+ In the Love of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Some years ago I bought The Orthodox Study Bible [© 1993 by St. Athanasius Orthodox Academy]. It includes an essay by Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia titled “How to Read the Bible.” Here’s a passage from it:
“According to Saint Mark the Monk (‘Mark the Ascetic,’ fifth/sixth century), ‘He who is humble in his thoughts and engaged in spiritual work, when he reads the Holy Scriptures, will apply everything to himself and not to his neighbor.’”
So let me rephrase this piece of ancient wisdom: “If you are humble in your thoughts, and if you are engaged in spiritual work, when you read the Holy Scriptures, you will apply everything to yourself and not to me!”
Now are all of you clear about that?! If so, then please turn to the reading from Romans [12:9-21], and while I read it to you again, please remember― apply everything to yourself and nothing to me! And by the same token, I will apply everything to myself and nothing to you!
“Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ No, ‘if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
After reading this passage, and applying everything to myself, I am painfully aware of how often I have failed to love genuinely. In fact, everything in this passage is about what it means “to love genuinely.” For example, to love genuinely means to “hold fast what is good.” To love genuinely means to “be patient in suffering.” To love genuinely means to “extend hospitality to strangers.” To love genuinely means to “live in harmony with one another.” To love genuinely means not to “repay anyone evil for evil.” To love genuinely means to “overcome evil with good.”
So I have to ask myself, “Why do I keep failing to love genuinely? Why do I so frequently fail to be patient, or fail to live in harmony?”
I discovered one answer to those questions last Sunday morning as I was praying the opening sentence in the Eucharistic Prayer― “Holy and gracious Father, in your infinite love you made us for yourself”― the key phrase being “in your infinite love.”
“Of course,” it struck me, “only God’s love is infinite. My love is finite.” Given the wrong circumstances, and continuing provocations, my love is bound to give out in spite of my best intentions and my firmest resolutions.
I discovered another answer to those question that Sunday afternoon when I read an article in The New York Times Magazine, titled “To Choose is to Lose,” by John Tierney.
In short, one of the reasons my love is finite is something called “Decision Fatigue.” Here are some excerpts from the article:
“Decision fatigue helps explain why ordinarily sensible people get angry at colleagues and families, splurge on clothes, buy junk food at the supermarket and can’t resist the dealer’s offer to rustproof their new car. No matter how rational and high-minded you try to be, you can’t make decision after decision without paying a biological price.
“ . . . there is a finite store of mental energy for exerting self-control. . . . Willpower is a form of mental energy that is fatigued by use or conserved by avoiding temptation.
“Psychologists . . . liked to envision the human mind as a computer, focusing on the way it processed information. [But] most psychologists neglected an essential part of the machine: the power supply. The brain, like the rest of the body, derives energy from glucose.
“When glucose is low your brain responds more strongly to immediate rewards and pays less attention to long-term prospects. . . . When the brain’s regulatory powers weaken, frustrations seem more irritating than usual. Impulses to eat, drink, spend and say stupid things feel more powerful. . . .
“People with the best self-control are the ones who structure their lives so as to conserve willpower. They don’t schedule endless back-to-back meetings. They . . . establish habits that eliminate the mental effort of making choices. . . .
“Instead of counting on willpower to remain robust all day, they conserve it so that it’s available for emergencies and important decisions.”
The reality of Decision Fatigue is spiritually relevant because genuine Christian love is not a feeling― it’s a decision. It’s a decision to act in a Jesus-like way. And that’s why, in this morning’s Gospel, Jesus says to his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” As the old song has it, “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.”
Do you remember what happened in last week’s Gospel? Jesus asked his disciples, “But who do you say that I am?” And Simon said, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!” And Jesus told Simon, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, and I tell you, from now on I will call you “Peter,” “the Rock,” and on this Rock I will build my Church.” And yet in today’s Gospel, which takes place only moments after last Sunday’s Gospel, when Jesus tells his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer, Peter rebukes Jesus, and Jesus in turn rebukes Peter, and says to him “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” In just a few moments, Peter goes from “Rock” to “Stumbling Block.”
I am Peter.
There are moments when I am the Rock on which Jesus is building his Church, moments when I decide well, moments when I love genuinely.
But there are also moments when I am the Stumbling Block, moments when I decide badly, moments when I fail to love genuinely. And in those moments, Jesus says to me, “Get behind me, Satan!”
But here’s something unexpected:
When Jesus tells his disciples, “If any want to be my followers” his words could be more literally translated, “If any want to get behind me.”
So when Jesus says to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan!” Jesus is not only rebuking Peter, he’s also inviting Peter once again to “get behind him,” so that Peter can once again become the Rock on which Jesus is building his Church.
And that’s why, when Jesus says to me, “Get behind me,” he is also inviting me once again to get behind him, so that once again I can be the Rock on which he is building his Church.
Thanks be to God!
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