From
the Sayings of the Desert Fathers: an instruction sent by Abba Moses to
Abba Poemen
A
brother asked the old man, ‘Here is a man who beats his servant because of the
fault he has committed; what will the servant say?’ The old man said, ‘If the
servant is good, he should say, “Forgive me, I have sinned.”’ The brother said
to him, ‘Nothing else?’ The old man said, ‘No for the moment he takes upon himself
the responsibility for the affair and says “I have sinned,” immediately the
Lord will have mercy on him. The aim in all these things is not to judge one’s
neighbour. For truly, when the hand of the Lord caused all the first-born of
Egypt to die, no house was without its dead.’ The brother said, ‘What does this
mean?’ The old man said, ‘If we are on the watch to see our own faults, we
shall not see those of our neighbour. It is folly for a man who has a dead
person in his house to leave him there and go to weep over his neighbour’s
dead. To die to one’s neighbour is this: To bear your own faults and not pay
attention to anyone else’s wondering whether they are good or bad. Do no harm
to anyone, do not think anything bad in your heart towards anyone, do not scorn
the man who does evil, do not put confidence in him who does wrong to his
neighbour, do not rejoice with him who injures his neighbour. This is what
dying to one’s neighbour means. Do not rail against anyone, but rather say,
“God knows each one.” Do not agree with him who slanders, do not rejoice at his
slander and do not hate him who slanders his neighbour. This is what it means
not to judge. Do not have hostile feelings towards anyone and do not let
dislike dominate your heart; do not hate him who hates his neighbour. This is
what peace is: Encourage yourself with this thought, “Affliction lasts but a
short time, while peace is for ever, by the grace of God the Word. Amen.”’ [1]
In this morning’s Gospel, Jesus is uncompromising
when dealing with the hypocrisy of the Scribes and the Pharisees: their
religion is a faƧade, a sham, something done for show, for
outward appearance, whereas we know, from the prophets onward that God looks on
the heart, and if our motives are suspect then, we’re in trouble. The point is
simple: what we do affects who and what we are, hence the need
for the people of Israel to observe the statutes and ordinances without
addition or subtraction. Likewise, the advice of the Letter of James is that
people should in all gentleness and humility both listen to the word of God and
do what it says, so that their thoughts and words and actions proclaim the
truth that Christ died to save them from their sins and rose again that they
might have new life in Him.
Rather
than the pharisaic obsession with exterior cleanliness (and the letter of the
Law) Our Lord and Saviour is concerned with the cleanliness of people’s souls,
as it is from within, from the human heart that sinfulness can spring: his
point is a simple one we become what we do, and thus the formation of a moral
character is important, and can only be brought about by doing the right
things.
There
is a problem, however, that despite our best intentions we will fail in our
endeavours. So what do we do? Is it simply a case that having tried and failed
we are written off, cast aside and prepared for hell and damnation? By no
means! Just as in the Gospel Jesus commands his followers to keep forgiving
those who sin; our lives should be ones where we are continually seeking God’s
forgiveness and that of our brothers and sisters in Christ, so that slowly and
surely, as part of a gradual process, as people forgiven and forgiving, we try
day by day to live out our faith in our lives. It is something which affects us
all, each and every one of us, and it is only when we can live it out in our
lives that our proclamation of the Kingdom can look authentic rather than
running the risk of being accused of
hypocrisy.
So,
by seeking forgiveness and forgiving others, by being close to God in prayer,
in reading the Bible, and in the sacraments of the Church, and in the love
which we have for each other as a Christian community, which recognises both
that we fail but also that together we can be something greater and more
wonderful than we could apart, through the love of God being poured into our
hearts, and through that love forming who we are and what we do, that
self-giving sacrificial love shown to us by Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
in his dying for us, so that we might live in Him, let us be attentive to the
Word of God, the Word made flesh, and not simply listen but also act – relying
not upon our own strength but upon the love and mercy of God, seeking His
forgiveness, to do His Will.
When
we do this together then we can be built up in love, as living stones, a temple
to God’s glory, which proclaims his love and truth to the world, which shows
how forgiveness and sacrificial love can build up, rather than being bitter and
judgemental and blind to our own faults: like the scribes and Pharisees, eager
to point out the sins of others and yet blind to their own faults, failures and
shortcomings. Instead, clothed in the humility of our knowledge of our need of
God, his love and mercy, let us come to Him, to be fed by Him, to be fed with Him,
to be healed and restored by him, so that we can live lives which speak of the power
of his kingdom so that the world may believe and give glory to God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, to whom be ascribed as is most right and
just, all might, majesty, glory, dominion, and power, now and forever.
[1] Sr Benedicta
Ward(tr.) The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection,
London: A. R. Mowbray 1975: 120-121