12th in Luke 1/15/06 Ocala            Colossians 3:4-11  

Today, the Gospel lesson described the cure of the 10 lepers, of whom only one returned to thank the Lord for his cure, and he was not even a Hebrew, but a Samaritan. The Lord asked: "where are the other nine? were they not cured, and why did not they return to give thanks, as did this foreigner?"

Last year we had the opportunity to speak regarding the gratitude and ingratitude witnessed in all segments of society. Today, I chose to elaborate on the Epistle Lesson read by Dr. Pantazis, which was an excerpt from St. Paul's Epistle to the Colossians.

The main theme of this passage is the transformation of the Christian in character and conduct. St. Paul uses the method of contrast to emphasize the point he makes. He contrasts the old with the new, --­the good with the bad. His point is, that the gospel completely transforms the believer, making him or her a new person. Concisely we can use the familiar term "conversion!"

Being a Christian requires a "putting off" so to speak. This is a foundation of everything St. Paul understood by the Christian faith. He believed deeply, that one who becomes a Christian, must put off some things that weigh heavily on one's life, so that one cannot rise to higher and more noble spheres. He mentions wrath, anger, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. In continuity, St. Paul says: "do not lie to one another, since you took the decision to lay aside the old self with its evil practices."

It is very significant to interweave this teaching with what he specified in his Epistle to the Romans. He stated: "Love does no wrong; love therefore is the fulfillment of the Law. And this do,--­knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now, salvation is nearer to us, than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light." (Romans 13:10-12)

Being a Christian is not only "putting off," as mentioned, the practices of the old man, but equally, --- or even more important it is to "put on" the cloak of the new man. St. Paul was not content to be negative by saying to put off the evil practices of the old person. He was not concerned only reminding Christians what they must give up. He stressed the fact, that the Christian must "put on the new nature, being renewed to the true knowledge, according to the image of the One, who created him." In other words one must become a new person in Christ.

There is an important lesson here, in that we tend to define Christianity in terms of what we don't do. We don't curse, we don't cheat, we don't steal, we don't gossip, we don't tell lies, and so forth. This misses the whole point. The Christian should be known by the positive things of his or her life.

To put on the new nature was to St. Paul a positive thing. What are the positive evidences of the new birth? He lists some of them: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, just as the Lord forgave us. And beyond all these things, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God." (Colossians 3:12-17)

These admonitions of St. Paul surely bring to our mind the words of our Lord, as to how we present ourselves to those around us. Remember he said "You are the light of the world. Let your light so shine around you, so that everyone can see your good works, and thus glorify the Father, Who is in Heaven." (Matthew 5:14,16) Generally we can say that there are two drives in humans. One is to build barriers. This is not all bad, for our sense of autonomy requires some space between us and others. The other drive is to build bridges. The first is expressed by the word "will", which is our need to be independent. The second is characterized by the word "love," which is our need to trust and be dependent or inter-dependent.

Love is the ultimate. Love is the crowning virtue. No person dare say that he or she loves God, unless he or she loves their fellow humans. The Lord's teachings can be summed up in three words: "Love one another!" It was the Love of God that opened up the Gates of Heaven, for all to have an opportunity to become citizens thereof. The 16th verse of the 3rd Chapter of St. John's Gospel sums it all up. It explicitly tells us the magnitude of God's love for his creation: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever would believe on Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life!"

The whole 13th Chapter of St. Paul's first Epistle to the Corinthians is devoted to show what true love is and how love can guide us to a happy and fulfilled life.

He commences his first verse by saying: "If I speak the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.