DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS
Wednesday, December 26
, 2007
The Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos
Prophecy 9th
Royal Hour: Isaiah
9:6-7
Epistle: Hebrews 2:11-18
Gospel: St. Matthew 2:13-23
Divine Zeal: Isaiah 9:6-7 LXX, especially vs. 7: “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.” In
these two verses Isaiah describes a Divine action that unites heaven and earth
forever - glory enters humiliation.
Eusebios of Caesarea, considering the scope of
this action of God, asked, “What kind of zeal but that zeal, good and
befitting Himself, by which He desired to save all those who were subjected to
the devil and dragged down to godlessness?”
How
you and I desperately need this Holy action of God! Consider just for a moment the sordid
daily news flowing in from every corner of the globe with reports of children
aborted; the Divinity of Christ our God vigorously denied by sophisticated
atheists; governments shouldering arms against governments; Jesus’ Name
cursed; fallible men taking counsel with other men as flawed as themselves;,
might and power sought only in weapons, money, and systems; the adulation of
the nasty, sensual, and brutish; increasing regulation, domination, and
corruption. It is the zeal of men
assaulting every act of love, decency, morality, and honor.
These
actual conditions are not only “daily news,” but also a factual
part of the massive evidence which allows our hearts to say, “Yes,”
to St. Nikolai of Zica: that “all that is
wonderful, all that is new, comes to the human race from Him and through
Him.” The so-called
“daily news” makes the need for Divine action urgent. At the same time, the daily news
reports, when exposed to the light of the star over the cave in
The Holy Prophet Isaiah said, “The zeal
of the Lord....‘shall perform this” (vs. 7), and that holy
man saw more than this world. He
saw God “high and lifted up” (Is. 6:1), and the Lord revealed to
him, out of time, from eternity, that “for us a Child is born” (Is.
9:6). Beloved, you have the
privilege of declaring the same truth with the shepherds and the magi, with the
all-pure Birthgiver of God, the Apostles, and all the
Saints, because in His zeal God launched an action in the world two thousand
years ago. “In clear and
incontrovertible terms, there is indicated by the prophecy the dispensation of
His humanity,” as St. Gregory of Nyssa affirms. God is so zealous to change this world
that He became man, forever uniting Himself to us.
When Isaiah says, “to
us a Son is given” (vs. 6), he also is proclaiming the Divinity of the
Child Who is born to us. Divine
zeal cannot be restrained because the two natures are united. Rather, it is manifest because the
God-man is born, and Wise men gave gifts to the Gift Himself. Human
governance is now in the right hands: the Divine hands of Christ. Furthermore, we who “were dead in
trespasses, [God] made...alive together with Christ...and raised us up
together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ
Jesus” (Eph. 2:5,6). The government of the whole universe,
including our sordid little planet, is on His shoulders, our “Wonderful
Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, [and] Prince of Peace” (Is.
9:6).
Be sober, but despair not at the conditions of
this world. The zeal of God is now
at work in human hearts, minds, and lives.
Therefore, “the increase of His government and
of peace there will be no end” (vs. 7). By the zeal of God, the Divine project
is well underway and assured. He is
establishing His kingdom and upholding “it with justice and with
righteousness from this time forth and for evermore” (vs. 7). “The zeal of the
Lord of hosts will [complete] this” (vs. 7).
I shall return to the bliss of paradise
from which I was driven away by reason of iniquity, for the likeness of the
Father hath taken the likeness of a servant for His love of mankind.
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