Our Venerable Father Hilarion the Great (371)
Colossians 4:2-9; Luke 9:49-56
Read Luke 9:49-56
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
Today we are given an interesting insight into Sts. James and John. Both at the start and the end of today’s lesson James and John revealed their fiery nature —Jesus named James and John ‘Bo-aner′ges, that is, sons of thunder’ (Mark 3:17). John is offended by those who received Jesus while at the end James and John are offended by those who rejected the Lord’s invitation. What do these events have in common? They both struggle with the fact that God’s ways are not our ways. We all want to place God into a convenient box. We want God to play by our rules, so we can benefit from having a tamed lion as our friend; unfortunately, that’s not how it works. God is infinitely larger than we can ever imagine. He is intimately involved in the lives of all people, in everyone’s relationships and in every aspect of life. This is beyond our ability to comprehend or even compute. We can only say, where the Lord is, but not where He is not. We know that God’s grace is in the Church, but we cannot say that God does not work outside of the Church—for He continually works to bring people closer to Himself, especially those who are not against Him, so that they may be so close to Him as to be part of His body, which is the Church. May we take a moment today to reflect on the grandeur of God and His continual mysterious works. Let us also give thanks to God for the proclamation of the name of Jesus Christ and for all those who love Christ and glorify his name.