Homily on the 21st Sunday After Pentecost, 1936.
“He who has ears to hear, let him hear”
How often Our Lord repeats this wise, instructive saying in His Gospel! It is as if He foresaw that we, being human, even if we bear His name as His followers, would pay little attention to His divine words. And, of course, He did foresee this in His Divine omniscience. Truly, how many remarkable thoughts, wondrous in their unbounded depth and sublimity, are contained in Sacred Scripture, yet we ignore them, refuse to learn about them, or, when we hear them, do not truly listen; when we see them, do not truly see, and with our hearts, we do not understand—so hardened are our hearts and blind, deaf, and insensible to all that is sublime, spiritual, holy. We abandon the living wells, the life-giving sources of God’s Word, and dig for ourselves fouled pits filled with the murky water of passions, vices, and worldly vanities. And often, we drink greedily from these dirty puddles and mires, harming our health and bringing ourselves closer to spiritual death. This describes how many modern Christians behave—not wishing to listen to and read the sacred texts of Divine revelation and patristic writings, yet eagerly consuming secular books one after another, depraved books filled with deadly poison for the soul.
“He who has ears to hear, let him hear,” says the Lord. The Lord himself speaks to us in Sacred Scripture, pastors preach from the church ambo in His Name, but among contemporary Christians it is not customary, not in fashion, to read the Sacred Scripture; it cannot even be found at all in many homes, and many do not even want to hear a sermon from the ambo, being puffed up in the heart and manifesting a flagrant disdain for Divine teaching.
Why does this happen? Where lies the reason that God’s Word remains barren in us? In the parable, wonderful in its beauty, about the sower, which was read in today’s Gospel, the Lord explains this perfectly.
The devil, who desires our perdition, distracts us from listening to God’s word. That is why he, under various specious excuses, prevails on us to leave off listening to God’s Word or allows what we hear to slip past our ears. He, like a thief or a villain, snatches away God’s Word that has been sown in our souls. Then, our thoughtlessness, improper conduct, lack of self-restraint or firmness of character severely hinder us—almost as if we planned to live as Christians, but then some sudden trouble or misfortune arises, causing us to waver in our decision. Ultimately, most often, evil thorns choke the Word of God within us. As the Lord explains, these are the cares of life, earthly well-being, wealth, and pleasures of all kinds. Enticed by vain thoughts, concerns about our earthly well-being and prosperity, and by pursuing pleasures, amusements, and gratifications of various kinds, we forget about God and the heavenly realm, and focus all our thoughts on the earth. We become “dried up,” “devitalized,” and our spirit, the image of God, dies within us; we turn into soulless flesh, and God departs from us. “My Spirit shall not remain with these people forever, for they are flesh” (Gen 6:3), says the Lord.
Brethren! The Lord came onto the Earth not to judge the world, but to save the world, as he himself attests. As a guide to the world for his salvation, he left His Divine Word. We must attentively listen and try to fulfill this Word carefully, for this very Word will judge us on the last day. “I did not come to judge the world,” says the Lord, “but to save the world. He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him–the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day” (Jn 12:48).
This Word at the Dread Judgment will decide our fate for eternity. How can we madly neglect the Word of God! Brethren! Let us be attentive to God’s Word, let us read the Divine Gospel and the Holy God-inspired books, and reading them, impress their commands in our hearts lest we fall under the terrible eternal condemnation to never-ending torments.
“He who has ears to hear, let him hear”
Amen.
From the Archive of Holy Trinity Theological Seminary. Archbishop Averky (Taushev). Papers. Temporary Box 21. Folder 7. The text of the sermon was handwritten on old orthography.
Translated by Seraphim Englehardt