Blog entries from Priest Matthew Jackson

Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief

Priest Matthew Jackson — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 01:00:00 +0100

In this morning's Epistle reading (I Timothy 1:15-17), St. Paul expresses to his protégé Timothy an understanding that we all are in the process of understanding and making real in our own lives as Christians. In verse 15, St. Paul writes, "Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." One of the basic truths underlying our Faith [and the beliefs of most religious groups] is that we are sinners. As Christians, we readily acknowledge this - Read More...

Baptism: A Brief Pre-Theophany Homily

Priest Matthew Jackson — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 01:00:00 +0100

On the Sunday before we celebrate the baptism of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we hear St. Mark's account of the ministry of the Forerunner of the Messiah - St. John the Baptizer. This morning, I would like us to consider the last phrase from the last verse of the Gospel reading, that St. John baptizes with water, but Christ will baptize with the Holy Spirit. This is a significant distinction, especially as we prepare to celebrate the Feast of our Lord's Theophany, and as we rememRead More...

On the Virgin Birth of Christ

Priest Matthew Jackson — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 01:00:00 +0100

This morning, even though we're a few days before the actual Feast of the Nativity, on the Sunday before the Feast we always read the account of the birth of Christ. This is one of the central events in human history, and it's one that's gotten a lot of negative attention in the last 50+ years-reinterpreting, mythologizing, outright attacking, etc. Especially criticized is our belief of the Virgin birth, and Who Christ truly is. We have to understand, as best as we are able, what Read More...

Some thoughts on the meaning of our Lord's Nativity

Priest Matthew Jackson — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 01:00:00 +0100

We are now about two weeks from the celebration of one of the most significant events in all of human history-the Nativity of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ. With all of the modern commercialization of this time of year, it's hard sometimes to even remember what made Christmas-time such an important time of year to begin with. It had nothing to do with loads of presents and big sales and all the mess that goes with Christmas today. December 25 is important today because some 16Read More...

Law and Freedom in Christian Living

Priest Matthew Jackson — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 01:00:00 +0100

In the Gospel reading this morning, we have a scene that's not so unusual for Christ in the Gospels. He takes pity on an ill person and he heals them; he has a run in with the religious authorities of His day. These things come together several times in the Gospels, and they happen separately on many occasions. Our Lord uses these confrontations with the leaders of the Temple to try and show them how they've come to worship the things of God's law, and they no longer care for the Read More...

The Subtle Struggle with Pride

Priest Matthew Jackson — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 01:00:00 +0100

This is a very sobering Gospel reading we have this morning (reading can be found at the end of this entry), especially relevant to this "financial crisis" that our nation finds herself faced with (what's happening to all of our wealth?--is the commentary we hear constantly right now).

The rich man in the parable is already wealthy, he already has land and barns and goods. And this particular year the Lord blesses the ground, and his crops yield plentifully-he has more than he kRead More...

Homily for an Infant Baptism

Priest Matthew Jackson — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0100

I think my favorite service, as a priest, to serve, is the baptism of an infant. It's one of the most magnificent events in all of the life of our Church. To add another member to the Body of Christ; to call on the Holy Spirit to lead and guide this new person through their whole life and eventually into the Kingdom of Heaven. Every time we're present for a baptism, in thinking about the transformation that the baptized has just undergone [so wonderfully spoken of by St. Paul in hiRead More...

"Workers together with Christ"-Our life as a revelation of Christ to the World

Priest Matthew Jackson — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0100

St. Paul begins this morning's Epistle reading, a letter to the Christians of Corinth, with a plea-"We then as workers together with Him (Christ), beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain" (2 Cor. 6:1). The Corinthian Christians are workers together with Paul and the Apostles with Christ; all sent out (which is the meaning of the word ‘apostle') into the world to gather the harvest. The Church is sent into the world to preach the Gospel of Jesus ChrRead More...

Wedded to Christ - A Parable of the Kingdom of Heaven

Priest Matthew Jackson — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0100

This morning we hear our Lord's parable of a wedding. The parable is told as a word about the kingdom of heaven-the parable begins, "the kingdom of heaven is like..." (v2). This image Christ uses in the parable becomes one of the most prominent images for the kingdom of heaven in all of Scripture. The wedding of a Son to His Bride. A beautiful image used extensively in the Church to illustrate the joining of Christ with His Holy Church, the Head with the Body, the Bride with thRead More...

Exaltation of the Precious and Life-giving Cross

Priest Matthew Jackson — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Precious and Life-giving Cross of our Lord. We enter the Church this morning and we fall on our faces in veneration before the Holy Cross, and in worship before our Saviour who was nailed to the tree and died for our salvation. Everything in the Christian Church points to Christ, and the defining moment in the life of Christ is the Cross. As St. Paul writes, "We preach Christ, and Him crucified" (1 Corinthians 1:23).

This is ouRead More...

