Blessed are Those Who Hear the Word of God and Obey It
21st Sunday after Trinity / Pentecost
Galatians 2:16-20; Luke 8:5-15
The Gospel of Christ has been preached in this world for almost 1950 years. In the free world, where democratic freedoms truly exist, we teach both children and adults about the faith of Christ. The Bible is produced in millions of copies in different languages, and many different Christian denominations produce many different educational books.
In sermons, through the press and various means of communication, we are taught about the right understanding of God, about God's love for us, and about the need for us all to show love to our neighbours and to each other. And yet we must recognize that even in countries where there is freedom of speech, where everyone has access to hear the Word of God, much evil is done. There is still much evil, treachery, and enmity in the world, not only between different peoples and faiths, but also between fellow believers, even between members of the same community of Christ.
We are witnessing tremendous progress in the development of technology and various applied sciences, and at the same time, we see little progress in spiritual and moral fulfillment. Quite the contrary: in the last couple of decades, we have seen a great moral decline among a certain part of human society.
Over the last 50 years or so, the general population of human society /obviously, not all of it/ has become quite rich materially. The benefits of life that once were enjoyed only by a limited number of people are now enjoyed by the majority of people among ordinary workers. This is undeniable progress.
But at the same time, statistics from the 70s of the 20th century, for example, show that people spend more money on alcohol than they donate to all Churches. Crime is disproportionately increasing and spreading -- much faster than the population is growing. Moreover, drug addiction and alcoholism are spreading among minors, among children aged 8-18, not to mention among adults. We read reports that babies, just born from the mother's womb, are already poisoned by drugs.
From all this, it is clear that a large segment of people either never hears the Word of God, or does not want to listen to it, does not want to accept the truths expressed by God. Sincerely believing people must, of course, consider the reason for those disappointing facts. But our Lord Jesus Christ, while still on earth, made it clear to people why some people are not influenced by the Word of God.
1. It happens that people listen to a sermon, the teaching of the Word of God, but the words and teachings from God are not accepted by some people. The fate of those words from God is like that of the seeds that fall "by the wayside" – "the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. " (Luke 8:12).
The devil very much does not want people to find salvation in God, which is why there are times when people may go to church, listen to the Divine service, listen to God's teaching, but do not grow in God. One reason for this is that the disposition of those people toward God's Word is indifferent; clearly, the preacher is not to blame for that.
2. There are people who gladly accept the Word of God; they like it, but they do not make the decision to live in God according to His instructions. Therefore, as Christ testifies, they have no root; they believe as long as everyone around them believes, but when adversity or trials come, they “fall away” (Lk. 8:13).
There are probably many such people among us, and most certainly, there were many of them in Ukraine, on the territory of the Russian Empire, because when the persecution of believers began, many people left, and many of yesterday's Christians supported the atheists. The atheists, the God-deniers, could never have done so much harm to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine in a short time if there were not many people with stony soil in their hearts, in their understanding of the Word of God.
3. I have heard many times that when a man was poor, a student or a novice teacher, he turned to his Church and his people. The wife of such a man often worked hard, did menial jobs so that her husband could get a higher education and a good profession. And so he did... he became a lawyer... And then he divorces her, because he believed that a lawyer needs not a simple woman, but a woman with education...
He also rarely attends his church anymore. He says he is too busy in his profession.
Some of these people have completely renounced their own, even changed their surnames, while others still have some love for their roots, mailing in donations for caroling, etc.
In Ukraine, such people, “choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life,” in past centuries became Poles when Poland (Lk. 8:14) ruled, and “truly Russian” when Russia dominated our lands, and in the western lands they tried to align themselves with the Germans so as not to resemble people from their enslaved nation.
This group of people could change their religion and nationality for the sake of the benefits of life and various privileges. Among them were people who, according to Taras Shevchenko, helped “to torture the mother and to rip off the mother's patched shirt”. If there were no such people, then, as the same T. Shevchenko said, “The mother would not have wept, the children would not have grieved.” (The Open Grave, Kobzar)
But they do exist. They existed at the time of Jesus' preaching in Palestine; they have existed in all ages, and they exist now. So, a preacher or a clergyman may be guilty of weaknesses in Christianization, but as the Lord testifies, the reasons are sometimes beyond his or her control.
4. But it is good that there are people who, though not sinless, are honest before God, who not only try to know and hear about the will of God, but also try to implement that will of God. They try to live in accordance with the Gospel, try to imitate Christ, and carry their cross for their Lord. Their children see the sincerity in their parents' confession, and so they become the fruits of the Gospel themselves.
All martyrs were from the constellation of those whose hearts had good soil, who perceived the teaching of Christ not for knowledge but for confession, for testimony before men (Matthew 10:32).
The Lord affirmed:
“Yes. Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it!” (Lk. 11:28).
And Saint Apostle Paul testifies:
“For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified”
(Romans 2:13)
The experience of human life, history, shows us that those people who are faithful to God, who fulfill His Law and Commandments, also defend the truth of their people. This was the case with our national prophet Taras Shevchenko, who, while in captivity, wrote:
“I am punished, I suffer, but I do not repent.” (O my thoughts! O cruel glory!)
He could repent and did repent for his personal sins, but he did not repent, did not regret that he stood up against the enslavers of his people, that he called “to love your Ukraine, to love it in times of trouble, to pray to the Lord for it in the last difficult moment.” (In the Casemate)
For Taras Shevchenko, the truth of God was inseparable from the truth of his people, and in this we should all imitate him. When we do so, we will be not only listeners but implementers of God's instructions.
Amen.
Very Rev. Fr. Taras Slavchenko
Taras Slavchenko was born on March 8, 1918 in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region in Ukraine. After graduating from school and the Pedagogical College, he entered the language and literature faculty of the Scientific Pedagogical Institute. Having successfully completed it in 1938, he served as a teacher in a secondary school.
