Homily for the 14th Sunday After Pentecost. -Met. Korniliy (Titov)

Dear brothers and sisters! We are all called to the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven, according to the word of the Savior, is likened to a marriage feast. The Gospel says: “The Kingdom of Heaven is likened unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son” (Matt. 22:2). The king sent his servants to call the guests to this feast, but all those invited refused to come. The king sent other servants again, yet the invited once more declined, offering various excuses. Hearing this, the king was greatly angered and commanded his soldiers to punish those who did not come to the feast, and then to go out into all the highways and byways and invite to the marriage all whom they found. The servants gathered all they could find—both the bad and the good. Thus, the house was filled with guests. According to the custom of that time, all who came to the marriage feast were expected to wear beautiful wedding garments. Seeing a man who had come not dressed in wedding garments, the host of the feast said to him: “Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?” And he was speechless, offering no reply. Then the king said to the servants: “Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth: for many are called, but few are chosen” (Matt. 22:2). The narrative in today’s Gospel is called a parable, that is, a figurative allegory. The king who prepared the feast for his son is God the Father, the Creator of heaven and earth and the King of all He has created. The king’s son is His Only-Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and the bride is the Church, which unites the souls of the faithful. The Apostle Paul says: “I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:2). The marriage feast signifies the Kingdom of Heaven, in which the faithful will be united forever with the Lord Jesus. To this marriage, or into the Kingdom of Heaven, the Jews were first invited through the prophets and apostles, but they refused the invitation, and moreover, they insulted and killed God’s messengers. For this, God punished the Jewish people with destruction and the ruin of their cities and temples. In place of the invited Jews, God, through the prophets and apostles, called the Gentile nations, including the Slavic peoples, to the marriage, or into Christ’s Church. But even Christians, who receive the wedding garment—that is, the purity of soul—at baptism, will not all enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only those who, in their lives, preserve true faith, keep the bright wedding garments of their souls pure, and strive for holiness and truth through repentance and chastity. This is one interpretation of the parable “On the Marriage Feast.” But there may be another, similar interpretation. Our Redeemer Jesus Christ calls to us: “Take, eat; this is My Body,” and further: “Drink ye all of it; for this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins” (Matt. 26:26). What greater love for mankind could there be than for Christ, the Shepherd, to nourish His sheep with His own Body and Blood? St. John Chrysostom speaks beautifully of this: “Many mothers, after giving birth, have given their children to other nurses to feed, but He did not wish to do this, but feeds us with His own Body and joins us to Himself and unites us with Himself.” This is the marriage of the King’s Son—the union of Christian souls with Christ in the mystery of Holy Communion! This is the divine, most holy, heavenly feast—the partaking of His Flesh and Blood! But how many today hasten to this divine feast? Do we not, through negligence and sloth, turn away from attending this heavenly banquet, citing various worldly calculations and lack of faith? Many, blinded by unbelief and the sinfulness of the world, reject and despise the path of salvation. Excessive love for temporal things, the increase of lust, and lawlessness hinder people from loving the priceless heavenly treasure: “And men loved darkness rather than light, neither believed they His words” (Ps. 105). Yet God “will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). Christ calls all of us to the Kingdom of Heaven. Some He draws to it with His gifts and blessings; others, through need and trials, He allows to see their dependence on Him. To some, He permits to fall into sin, to convince them of their personal weakness, thereby making them humble and compassionate toward others who sin. The words “many are called” signify that the Lord, through the Gospel, truly calls the whole world to the Kingdom of Heaven. Holy Scripture has now been translated into all the languages of the world, so that anyone can encounter the words by which the Lord calls to the Kingdom of Heaven, yet not everyone responds to this call, not even every believer. Today, we can only judge the fullness of the spiritual life of the first Christians from books on Church history. If the holy apostles and their disciples partook of Communion daily, within a few decades Christians began to partake once a week. And then even less frequently. By the time of St. John