The Problem of Evil: Natural Disasters

Priest Matthew Jackson — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0100

One of the greatest arguments, in the secular world, against the existence of God is the so-called "problem of evil." This problem asks the question "with a God Who is good and loving, how can evil exist in the world?" Why does a God who is love allow evil? And to be very timely, the specific question of natural disasters-why does God's creation cause such evil (death from earthquakes, floods, hurricanes)? In another phrasing, where was God as people died in HurricaneRead More...

Nativity of the Theotokos

Priest Matthew Jackson — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0100

As we strive to surrender our wills more and more to God, as we struggle to trust in God and to lean not on our own understandings (Proverbs 3:5-6), it's important for us to be reminded of how God has cared for His people throughout human history. We can see this fact in so many places in the Holy Scriptures, but perhaps no more beautifully than in the person of the Mother of God. She is for us a part of the fulfillment of God's plan for His people, and a magnificent image to us of howRead More...

Forgiving our Brother-Homily on the 11th Sunday after Pentecost

Priest Matthew Jackson — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

The parable we hear from our Lord this morning (Matthew 18:23-35) is about forgiveness. It's often interesting to put the Sunday lectionary readings into their Scriptural context, sometimes it gives us a bit more insight into the meaning of the passage. Immediately before our reading, St. Peter asks Christ, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" (Matthew 18:21) Christ then answers, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, bRead More...

Reacting to Ridicule-A Homily for the 10th Sunday after Pentecost

Priest Matthew Jackson — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

All of us, at some time or another, have faced some kind of ridicule, being looked down on and judged by someone else, being singled out. This happens in so many ways. Kids with each other and in school, as we're in the world or at our workplaces, even in the Church or in our homes with our families. So often we find ourselves being judged in some way, looks, clothes, interests, faith and morals. The list is endless because we can all be singled out and attacked for basically everything aRead More...

Keeping our eyes on Christ-Homily for the 9th Sunday after Pentecost

Priest Matthew Jackson — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

In this morning’s Gospel reading (Matthew 14:22-24), we have one of the most well known (and most often retold) of Christ’s miracles, walking on water. We hear this miracle told with the focus mostly on Christ, on how His command over the elements, His ability to walk on water, demonstrates His divinity. But this morning I’d like us to focus not on what Christ does, but on what St. Peter fails to do.

It’s a pretty spectacular miracle to walk on water, but no more amazinRead More...

Let There Be No Divisions - St. Paul on the Church

Priest Matthew Jackson — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

In our Epistle reading this morning (1 Corinthians 1:10-18), St. Paul touches on a very significant aspect of the life of the Christian Church—Her unity, Her One-ness. St. Paul is addressing a specific issue in the Church in Corinth, an issue that seems kind of silly to us perhaps.The members of the Church are vying for position based on who administered their baptism; as if baptism by Paul would somehow be “better” than a baptism by someone else. St. Paul immediately shows thRead More...

The Meeting with Christ - A Homily for the Feast of the Transfiguration

Priest Matthew Jackson — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

The Epistle reading assigned for this morning’s Feast is an incredibly important reading, especially for those of us who are trying to sort out what is means to be an Orthodox Christian, our purpose, our goal.In the reading, St. Peter says that the way the Apostles knew that the Words of Christ were not “cunningly devised fables” (v. 16), the proof he offers for his faith in Christ, was his experience of the glory and the majesty of God witnessed at the Transfiguration.

Read More...

Homily for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost

Priest Matthew Jackson — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

The ministry of Christ in the world is the reconciliation of God and man. Every sermon, every trip, every miracle, every chastisement, they all have the goal of showing the audience the way back to God. In our Church, this can’t be stressed enough.

The Christian life doesn’t get its purpose from our being good, or following laws, its not a life of morality. The Christian life is also not a selfish life focused on our earthly or even heavenly satisfaction. TRead More...

Homily for the 5th Sunday after Pentecost - Holy Prophet Elias

Priest Matthew Jackson — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Today we celebrate the feast of the Old Testament Prophet St. Elias, or Elijah (not to be confused with his successor, Elisha). St. Elias has always been one of my personal favorite figures from the Old Testament. So this morning I’d like us to think a little about what it means for a man or woman to be a prophet of the Most High God, and then look some at the life of St. Elias.In the Old Testament, we have a group of men and women recognized as “prophets.” Now, in our modern cRead More...

Praying like Christ: A Homily on John 17:1-13 (4th Sunday after Pentecost)

Priest Matthew Jackson — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Our Gospel reading this morning (John 17:1-13) was the first half of the 17th chapter of the Gospel of St. John, which is often called the â€œHigh Priestly Prayer of Christ.â€ This prayer is called the High Priestly Prayer because in it Christ prays as high priest, as one who is making an offering to God (and as one who is making an offering on behalf of others). This morning, Iâ€™d like us to look at the words of Christâ€™s prayer in the context of prayer, and specifically, in the context ofRead More...