The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew. (14:22-34)

Each time we read or hear the holy gospels we are encountering God. The gospels stand in a place of preeminence in the life of the Church. We believe in the Bible and revere it as the inspired word of God. But we put the gospels even higher than the rest of the Bible. As you see the gospel book sits alone, wrapped in gold (gold plating) on the Holy Altar table. Why? Because the gospels reveal God to us clearly and completely. The gospels are the eyewitness accounts of the life and the teachings of the Son of God, Our Lord Jesus Christ. They are the most precious treasure, the most important texts ever written in the history of the world. We take the things written in them, the things of Christ and His Church seriously.

For an Orthodox Christian these are not cleverly devised tales or myths. They are our sacred history. The gospels give us our meaning and our identity and every other identity that we have comes second to our identity as Christians. When we begin to compromise our identity in Christ, when we begin to compromise the way that we live and we begin to live a life of rebellion against the teaching of Christ and His Church then we find that our foundation cracks and before long we find ourselves on the outside looking in, completely unable to understand the Christian faith. We become alienated. This alienation didn’t happen because Christ or the Church or it’s people changed but rather because we moved, we shifted, we changed. Yet the gospel stands as an ever present reminder and witness to the truths we accept through faith. The gospel is ready to enlighten you and to teach you and to help you correct your way of life. It will help bring you to life in God if that is what you truly desire.

In today’s reading we see that Our Lord Jesus Christ has completed His long day of teaching, healing and feeding the multitudes. He dismisses the crowds and then He does something that we would not expect in our human logic. After a long and exhausting day outside, in the elements and with the many people and their many pains and struggles, we would very likely be drained. We would probably want to sit down and rest. We would want to eat and possibly go straight to bed. That would be normal. Yet the Lord is not like us. He chooses to hike up a mountain to spend most of the evening in prayer. He is teaching us even in these quiet moments in the middle of the night. What we desire in food and rest, the Lord desires from His Father in prayer. God is His food. God is His rest. Prayer is food, shelter and refreshment. We are told that He goes up the mountain to pray. In this we understand that prayer itself requires an effort, like climbing up a mountain. It is not so easy. It doesn’t often feel like running downhill. It feels like an uphill battle if you will. Good prayer sometimes requires sweat and tears. Yet there can be no mistake. The gospel account is clear. Christ our Lord is teaching us that prayer is our rest and refreshment.

So often when people come to confession they say that they don’t pray enough. We often look at prayer as a check list. I pray because I have to, right? I pray quickly for 3 minutes and I feel that I have done my duty. But what did you accomplish friends? Prayer is for you, not for God! Prayer is not a punishment but many of you treat it as if it is a sort of death sentence. How do I know? Because you run away from prayer. You don’t go to prayer with intention and feeling and zeal. You don’t run towards prayer. We fail to see that prayer is a special time to be alone with God and enter into a deep communion with Him. God desires time with you. It should really open our eyes that Our Lord spends His evening in prayer. He is always with God the Father and the Father is always with Him. They are one. Yet, He prays in order to be in intimate union with His Father without any distractions.

Prayer also changes us. St. Ephraim the Syrian says “Virtues are formed by prayer. Prayer preserves temperance. Prayer suppresses anger. Prayer prevents emotions of pride and envy. Prayer draws into the soul the Holy Spirit, and raises man to Heaven.” So this is an antidote to the idea that you can become different by trying harder. Trying harder does very little. Prayer changes us.

Those of you who have come to confession know the example about the iron and the fire. If you take a cold rod of iron and you bring it close to a fire as it gets closer to the fire what will happen to it? It will no doubt get warmer. And if you bring that iron very close what will happen? It will get hot. And if you put the iron in the fire and leave it there for a time what will happen? It will become red hot! The fire will be married to the iron and the iron to the fire. The iron will glow and be hot as flame. This is what is possible for an Orthodox Christian in the life of prayer. We are the iron, often cold and lifeless. Yet we can be activated through prayer.

We can become energized with the grace of God. We can become like God. We can become by grace what God is by nature. We can be completely transformed and transfigured through the Holy Spirit, in prayer. We can have union and intimate relationship with God. This is not a speculation or wishful thinking or theory. It is established and confirmed in the lives of the saints of the Church and in the teaching of the New Testament. Prayer is a doorway to become partakers of the divine nature.

Perhaps your life is full of storms. Yet Our Lord Jesus is waiting for you in the midst of the storm. He calls to you. He invites you to Him. He wants you to be where He is, to be with Him. Why do we doubt and hide ourselves in so many other distractions? But we should also remember that prayer isn’t only when we are in front of our icons in the morning or the evening. Any moment of the day can be a moment of prayer for us.

As St. Tikhon says, “Prayer does not consist merely in standing and bowing your body or in reading written prayers….it is possible to pray at all times, in all places, with mind and spirit. You can lift up your mind and heart to God while walking, sitting, working, in a crowd and in solitude. His door is always open, unlike man’s. We can always say to Him in our hearts Lord , Lord have mercy.”

Morning, evening, midday, midnight. When we are worried, when we are tired, when we are joyful, when we are lost, when we are angry, when we are tempted, when we are sad, when we are thankful, in each of these moments we can turn to God in prayer and He will never leave us empty handed. What Father will give His children a rock if he or she asks for bread? The disciple were in the midst of the storm and Peter was sinking. They were in complete fear yet Christ was not far from them. He is not far from anyone who loves Him and tries to put in some effort to know climb the mountain of prayer and I want you to know that this is the most worthwhile activity that a human being can undertake in their life. St. Mark the Ascetic writes, “Prayer comprises the complete fulfillment of the commandments; for there is nothing higher than love for God.” And Glory be to God forever AMEN.

Source: Sermons