“You shall fear the Lord your God”, – says the
commandment of Moses (Deuteronomy 6:13). Then it will be repeated in psalms, in the
works of the prophets, in the books of Solomon – on numerous pages of the Old
Testament. Indeed, for ancient people, the most typical picture of the Epiphany
is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29). The Lord Sabaoth was horrible for a sinful
Old Testament man. In this shape, God will appear to those who reject repentance
and do not reach to God with his heart.
However, this is not the attitude God awaits from
people. Sending His Son into the world with the appeal for repentance, God the
Father gives a different view on Himself through the teachings of Christ and the example of His life. Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has taught us
that God is our Father (Ref. Matthew 6:9) and that He is infinitely merciful to
those who repent in their sins sincerely and want to redeem themselves.
To prove that we can recall the parable about the
prodigal son (Ref. Luke 11-32). In this parable, the father runs towards his
prodigal son, when he is still far from the house. He rushes to hug him and kiss him. In response to the humble words of the son, who says that
he is unworthy of being called a son, the father dresses him in the best
clothes and grants him a precious ring. Then he organizes a feast, stabs a calf
and appeals everyone to celebrate.
How much wisdom Christ revealed in that parable to
describe the mercy of our Heavenly Father towards sinners and to show His great
joy about the humble soul of a man, who had fallen before but repented then and
came back!
The Lord wants us to be not His weak slaves, but His
friends and children. He wants to possess our heart and dwell in it – He wants
our sincere love towards Him in return. Macarius the Great wrote about that
mysterious connection between a soul and God: “There is no other similar
connection as between God and a soul. God created numerous creatures, the sky
and the earth, the sun and the moon, waters, fruitful trees, various kinds of
animals. Any beast is at His power, but He did not establish communion with
them. He blessed only a human, and began the communion with him and dwelled in
him. Do you see this affinity between God and the human being? The Lord created
the soul and body of a man as a vessel in which He can dwell, just like He
created the earth and the sky for people to live. In this body, He unites with
the soul which becomes His beloved bride, created by His own image. This is why
a soul, which is above all the other creatures, cannot find peace anywhere
except in God”.
This is why the way of the humanity after the fall is
the way of adopting, the way of the prodigal son, who comes back to his father
and does not dare to call himself a son. The same is the way of any Christian soul:
coming from the fear of God, it should reach the love towards Him with the
course of time. The natural fear before the Lord of the whole world and the
Judge of the humanity should turn for a Christian into the fear of insulting
Him with his own sins, inabstinence and disobedience – the fear of distancing
God from yourself with your impurity.
By
Nikolai Pestov
May 10,
2018
St.
Elisabeth Convent
CONVERSATION