Chrysostom, that is, in the 4th and 5th centuries, there were Christians who partook only once a year. And now there are those who go years without partaking, essentially becoming as though they have fallen away from Christ. The Lord commands us: “Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His Blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:23). In the Church, there is a canon: if a Christian, without valid reason, does not attend church for three Sundays, he has, as it were, excommunicated himself from the fellowship of the Church (Canon 80 of the Sixth Ecumenical Council). Church fellowship is the center of all Christian life, and the Eucharist is the cornerstone of our faith, our striving toward God. Today, we separate ourselves from regular Communion only because of our sinfulness. Of course, in approaching the chalice of Communion, we must recognize our unworthiness. We must deeply repent and begin a new life, that is, bear the fruits of repentance. If we see any imperfections in ourselves, we must sometimes deal with ourselves sternly, reject temptations, break ourselves, and root out sin. In the prayers before Holy Communion, it is said: “How shall I, the wretched one, dare to partake of Thy Holy Gifts? For if I dare to approach Thee with the worthy, my garment betrayeth me, for it is not a wedding garment, and I shall bring condemnation upon my most sinful soul.” Much labor is required to come to this Feast in a wedding garment. The Sacrament of Communion must not be a mere formality. Yes, our spiritual life should always be directed toward the Chalice of Christ, but for this, we must labor with all our strength to purify our soul from sin as much as possible, so that receiving the Holy Mysteries of Christ may be for our spiritual and bodily health and for the salvation of our soul, not for condemnation. The Apostle Paul affirms that whoever eats the Lord’s Bread and drinks the Lord’s Chalice, being unworthy, without abandoning sins and being purified by repentance, shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. “But let a man examine himself… For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s Body” (1 Cor. 149). For this reason, the Apostle says, many fall ill and even die. Here we are, in the temple of God, where the awesome, heavenly, bloodless Sacrifice is offered. Are we here in the wedding garment, that is, in purity and dispassion of soul? Alas, often we lack the proper garment—reverent thoughts, a striving for repentance—and we enter the holy church in the defiled rags of passions and vices. Our outward appearance of piety must be united with the inner purity of the soul, for God, with whom we seek to unite, is by His nature perfectly pure. To the Heart-Knowing God, our garment, defiled by hardness of heart, envy, hatred, lack of love and forgiveness for our neighbors, hypocrisy, and pharisaism, is offensive. How can the most pure God unite with a soul filled with sinful impurities? “What communion hath light with darkness?” asks the Apostle (2 Cor. 6:14). The soul of a Christian is the bride of Christ, and it must possess the qualities of Christ, her Bridegroom. He is love, humility, meekness, patience, and forgiveness. All these virtues must form the garment of the Christian’s soul, the garment of purity and holiness, of which the Prophet Isaiah speaks: “Let my soul rejoice in the Lord, for He hath clothed me with the robe of salvation, and with the garment of gladness hath He covered me” (Isa. 61:10). St. Gregory Palamas writes: “If the garment of every soul is the body united with it, then he who has not kept it pure or has not cleansed it in this life through abstinence, chastity, and purity will find it unfit and unworthy of that incorruptible marriage chamber and will deservedly be cast out from there.” He further writes: “There are impious ones who are among the called and those who have come, and who are baptized, yet who have not changed their lives for the better and have not, through repentance, removed the defilement resulting from evil pleasures and passions.” But we, brothers, let us cast off the torn and soiled tunic, stained by drunkenness, gluttony, and intemperance of the flesh, and let us clothe ourselves, as Isaiah says, in the robe of salvation and the garment of gladness (Isa. 61:10). Let us put off the old man, corrupted by deceitful lusts, and put on the new man, created after God in holiness and righteousness (Eph. 4:22). We have been given the freedom of choice: to be with God at the marriage feast of His Son, in the bright garment of virtues, in joy, in the halls of the Heavenly King, or to be outside of life and joy, where there is outer darkness, weeping, and gnashing of teeth, where are dogs, sorcerers, fornicators, murderers, idolaters, and all who love and practice falsehood (Rev. 22:15). There is no third option. Let us then, brothers and sisters, make the only right choice and, directing the eyes of our hearts toward God, labor in this temporal life to clothe ourselves in the wedding garments, so that we may worthily come to the feast of eternal life and enter into the joy of our Lord Jesus Christ! source