SUFFERING ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF GOD

Suffering comes in many forms: Trials of circumstances (2 Cor. 11:23-12;10; 2 Tim. 2:1-13; 2 Tim. 3:10-17), tests of faith (James 1:12-17), temptations that arise from our passions (flesh) (1Cor. 10:1-13), Satanic attacks (Mark 4:14-20, Eph. 6:10-13), the battle in the mind (2 Cor. 10:3-5), co-suffering with all of creation (Rom. 8:14-39), But thanks be to God (2 Cor. 2:14), Jesus is our answer to all suffering: "When in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard (for his piety); Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him" (Heb. 5:7, 8). "For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted" (Heb. 2:18-4:2). "Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light: (Mt. 11:28-30). We all have much to learn of Him. And the learning begins with humility. Our suffering can be our teacher and guide, or it can be a bitter pill that poisons us thoroughly (Heb. 12:15). Our calling is to follow in the Master's steps, suffering according to the will of God, and as we obey him THROUGH our suffering, he, the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls, will keep us from falling by his saving power (1 Peter 1:3-8; 1 Peter 2:19-25; 1 Peter 3:12-15; 1 Peter 4:19). Selah.

OVER 500 WITNESSES TO CHRIST'S RESURRECTION

 Imagine this - The moment that Jesus died upon the cross, "crying with a loud voice, the veil of the temple was torn from the top to the bottom; the earth did quake, and the rocks split; and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves, and after his resurrection they went into the holy city, and appeared to many". > Matthew 27:45-55 > Then imagine this - after Jesus' resurrection, (Luke records what Jesus did and taught for the 40 days between His Resurrection and His Ascension - Acts 1:1-11), "He showed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs being seen of them for forty days, and speaking to them of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God" > Then imagine some more - Paul records the Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-8), Christ dies for our sins according to the scriptures; he then is buried, and then He arose on the third day, according to the scriptures: THEN He was seen of Cephas(Peter), then of the twelve, THEN HE WAS SEEN BY MORE THAN 500 Brethren AT ONCE, and most were still alive when Paul wrote his epistle to the Corinthians in 55 A.D., more than 20 years after the Resurrection of Jesus!!! And He was seen of James, then by all the apostles, and finally to Paul himself. The Beginnings of the Church were not done in secret. The Faith of Christ, what we call the Christian Faith, has its foundation in actual history, in the testimony of more than 500 eyewitnesses to His resurrection!!! Glory to God!!!

REMEMBERING TO REMEMBER

We need to be reminded often of the truths of which we should be most attentive. Peter “stirs up” their pure minds. Why? It is because the tendency is to become a forgetful hearer, to lose sight of the vision of God that has been set before us (James 1:22-25). Peter, in this reading, declares what we are “seeing”. In verse 11, “Seeing then that all these things will be dissolved…”; in verse 14, “…seeing that you look for such things…”; and in verse 17, “…seeing you know these things…”. We are being challenged, commanded, to not lose sight of these eternal realities. We are to ever be “mindful of the words which were spoken by the holy Prophets, and of the commandments of the Apostles…” (2 Peter 3:2). This is why the Church is constantly pointing us to the Eschaton, that is, to the second coming of Jesus Christ and all that His second coming portends. We pray in the Divine Liturgy, for “a Christian ending to our life, painless, blameless, peaceful, and a good defense before the fearful judgment seat of Christ.” We confess in the Creed, “And He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end…I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.” The Scriptures are replete with references to the second coming of Jesus Christ and the final judgment (over 300 times in the 258 chapters of the N.T.). Jesus, Himself, when teaching, included His second coming as a constant point of focus. Today’s gospel reading is an example of this. But, in spite of the scriptures flood of eschatological passages, and in spite of the constant references to the future promises of our hope in Christ, we must still actively remind ourselves of these truths. We must be mindful (purposefully paying attention), of what has been given to us, and to what we have been shown with the eyes of our hearts.