Our Venerable Father Sisoes the Great.
1 Corinthians 5:9-6:11; Matthew 13:54-58.
Read 1 Corinthians 5:9-6:11
In today’s reading we hear: “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with immoral men; not at all meaning the immoral of this world, or the greedy and robbers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world” (1 Co 5:9–10).
As St. Paul explains, this is not an exhortation to leave the world or shun anyone who does not share our beliefs or moral code; rather we are told not to associate with those who take on the name Christian, but still do these things. What’s more, the Holy Fathers tell us that in the first place this is meant to apply to ourselves.
In the great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete, which we read during Lent, we reflect on the fact that we ourselves are the greedy, the robber and the idolator: “Of mine own free will have I incurred Cain’s guilt of murder; for I have murdered my own conscience by cultivating my flesh and making war upon my soul’s awareness by my wicked actions. (Ode 1)…David once joined sin to sin when he mixed adultery with murder; yet then he showed at once a twofold repentance. But thou, my soul, hast done worse things than he, yet thou hast not repented before God. (Ode 7)
When St. Paul says further on that “neither the immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers…nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Co 6:9–10), we should take this as an opportunity for self reflection, not for judgement of others, “…for who are you to judge the servant of another” (Romans 14:4).
The desert father Abba Moses said that: “whoever carries the burden of his sins, does not look at the sins of his neighbor”, and Abba Poemen, when asked by a brother: What shall I do, Father, when I am filled with sorrow?” replied: “Do not consider anyone as nobody, condemn and defame no one, and the Lord will give you peace.” Refraining from passing judgment on others is, therefore, not only a criterion for genuine asceticism, but also a way to experience God’s peace.
The key thing here is that, while we should see our own sins, we should not identify ourselves with our sins, our identity is in Christ and this is what we cling to. Notice that St. Paul does not say that those who commit idolatry, or those who steal shall not inherit the kingdom of heaven; but idolaters, adulterers and robbers – it is not a question of action, but of identity. Therefore in contrast he says, “…you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11).
We may still fall, but as long as we are in Christ, we have the opportunity to repent, and as often as we repent we slowly but surely put aside the old man, and experience the renewal of our very being in Christ. As St. John Chrysostom reminds us : “God did not limit his salvation to mere deliverance. He greatly extended the benefit by making [us] clean, by going on to make [us] holy and finally by making [us] righteous in his sight. Even bare deliverance from our sins would have been a great gift, but God has gone on from that to fill us with countless blessings (Homily on the Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians)