Sunday of Gregory Palamas (Nutshell and Full Text)

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Sunday of St. Gregory Palamas
Scripture: Hebrews 1:10-2:3

Nutshell

Oops!

In our world, personal responsibility is a trait that we typically think of as a sign of maturity. However, in our world, it’s becoming more and more common to see our problems as something that’s someone else’s fault, or the result of the world against us.

Ugh!

If the problem is not us, then it must be society, and, if that’s the case, we need to fix it. Sometimes, though, when we go down this route, we either become obsessed or tyrannical.

Aha!

But, other people are not the problem. The real problem is an impulse for evil that is both outside of us and inside of us at the same time—it’s a disease that infects us and destroys our relationship with God, causing us to feel ashamed.

It’s not that we have to fix a broken world, it’s that we have to welcome Christ into our hearts so that we can be healed.

Whee!

The Passion story, with all due respect to Mel Gibson, is not about how Christ suffered painfully on our behalf.

Instead, it’s about how Christ accepted the shame of being crucified. He willingly gave up his glory to appear as a criminal so that he could meet us where we are—so that he could meet us face-to-face and heal the brokenness inside of our hearts.

Yeah!

Our response is our affirmation to “unite ourselves to Christ” when we are baptized. Our response is receiving the Body and Blood of Christ during communion. Our response is to accept the life God offers us and to live it abundantly.

Full Text

Oops!

In our world, personal responsibility is a trait that we typically think of as a sign of maturity.

For us, as Americans, it’s also a mark of our freedom. Each individual is allowed to do as they wish—that is, they are able to exercise their individuality and make decisions for themselves.

When it comes to sin, we tend to think of sin within this matrix.

What do I mean by this? Well, take alcoholism, for example.

I once knew someone who was going to Al-Anon, the AA equivalent that provides support for family members and friends of alcoholics.

Despite being a supportive program, my friend was having a hard time with it. You see, AA and Al-Anon, as well as the scientific community, view alcoholism as a disease that needs to be treated. My friend didn’t believe that.

Instead, they believed in “personal responsibility.” In other words, alcoholics are guilty of their alcoholism, because they chose to drink. The struggles, problems, and pain the alcoholic has caused are their fault. The shame they feel was brought on by their own actions.

My friend believed that if alcoholics want to get better, then they need to make better choices in their lives.

Often, we tend to approach sin the same way. We look at the sinner and say, “It’s your fault! If you want to be a sinless person, then simply stop sinning.”

Ugh!

Now, all of us struggle with something in our lives. All of us are sinners: We’ve “missed the mark” of holiness in one way or another.

And, we all know that being told to simply “stop sinning,” doesn’t work. Even St. Paul struggled. Listen to what he publicly tells the Romans:

“I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. … I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.”

It sounds like he’s ashamed that he can’t act holy—he can’t do what is right.

I know when I’m told to simply stop doing something that’s not under my control, I too can feel ashamed.

Think of a kid who wets their bed. The problem isn’t something that’s under their control. Having an angry parent yell at them won’t fix it. It’ll only belittle them and make them feel ashamed.

Besides shame, the “personal responsibility” model can also tear us up with guilt. We know that sin isn’t something we can overcome on our own. And, because we’re stuck in a cycle of sin, we begin to feel helpless, then guilty.

As that guilt starts to weigh on our minds, it can throw us into depression. Or, worse, it may even make us angry, and we may take that anger out on others, hurting those we love most.

Aha!

This model of understanding sin is the typical western Christian understanding. It frames us as guilty and in need of severe punishment. In some Christian traditions, this may mean everlasting punishment, without end. (Yikes!)

However, this isn’t how scripture portrays sin, nor is it the teaching of the Orthodox Church.

The real problem is an impulse for evil that is both outside of us and inside of us at the same time—In other words, sin is a disease that infects us and destroys our relationship with God, causing us to feel ashamed.

And, because sin is a sickness, Christ doesn’t die on the cross as a punishment, but rather he dies on the cross to conquer sin and death on our behalf. He’s able to destroy the disease that’s made us sick in the first place.

Whee!

Let’s go back to what Paul wrote to the Romans. He said,

“I am of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. … But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. … Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.”

Listen to how he describes how sin is acting within him. Hear how it forces him to do what is contrary to his will, contrary to his nature.

Put another way, Paul is describing how the sickness of sin has trapped him in an endless cycle. It’s taken him captive. Eventually, it’ll lead to his death.

But, glory to God, Christ has accepted the shame of being crucified. He willingly gave up his glory to appear as a criminal so that he could meet us where we are.

Think about that. Think about how the King of All was willing to allow us to put him on trail, to strip him naked, and to display his naked body on a cross for all to see, for all to mock.

He allows this. He accepts this shame.

But, by entering into our shame—brought on by sin—he’s at our level. He’s where we are so that he can see us face-to-face and mend our broken relationship with God.

Shame makes us feel like we’re unlovable, unworthy of connection, especially with God. Yet, here’s Christ, looking us in the eyes telling us that he conquers the sin we can’t control. He tells us we are loved, and that we are worthy of communion with God.

Yeah!

While today is the celebration of St. Gregory Palamas, a 14th-century bishop of Thessaloniki, the celebration of matins contains another—possibly more ancient—theme: the Prodigal Son (see The Lenten Triodion translated by Metropolitan Kallistos Ware and Mother Mary; note especially his excellent introduction).

It’s the parable of the Prodigal Son that demonstrates how Christ’s shame helps redeem us.

We all know the story. How a younger son asks his father for his inheritance early. After receiving it, he goes into a foreign land and squanders it. Eventually, he decides to return home and beg his father to work for him as a hired servant.

But, what happens?

As the younger son returns home, his father sees him and runs out to meet him. Let me say that again, the father runs to meet the disgraced son.

Remember in this culture, it was shameful for a father to run. By doing so, the father not only shamed himself, but in receiving the prodigal son, he shows that he also accepts his son’s shame—in short, the father enters into his son’s shame.

But, because the father is a respected community member, he covers his son’s shame. He elevates him, and brings him home.

This is what Christ does. He wipes away our sin, something we can’t do on our own. He elevates us to be adopted sons. He welcomes us as his own children and gives us an inheritance.

Our response is the affirmation we say at our baptism. Yes, we “unite ourselves to Christ.”

Our response is to accept the fullness of Christ when we open our mouths for communion; when we “taste and see that the Lord is good.”

Our response is to accept the life God offers us and to live that life abundantly.

Amen.