His Eminence Metropolitan SABA Archbishop of New York and Metropolitan of All North America, His Grace Bishop Alexander

Pastor: Fr John Vazquez| fatherjohnvazquez@gmail.com | stgeorgealbany.org | 1 St George's Pl Albany, NY

Office Hours: Mon/Fri 10am-5pm | Confessions: After weekly services (Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun) or by appointment

Parish Council Leadership: Chair—Michella Rizk, Treasurer—Ranya Palmer, Secretary—Daniel Palmer, Vice Chair—Linda Grady

 

Wednesday, December 18th—8am—Divine Liturgy 

Wednesday, December 18th—6pm—Vespers

Friday, December 20th—8am—Orthros

Saturday, December 21st—2pm—Ice Skating for the Teens w/Great Vespers (5pm) and Bible Study to follow 

 

Sermon—11th Sunday of Luke—12.17.23
St George Orthodox Church—Albany, NY

Luke 14.16–24

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit—one God—Amen! 

Glory to Jesus Christ! 

Today we hear this story about this banquet that is given and the Holy Fathers tell us that He who gives the banquet is the Father and the Father is asking all to come to His banquet and there is everything that you could want at this banquet 

The servant goes out to invite the guests and all of the guests start to make excuses one by one—I have bought land; I have married a wife; I have bough 5 yoke of oxen and I cannot come

What are these things that keep the guest from coming to the banquet?

Well, they all have to do with the flesh and the earth 

The five oxen are the 5 senses, being married represents the cares of the world, and land is again the cares of this world.

Are these things bad then? No, they are not bad but we cannot let these things keep us from serving our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. Sometimes these things pull away our attention from our Lord—they cause us to look downward rather than upward toward our God.

We have to be careful about these things…

And so the parable goes on and it says that the Master is angry when the invited guests refuse and He tells is servant to out to the highways and hedges to call those he finds there and he does that 

These are those who are the outcasts and also the gentiles as we heard St Paul tell us today there is neither Jew, nor Greek, Slave or free but all are welcome to the kingdom 

We also hear St Paul say there are things that keep us from being united to God and these are the sins of the flesh that keep us from being united to God. When we seek pleasure for the sake of our flesh rather than the pleasure and contentment found in God then our internal compass is skewed and travel not up to heaven but down to hell

Today we also remember 3 saints that most of us are probably familiar with—Azariah, Hannaniah and Mishael. These were three young men that were in captivity in Babylon after the Jews had been taken captive. 

They ended up serving in the court of the King because they could read and were knowledgeable but the King was so full of himself that he wanted everyone to worship him so he set up a statue 60 tall and told all his subjects that when they heard the music play they were all to bow down and worship this idol of him. 

Well, these three young men served our God, the true God, and they would not fall down and worship this idol 

And so the king calls them and tells them they will be thrown into the fiery furnace and he says to them—will your God deliver you out of my hand—and they say—well, that is up to Him but we sure are not going to worship you.

So Nebuchadnezzar has the furnace heated seven times hotter than normal—it is so hot that the guards who are heating it up are killed. 

So the three young men are thrown into the fiery furnace and Nebuchadnezzar is watching and nothing happens to them

In fact, Nebuchadnezzar looks in and he sees a fourth walking with them and He says—I put three men in but look a fourth walks among them and He is like the Son of God. 

So Nebuchadnezzar calls them out and the three young men come out and he says to them—your God is the true God. In other words, he repents because he sees this miracle 

Because these three young men would not reject their God 

So we have these two pictures—these two icons—before us today. We have the guests in the parable who refuse to come to the feast with their excuses and we have the three young men who are willing to be thrown into the fire and will not let anything come between themselves and God

What is the sin then that we see in the guests who were invited to the feast but declined to come?

Well, it could be multiple things but one of them is slothfulness

And what is slothfulness?

Slothfulness is being drawn to the ground—having no will to do anything—nothing to push us forward and no zeal for the things of God

So we see that slothfulness is what draws us to the earth—our senses and the cares of this world. 

This sin of slothfulness affects all of us—sometimes we dont want to get out of bed and say our prayers, sometimes we dont want to come to Church on Sunday, sometimes we dont want to meet someone who is asking us. 

This sin of slothfulness keeps us from having communion with God and with our neighbor and so we can be mistaken in thinking that slothfulness is the fulfilling of our desires when it actually is drawing us away from this spiritual banquet that our Lord has given us

And what is this banquet?—The table of this banquet is laden with—Love, joy, peace, gentleness, self-control—these are the fruits laid out on the table before us and this is what we partake of at our Lord’s table.

And who does not desire these virtues—these gifts from God—these fruits of the Holy Spirit

How much better do we feel when we interact with people when we are filled with these gifts of God rather than being agitated and angry and frustrated all the time?

Well, we are called to this banquet every day—not only on Sundays when we come to partake of the body and blood of our Lord but every day when we are called to have communion with Him through prayer and through communion with our brothers and sisters 

This is how were participate in this banquet 

So how do we battle slothfulness so that we can partake of this banquet? 

The Holy Fathers tells us that one of the main ways to do battle with slothfulness is to remember our death 

Now this may seem morbid—why would we want to think about our death? Let's just be happy right?

Maybe science will help us live 10, 20, 30 more years right? 

Actually the remembrance of death is a great help because it keeps us from doing things that we know are destructive for us and doing things that pull us away from God

So we remember death as a way to help us continue to turn to God 

The three young men knew that their lives would end, that the life of the king would end and whatever good things he could promise them could not compare to what God gives 

But the guests who were invited to the feast do not remember their death—there is one thing on their mind and that is serving their flesh. Their flesh has become their god…

They forget that they would have to answer to God some day 

And we too—when we remember our own death can be protected and vigilant to keep ourselves from slipping away from God 

And this can be a way to give us zeal for serving God 

Through the prayers of Hannaniah, Azariah and Mishael may the Lord strengthen us in our battle against slothfulness so that we can answer YES to the invitation to His banquet. Amen.