"Compassion-less Love"
Rev. Fr. O. Thomas (Sunday School Director and Professor at Kottayam Orthodox Theological Seminary) is a renowned speaker and gave the sermon last Sunday at St Thomas Orthodox Church in Chicago.
The Gospel reading was from Mathew 15:32-39, and Achen shared that this was similar to the other miracle of multiplying the loaves and fish which is the only one reported by all four of the canonical Gospels of the Christian religion (Matthew 14:13–21, Mark 6:31-44, Luke 9:10-17 and John 6:5-15)
Achen emphasized that the reporting of this miracle by all four Gospel writers was not a coincidence, as it explained to the Church the essence of Christ's teaching. Through this miracle, Jesus was teaching the disciples to always remember those who are hungry and tired. At the end of the day, 5,000 men were fed and when the number of women and children are also considered it's not a stretch to believe that 10,000 people left with a good meal.
What Jesus taught in Mathew 22:36-40, the Sermon on the Mount and John 6:35 are demonstrated in this miracle. The awesome act is actually not the physical miracle itself but that this great Man, for whom thousands had come out to listen and clearly had all the earthly attention and power that many people dream and desire, reminded his disciples at all times that compassion and love for the ordinary person was why we are here on this world and what God demands of us.
Achen went on to talk about how in the Orthodox church we often have a "compassion-less" love for others - one in which we forget those around us who are not like us. Many times we believe we are the "chosen" ones and often turn away the very same people we are called upon to bring towards the Church.
The following story was also shared by O. Thomas Achen, and truly has a message that still is moving and hopefully touched others who have heard:
The Gospel reading was from Mathew 15:32-39, and Achen shared that this was similar to the other miracle of multiplying the loaves and fish which is the only one reported by all four of the canonical Gospels of the Christian religion (Matthew 14:13–21, Mark 6:31-44, Luke 9:10-17 and John 6:5-15)
Achen emphasized that the reporting of this miracle by all four Gospel writers was not a coincidence, as it explained to the Church the essence of Christ's teaching. Through this miracle, Jesus was teaching the disciples to always remember those who are hungry and tired. At the end of the day, 5,000 men were fed and when the number of women and children are also considered it's not a stretch to believe that 10,000 people left with a good meal.
What Jesus taught in Mathew 22:36-40, the Sermon on the Mount and John 6:35 are demonstrated in this miracle. The awesome act is actually not the physical miracle itself but that this great Man, for whom thousands had come out to listen and clearly had all the earthly attention and power that many people dream and desire, reminded his disciples at all times that compassion and love for the ordinary person was why we are here on this world and what God demands of us.
Achen went on to talk about how in the Orthodox church we often have a "compassion-less" love for others - one in which we forget those around us who are not like us. Many times we believe we are the "chosen" ones and often turn away the very same people we are called upon to bring towards the Church.
The following story was also shared by O. Thomas Achen, and truly has a message that still is moving and hopefully touched others who have heard:
In South Africa during the days of apartheid, a large, expensive church was being built and many non-white workers spent countless hours and effort to build the building. One pious colored man in particular enjoyed working on the church, and not only worked hard but with love as he wanted God's home to be special and beautiful.
When the church was complete, it indeed was beautiful, big and amazing to the eye. However, when the colored man approached the priest to request permission to worship God inside the building, the priest regretfully explained how those who paid for the building did not want black people inside. The priest was sincere and apologetic, but at the end the answer was 'no'.
Troubled by this, the man prayed to God and pleaded to the Lord to change the hearts of the priest and the people so that he could worship God inside the beautiful. To this, God replied - "Why do you want to worship Me inside that building? Even I am not welcome there"
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