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 On Harmony of Thunder, when St. Paul preached in the city of Lystra, he found himself in a bit of a pickle. The men of that city agreed with the concept that they could experience the creative power of God by observing His created order - but what, exactly, were they looking at when they said, "Hey, there's God!”? Join us for the third in a series of explorations of St. Basil's Hexaemeron to find out what happened - and how St. Paul's answer to the men of Lystra illuminates the preaching of St. Basil.
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Harmony of Thunder, program nine, St Basil the Great Haexeramon, Homily 3
In the fourteenth chapter of the book of Acts, St. Paul finds himself in a bit of a pickle. A man with no feet, or feet that hadn't worked since he was born, listened to St. Paul preach the gospel in the city of Lystra. When the man believed on the name of Jesus Christ for his salvation, he was healed. He jumped up and started to walk around, and everyone who knew him and knew about his infirmity was amazed. The people of Lystra ran to the pagan temple in that city and convinced the priest to bring a bull for a sacrifice to St. Paul and St. Barnabas, thinking that they were earthly manifestations of Zeus and Hermes.
St. Paul, obviously upset by this, pleaded with the people to stop calling him a god. By the way, it's unnerving how often this happens to priests. A friend of mine, Fr. Joseph Hunneycutt, wrote about this recently on his blog, Orthodixie, a posting entitled, “Hi God, do you like my hair?” It has also happened to me, and the first time was when a parishioner was playing a CD in the car on the way to church. I had recorded the pre-communion prayers on CD and gave them to people in my church as a gift at the Nativity one year, and this family had decided to start playing it on the way to church (which was what I intended). The first time they played it, as soon as it started, one of the children shouted, “Hey, that's god!” The parents laughed and said, no, it's Fr. David. They were surprised, as I was, to find that the child thought that God and I were one and the same person. Wow. Everyone at coffee hour that day thought it was a funny story, but I didn't think it was funny, and had a chat with the child immediately. Annoyingly enough, it's happened several times since then, not with that child, but with others. Two things always go through my head when this happens, the first being, “Wow, kid, you can't imagine how different God and I are!” and the second one is, “As a priest, I'd better be very careful with how I conduct myself and what I say, especially around children.”
Anyway, back to St. Paul. He didn't think it was funny for the people in Lystra to call him god, and tore his garments and ran among the people yelling at them to stop. The little sermon he preached to them at that point, I think, is very apropos to St. Basil's third sermon from the Hexaemeron: ““Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.”
Hi, you're listening to Harmony of Thunder, where we explore and enjoy the rich tradition of Orthodox preaching. I’m your host, Fr. David Smith. Each week, Harmony of Thunder chooses a sermon from scripture, from the works of a saint, or from a contemporary source, and we spend our time together looking at the style, the illustrations, and the spiritual message of the preacher.
Lord Jesus Christ, through the prayers of Your Most Pure Mother and of all the saints, bless your Holy Orthodox Church with great preachers and people who want to hear them. Amen.
“The living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, ... in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” Do you see what St. Paul is saying here? For you to believe in the Living God, he said to the people of Lystra, all you need to do is look around yourself at the world, the rain, food growing on trees, and the joy that fills your heart, and you come to know that He exists and that He loves you.
St. Basil almost sounds frustrated at one point in his third sermon from the Hexaemeron (if you've missed the last two programs, we're spending some time with a series of sermons St. Basil the Great preached on the six days of creation called the Hexaemeron), perhaps not as frustrated as St. Paul telling the men of Lystra to stop calling him god, but frustrated nonetheless with those who refuse to believe that God is the creator of the world. “Hear, O ye deaf! See, O ye blind! who, then, is deaf? Who is blind? He who does not see such clear proofs of the Only begotten. Let there be a firmament. It is the voice of the primary and principal Cause. And God made the firmament. Here is a witness to the active and creative power of God.”
Look around you right now. All you see is a witness to the creative and active power of the creator God. Just yesterday on my way to work I came upon a heard of sheep standing in the road. What a sight – I'm accustomed to deer standing in the road, but sheep, and lots of them? I had never seen that before! And they were certainly in no hurry to get out of the way, either. These particular sheep had not been through their spring shearing, and from a distance the almost looked like big mops with legs. I marveled at creation as I slowly drove around them. In the cold weather, their wool grows long and thick in order to protect the animals from the elements. But in the spring, men shave the wool off the animals. The sheep enjoy the benefit of not carrying it throughout the hot weather, and the farmer takes the wool in order to make blankets, sweaters, and other necessary items to keep us warm when the cold weather comes back. Who could have thought of such a simple, wonderful arrangement? St. Basil tells us: “here is a witness to the active and creative powers of God.” And St. Paul says, “He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good.”
One more thing before we go. Certainly we can see how God has made himself known in the created things of this world, but the fact that the men of Lystra got it wrong, the fact that many people have gotten it wrong throughout history, tells us that creation needs an interpreter. Just as we cannot arrive at the full meaning of the scriptures without someone to teach us, so it is that the book of Creation, all that surrounds us, needs an interpreter and needs a teacher. St. Basil addresses this at the beginning of his sermon, when he says: “I know that many artisans, belonging to mechanical trades, are crowding around me. A day's labor hardly suffices to maintain them; therefore I am compelled to abridge my discourse, so as not to keep them too long from their work. What shall I say to them? The time which you lend to God is not lost; he will return it to you with large interest. Whatever difficulties may trouble you the Lord will disperse them. To those who have preferred spiritual welfare, He will give health of body, keenness of mind, success in business, and unbroken prosperity. And, even if in this life our efforts should not realize our hopes, the teachings of the Holy Spirit are none the less a rich treasure for the ages to come. Deliver your heart, then, from the cares of this life and give close heed to my words. Of what avail will it be to you if you are here in the body, and your heart is anxious about your earthly treasure?”
In one of our earlier programs we looked at a sermon of St. John Chrysostom where he pointed out that his listeners would hurry to see great musicians and athletes, and so therefore “how much attentiveness and eager interest you out rightly to display toward me, since it is not some flute player, nor even a sophist, who now come forward to the context, but a man crying out from heaven and sending for the a voice more sonorous than thunder.” These two great saints of the church are saying the same thing – you have to put yourself in a place where you can hear the exegesis of the church – where you can be taught the theology and traditions of the faith.
Thanks for joining me today on Harmony of Thunder. Next week we're looking at the fourth sermon in the Hexaemeron, the gathering of the waters so that land appears.
Oh Lord God, Creator of Heaven and earth, help us to hear and heed the words of the great preachers of Orthodoxy, that we may glorify you with our faith and lives, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
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