In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
To someone who wants to know more about the Church, more about the Christian life, it is very easy to tell them to read something, or to watch an online video, or to listen to a podcast. “Read the Bible,” we tell them, “watch this, do that: and you will find out what you want.” And we can feel vindicated and justified, we have done our part, we have played our role in Christ’s command to “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.” (Matthew 28:19)
And we hear accounts, such as that of Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh, of thrice-blessed memory, who read the shortest of the Gospels to disprove the “profoundly repulsive” Christ he had been told about.
While I was reading the beginning of St Mark’s gospel, before I reached the third chapter, I became aware of a presence. I saw nothing. I heard nothing. It was no hallucination. It was a simple certainty that the Lord was standing there and that I was in the presence of him whose life I had begun to read with such revulsion and such ill-will.
This was my basic and essential meeting with the Lord. From then I knew that Christ did exist. I knew that he was ‘thou,’ in other words that he was the Risen Christ. I met with the core of the Christian message, that message which St Paul formulated so sharply and clearly when he said, ‘If Christ is not risen we are the most miserable of all men’.
This is a reality for some people—who can discover Christ through their own reading and research—yet this is not a fulfilment of Christ’s command; he does not say, “Go therefore and hand out a reading list,” nor “Go therefore and enable people to research for themselves,” but “Go therefore and make disciples.” Because Scripture itself tells us it is mysterious and difficult to understand, we should not rely on it as a missionary text—not all will have the experience of Metropolitan Anthony.
The Ethiopian eunuch, when asked if he understood what he read, said “How can I, unless someone guides me?” (Acts 8:31) And today, Christ speaks to us—to you and to me!—in the Gospel,
To you it has been given to know the secrets of the Kingdom of God; but for others they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, to “make disciples of all the nations” we need to introduce them to Christ: not to read about Christ, as valuable and precious as that is, but the living reality of Christ in our lives; we need to pray with them and not merely tell them about prayer, we need to serve them, help them, guide them, nourish them, support them because they are Christ in our lives, and “inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” (Matthew 25:40)
As he said these things, he cried out ‘He who has ears to hear, let him hear.’
Let us, who have “been given to know the secrets of the Kingdom of God,” share all the more with our neighbours the knowledge, the certainty, the assurance we have in Christ—who is risen and has defeated death, sin and idolatry—that they may come to knowledge of God and inherit eternal Life.
To our crucified and risen God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who calls us to understanding and invites us to Life, be all glory, honour and worship, together with his unoriginate Father and the All-holy, Good and Life-creating Spirit. Amen.
Titus, my son, the saying is sure. I desire you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to apply themselves to good deeds; these are excellent and profitable to men. But avoid stupid controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels over the law, for they are unprofitable and futile. As for a man who is factious, after admonishing him once or twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is perverted and sinful; he is self-condemned. When I send Artemas or Tychicos to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. Do your best to speed Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way; see that they lack nothing. And let our people learn to apply themselves to good deeds, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not to be unfruitful. All who are with me send greeting to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen.
— Titus 3:8–15
The Lord said this parable: “A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell along the path, and was trodden under foot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns grew with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew, and yielded a hundredfold.” And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but for others they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, that they may not believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy; but these have no root, they believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. And as for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience.” As he said these things, he cried out “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
— Luke 8:5–15