Our Venerable Fathers Martyred by the Saracens at the Monastery of St. Sabbas.
Day 18 of the Great Fast.
Sixth Hour – Isaiah 11:10-12:2; Vespers – Genesis 7:11-8:3; Proverbs 10:1-22.
Read Proverbs 10:1-22
“Treasures do not benefit lawless men, but righteousness delivers from death” (Pr. 10:2).
Lawless men, those who are slaves to vices, do not benefit from their wealth, and their ways lead to death. A fitting example of this can be seen in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. After prematurely demanding his share of his inheritance from his father, he journeyed off to a far country and squandered all his money and possessions with prodigal living. He was left starving when a famine hit that land. At that time, he repented. He had faith in the goodness of his father, recalling that even his father’s servants had plenty to survive. He resolved to return to his father and ask forgiveness, requesting to be treated like one of his hired servants. None of the “treasures” the son had from his financial inheritance benefitted him, for he squandered them all in his sensual, careless living. However, through his faith in his father’s goodness, upon his repentance he was delivered from starvation and death. His father loved him and rejoiced in his return, treating him not as a servant but as his beloved son.
In his letters, St. Paul speaks at length about the importance of faith. We are no longer under the old Jewish law but now are under a new covenant. The Jews believed that righteousness came from observance of the law, but the law was impossible to uphold and led to condemnation. However, for Christians, Jesus is our righteousness: “He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30). Righteousness delivers from death, and Christ is our righteousness. By His death, Christ has conquered death! Paul says that “now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” (Rom. 3:21-22). By our faith in Jesus Christ, we receive the righteousness of God.
As the prodigal son had faith in his father’s goodness in order to be delivered from death, so let us have faith in Christ and be delivered from death.