,
December 16, 2006
Fish, Wine, & Oil
Theophania the Empress; Prophet Haggai
Kellia:
Haggai 2:1-10
Epistle: Ephesians
1:16-23 Gospel: St.
Luke 14:1-11
The Father
Reveals Himself - Ephesians 1:16-23,
especially vs. 22 RSV]: “[God the Father] has put all things under
[Christ’s] feet and has made Him the head over all things for the Church.” For the most
part, we experience Christ our God through our limited senses. He became tangible as a man in history
- like us in our humanity. We have
records of His life from birth, to death, and even of His rising from the dead,
adequate amounts of His teaching and wisdom, and numerous accounts of His
powers demonstrated before many witnesses. On the other hand, we experience God the Father as far more
of a mystery to us despite the Lord Jesus’ assertion that “he who has seen Me
has seen the Father” (Jn. 14:9).
In the present passage - if we will read and
pray carefully - St. Paul will help us move from our experience of Christ to
greater confidence in knowing God the Father. The Apostle does this by following the lead that the Lord
Jesus gives to all His disciples from the occasion when He pointed out that
seeing Him is to see the Father. (Jn. 14:9).
First, the Apostle teaches us where to find reliable revelation of God
the Father - in the “Church, which is [Christ’s] body, the fullness of [God the
Father] Who fills all in all” (Eph. 1:22,23). This is why we who are united to the Church are able to
assert with St. Paul that it is possible to know God the Father with reasonable
human confidence. The Church
offers us “a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him” - that
is, of God the Father (vs. 17).
Yes, the Church offers us information about Christ and about God the
Father through her words, her Holy Mysteries, the windows of her icons, and
through her life lived before God.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is offering much more to our hearts - “a spirit of
wisdom” that reveals God the Father and helps us know Him as “Our Father.”
Within the Church, the eyes of our hearts have
the Light of Christ beaming upon us, shining in us, illumining the recesses of
our hearts, casting out the darkness of sin and ignorance.
This is the miracle of living the life in Christ within the
Church as the medium of true spiritual knowledge. Little by little, through the work of the Holy Spirit, each
disciple may come to “know what is the hope to which God the Father has called
you, what are the riches of our Father’s glorious inheritance in the saints”
(vs. 18). This is the Christian
mystery, the miracle of which St. Paul speaks, a sure and certain hope.
The People of God, gathered to Christ in His
Body the Church (some more, some less), know “what is the immeasurable
greatness of the Father’s power in us who believe,” who take Him at His word,
who trust Him with our lives, and risk living the Faith we profess verbally.
What is the greatness of that power of God our
Father? It is nothing less than
that “which He accomplished in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and made
Him sit at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and
authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only
in this age but also in that which is to come” ( vss. 20-21). Oh, we are quite familiar with power in
this technological age, but here is a different sort of power, one much more
relevant to the life of every human
being.
Our Father has “put all things under Jesus’
feet and has made Christ our God the head over all things for the Church” (vs.
22). So, if you are in the Church,
you are in Christ, and you know that God is your Father, and that His authority
and dominion stand head and shoulders above all other claims on your life and
mine. In the Church, Christ and
the Father “fill all in all” (vs. 23) with the knowledge, hope, and power of
our loving, merciful, and gracious Father.
Glory to
Thee Who hast shown us the Light.
We give thanks to Thee for Thy great glory.
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