Harmony of Thunder, program ten, St Basil the Great Hexaeramon, Homily 4
Hi, welcome 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 or from the works of a saint 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.
In the third sermon of the Hexaemeron, St. Basil urges his listeners to give their time, some of it, to listening to the teachings of the church concerning the scriptures and creation. In the beginning of the fourth sermon of the Hexaemeron (the one we're looking at today), he talks about how so many people flock to watch conjurers, lewd musicians, impure theater performances, and horse races, when his advice is to “rather stand around the vast and varied workshop of divine creation and, carried back in mind to the times of old ... view all the order of creation.” And then he gives us a quick list – heaven, the earth, the air, and water – these all serve to give us opportunity to contemplate not only their beauty, but also the beauty and majesty of God their creator. What great advice. While attention to the worship and the preaching of the church is certainly a necessary thing, it must also be a part of our spiritual development that we contemplate the goodness and creative power of God in the natural world.
The line from Genesis that St. Basil analyzes in his fourth sermon of the Hexaemeron says, “And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appeared, and it was so. And the water which was under the heaven gathered together unto one place, and God called the dry land earth and the gathering together of the waters called seas.” We know that God had already created the heaven and the earth, and that the earth was covered completely with water, so that nothing was visible except the water. From that condition of the earth, God said that the waters should go to one place, giving the earth a space so that it would appear. St. Basil's question is this: what happened when God said that? Did God randomly assign the water to particular places upon the earth, so that it would stay out of the way of the land, or did he make the earth swell up above the water, or make big holes under the earth so that the water would flow into them and open up space for the land?
His answer is this: it was at that point that God gave water its character, the character that it is in constant motion. Imagine a stream or a river, or if you're near one, as I happen to be as I write this, look at it. The water is moving, running to some place. Where is that place? Well, downhill from here. But here's the catch: it's always doing that! It never stops! What was created at the time God gathered the waters into one space was the character of water. Its nature. Water runs – downhill in streams, into basins and lakes and the ocean, then up into the sky as a vapor, and then after that it drops from the clouds and starts all over again. Earth doesn't do that. If you dig a hole in the ground today, tomorrow when you come back, all things being equal, the hole will still be there. But dig a hole in a bowl of water with your finger. Where is it? Even before you make the hole, it's gone. St. Basil says, “Think, in reality, that a word of God makes the nature, and that this order is for the creature a direction for its future course.”
Now, think about this for a moment. You yourself are a creation of God, but not only your body, and your mind, your heart and your soul, but your nature. And what is that nature? Reason. St. Basil tells us that the nature of earth is dryness, and this is why God names the earth and the waters in this passage from Genesis. He gives them names because in those names they receive their natures. He adds, “Just as reason is the distinctive faculty of man, and the word man serves to designate the being gifted with this faculty, so dryness is the special and peculiar quality of the earth.”
What is your nature, dear listener? Reason. That is your nature. It is reason that has brought about the good things of our society, and the lack of reason is the most obvious characteristic of evil. In the nursing home where I work, I had a family member come to my office this week. She had a selfish and unreasonable request, and her only goal in our meeting was to badger me into giving her what she wanted. I spoke with her about the need for fairness in the facility, about the other residents, about what was safe and good for the staff and residents. She would not listen. I could see in her eyes that the only reason she let me talk at all was so she could catch her breath and form new and irrational points in support of her argument. I became more and more frustrated as she kept badgering me. Finally I got up and left my office – I couldn't kick her out of my office, so i kicked myself out! I went into the break room and sat down and had a cup of coffee. After awhile, she left.
Of course, I know that there are also other aspects of the nature of men that have nothing to do with reason, but i still think we should make this our quote of the day, “reason is the distinctive quality of man.”
St. Basil's fourth sermon from the Hexaemeron is a beautiful expression of the nature of the world around us and of ourselves. Take a look at the Creation of God today, and remember these words of the preacher, where he concludes his sermon by addressing the proclamation by God that all he had done that day was Good: “But whence do I perceive the goodness of the ocean, as it appeared in the eyes of the Creator? If the ocean is good and worthy of praise before God, how much more beautiful is the assembly of a church like this, where the voices of men, of children, and of women, arise in our prayers to God mingling and resounding like the waves which beat upon the shore. This church also enjoys a profound calm, and malicious spirits cannot trouble it with the breath of heresy. Deserve, then, the approbation of the Lord by remaining faithful to such good guidance, in our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and power for ever and ever, Amen."
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