St. Nicholas Orthodox Church
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese
9100 Youree Drive, Shreveport, LA 71115
August 17, 2014: 10th Sunday after Pentecost

A few weeks ago we celebrated the Transfiguration, at which disciples were elated by the wonderful, mountain-top experience of beholding the glory of God revealed in Christ. They experienced a spiritual highpoint; but immediately afterwards they experience a low point, a reality check.

Today’s Gospel passage follows right after the Transfiguration. Coming down from the mountain, the disciples with the Lord face a multitude of people. One man among those people is the father of a boy who suffers from a terrible condition. We might call it epilepsy, because he has some kind of seizures and falls into water or fire, nearly dying because of his condition. The Gospel is clear, though, that this is the work of a demon. So the man says that the Lord’s disciples were not able to do anything, and asks the Lord to have mercy on his son.

The Lord responds with a hard word of rebuke for his disciples, calling them a faithless and perverse generation. A little later he says that they could not help the boy because of their unbelief. Literally, it says that it is because of their “small faith.” If they had even had faith the size of a tiny little mustard seed they could have worked wonders, but because their faith was so puny, it failed to have any effect. Then He adds something to that, saying that “this kind” (the demon) does not go out but by prayer and fasting.

So, it seems that prayer and fasting are the way forward for us people of puny faith. But what kind of prayer and fasting? Surely the Lord doesn’t mean that if we robotically go through the motions of saying prayers and not eating certain things at certain times, we’ll suddenly have miracle-working faith. If we ask what kind of faith can cast out demons, maybe we’ll know what kind of prayer and fasting can cause our faith to grow.

In the sayings of the Desert Fathers there is an account of a monk who was very meek. Once he encountered a demon-possessed girl who struck him on the face. He simply turned the other cheek, and when he did that, the demon was driven out of the possessed girl. It was the monk’s simple humility, not some kind of melodramatic exorcism, that drove the demon away.

St. Paul also gives us a clue about this kind of faith when we says that he gladly allowed himself go through hunger and thirst for the Lord’s sake. And not only that: when he was insulted, he blessed, when he was persecuted, he endured, and when he was slandered, he encouraged and comforted others. He clung to Divine joy by gratefully submitting to the Divine will.

This is the power of real prayer and genuine fasting. The Psalms speak of humbling our soul by fasting. When we fast for the Lord’s sake, and pray to Him for help in everything, our soul is brought low in an uplifting way. We are cut down to size, and then we find ourselves raised up on the shoulders of our Mighty Lord, the victor over sin and death. Again, Psalm 50 talks about the kind of sacrifice - the kind of prayer - that is well-pleasing to God. “A heart that is broken and humbled God will not despise.” Why is that? Because when our heart is like that, then it’s like the heart of Christ. Of course, He doesn’t have to have His heart broken in order to become humble. He already has perfect humility.

We hear about this humility in Philippians, in the passage we read for the Dormition. The Lord lowered Himself, coming down into the dust with us, in order to raise us up. He is the Almighty, but there is no egotism in Him. The word that is used in Greek for what Christ did is “kenosis.” The way this is translated in some versions is that He “made himself of no reputation.” Most literally, though, He “emptied himself” - like a King who takes off all His royal purple garments, takes off his crown, takes off his rings and all the other signs of his power, and puts on rags, then goes and mingles with his poor subjects as one of them.

This is what the Lord does voluntarily for us, but we are called to follow his example, with this very important difference. He, who is naturally perfectly humble, is voluntarily broken for us. We, on the other hand, must be broken in order to become humble like him. Usually, it is only when we go through experiences that knock us to our knees that we learn what it is to pray wholeheartedly and to fast as a physical expression of fervent prayer.

One rule of thumb for us is that genuine prayer and fasting shifts the focus from ourselves to God. The goal is to become as unselfconscious about it as possible, like child who doesn’t think twice about asking his parents for help, and expects to be helped. He doesn’t get caught up in worrying about using the right words. The temptation for us is when we pray to think too much about the fact that we’re praying, and when we fast, to think about the fact that we’re fasting. The goal of fasting is not to fast, but to become more hungry for God.

For us to follow Christ’s example of kenosis - of self-emptying - means to be less self-conscious in our spiritual life, and more God-conscious, more other-conscious. We want to be more aware of what God desires for us, and less worried about our own desires.

There’s a wonderful story from the life of Fr. Seraphim Rose, a monk who lived in California a few decades ago. There was a celebration at the monastery, and someone brought ice cream for the monks and all the guests who were there. Some of the monks decided to take the opportunity to play a trick on Fr. Seraphim. So when it was time for dessert and everyone was served ice cream, they brought Fr. Seraphim a bowl of mashed potatoes instead. Everyone started eating the ice cream and they watched what Fr. Seraphim would do. He took a bite of the mashed potatoes…and just kept on eating. He didn’t complain, or refuse to eat the mashed potatoes in irritation. He just ate them, and smiled, enjoying the festive occasion just the same as if he had had ice cream. The monks were convicted and edified by his example, because he showed them what it is to empty of ego.

So if we find that our faith is puny, and that we can’t seem to call upon God with the boldness that we should have as Christ’s disciples; if we’ve come down from the mountain-top and are facing the crowds and are feeling overwhelmed; if we’re trying and trying and trying to be good and to fight evil but are feeling burned out and exhausted, then maybe what we need is a little more kenosis. Maybe we need a little more remembrance of God and of all that He does for us, and a little less remembrance of ourselves and our problems. If we have sins, we confess them, and then we turn all our attention to Christ. Praying and fasting and living each moment in this way, we open ourselves up to the gift of faith that can overcome the forces of evil, renew our strength in this life, and raise us up unto the life of the age to come. Amen.

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