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CHRIST in His

SAINTS by Patrick Henry Reardon

Ancient Faith Publishing Chesterton, Indiana

Ancient Faith Publishing A division of Ancient Faith Ministries P.O. Box 748 Chesterton IN 46304

Printed in the United States of America ISBN 978-1-888212-68-6

for my archbishop and father in God METROPOLITAN PHILIP to whose wisdom paternal care and missionary fervor so many of us are so deeply in debt

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Contents Foreword ........................................................................................................... 9 introduction: The cloud of witnesses ................................ 11 I.

Repentant Saints ............................................................................ 13 1. Peter at the Charcoal Fire b 15 2. Judah and His Brothers b 17 3. The Fall and Rise of David b 18 4. The Paralytic from the Roof b 20 5. The Tax Collector and His Friends b 22 6. The Demoniac and the Pigs b 24 7. The Woman at the Well b 26 8. The Paralytic at the Pool b 28 9. The Prodigal Son b 30 10. The Conversion of Saint Paul b 32

II.

Saints in Need of Improvement ........................................ 35 1. The Beguiling of Eve b 37 2. The Neighborhood Lot b 39 3. The Restless Career of Jacob b 40 4. The Impatience of Elihu b 42 5. Jonah and the Ninevites b 44 6. The Rough Life of Baruch b 46 7. The Silence of Zacharias b 48 8. Mark, Growing Up b 50 9. The Healing of Aeneas b 52

III.

Loyal Saints ........................................................................................ 55 1. Rahab and the Spies b 57 2. Faithful Ruth b 58 3. The Transformation of Naomi b 60 4. The Strength of Boaz b 62 5. Jonathan, Loyal and Brave b 64 6. Elisha the Wonder-Worker b 66 7. Joanna, the Wife of Chusa b 68 8. Barnabas, the Son of Consolation b 69 9. The Zeal of Timothy b 71

IV.

The Saints in Worship ............................................................... 75 1. Melchizedek, King and Priest b 77 2. The Prayers of Hannah b 79 Sample pages only. Purchase the full book at http://store.ancientfaith.com/christ_in_his_saints/

3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

The Duet of Tobit and Sarah b 80 Jeshua, the High Priest b 82 Simon, the High Priest b 84 Spirit-Filled Elizabeth b 86 Nathanael under a Fig Tree b 88 The Prayer of the Publican b 90 Cleopas and His Companions b 91

Zealous Saints .................................................................................. 95 1. Phinehas the Priest b 97 2. The Prayer of Joshua b 98 3. Caleb and the Giants b 100 4. Left-Handed Ehud b 102 5. Shamgar the Farmer b 104 6. Deborah Meets the Challenge b 106 7. Gideon and the Midianites b 108 8. The Enterprising Judith b 109 9. Zophar the Naamathite b 111

VI.

The Fellowship of Christ’s Sufferings ...................... 115 1. Zechariah the Prophet b 117 2. The Mother of the Sons of Zebedee b 119 3. Malchus b 120 4. Simon of Cyrene b 122 5. The Dying Thief b 124 6. Joseph of Arimathea b 126 7. Nicodemus, the Visitor by Night b 128 8. The Inefficient Myrrhbearers b 130 9. Doubting Thomas b 132

VII. Clever Saints and Wise ........................................................... 135 1. Shiphrah and Puah b 136 2. Abigail, Beautiful and Wise b 138 3. Hushai Thwarts Ahithophel b 140 4. Elihoreph and Ahijah b 142 5. The Words of Agur b 144 6. Lemuel’s Mother b 146 7. Ezra the Scribe b 148 8. The Son of Sirach b 150 9. Apollos of Alexandria b 151 VIII. Gentle Saints .................................................................................. 155 1. The Responsibilities of Adam b 157 2. The Laughter of Isaac b 159 Copyright © 2004 by Patrick Henry Reardon. All Rights Reserved. Published by Ancient Faith Publishing.

3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

New Testament Joseph b 160 Peter’s Wife and Mother-in-Law b 162 Andrew, the First-Called b 164 The Widow in the Temple b 166 Most Excellent Theophilus b 168 Matthias, Chosen by Lot b 170 Prisca and Her Husband b 171 Luke the Physician b 174

IX.

All the Kings’ Men ....................................................................... 177 1. Joseph in Pharaoh’s Court b 179 2. The Tragic Figure of Abner b 180 3. Bathsheba, the Queen Mother b 182 4. Solomon’s Gold b 184 5. Asa and His Grandmother b 186 6. The Decisions of Jehoshaphat b 188 7. Josiah and Deuteronomy b 190 8. The Anointed Cyrus b 191 9. Nehemiah of the Persian Court b 193 10. Mordecai versus Haman b 195 11. Cornelius the Centurion b 197

Saints Under Pressure ............................................................. 201 1. The Eyes of Leah b 203 2. The Tragedy of Jephthah b 204 3. Samson the Nazirite b 206 4. David’s Women b 208 5. Naboth and His Inheritance b 210 6. Micaiah’s Forced Prophecy b 212 7. The Home Life of Hosea b 214 8. The Trial of Susannah b 216 9. John the Baptist and the Prophets b 217 10. The Widow of Nain b 219 11. The Stoning of Stephen b 221

XI.

Interceding Saints ................................................................... 225 1. The Intercessions of Abraham b 227 2. Abraham’s Servant b 228 3. Moses on the Mountain b 230 4. Job and His Comforters b 232 5. Jeremiah and Jerusalem’s Tragedy b 234 6. The Syro-Phoenician Woman b 236 7. The Centurion and His Servant b 238 8. Two Deceased Saints b 239 Sample pages only. Purchase the full book at http://store.ancientfaith.com/christ_in_his_saints/

CHRIST IN HIS SAINTS XII.

The Fortitude of the Saints ............................................. 243 1. Noah the Preacher b 245 2. Samuel, Bearer of Bad News b 246 3. Nathan’s Godly Narrative b 248 4. The Harsh Word of Ahijah b 250 5. Elijah the Tishbite b 252 6. Amos: Prophecy Written Down b 254 7. Micah of Moresheth b 256 8. Zephaniah and the Day of the Lord b 258 9. Nahum and Nineveh b 260 10. Obadiah and the Edomites b 261 11. Haggai and the Principles of Stewardship b 263 12. The Man Born Blind b 265

XIII. Questers and Questioners ................................................. 269 1. The Queen of Sheba b 271 2. Bildad the Shuhite b 272 3. The Baptism of Naaman b 274 4. Tobias and the Angel b 276 5. The Questions of Habakkuk b 278 6. The Somber Qoheleth b 280 7. The Questions of Malachi b 282 8. The Journey of the Magi b 285 9. The Missions of Philip b 286 10. The Journeys of Titus b 288 11. The Flight of Onesimus b 290 XIV. Visionaries and Contemplatives ................................... 293 1. Enoch Walked with God b 295 2. Eliphaz the Temanite b 296 3. The Manifold Message of Joel b 299 4. The Vision of Isaiah b 301 5. Daniel, Man of Prayer b 303 6. The Complex Ezekiel b 305 7. John and the Divine Light b 306 8. Mary of Bethany b 308 9. Mary Magdalene at the Tomb b 310 10. The Mother of Jesus b 312

Foreword

b I have always appreciated Father Patrick Reardon as a philosopher and an accomplished Orthodox theologian, but I was not aware of his other, important gift: he is a fine exegete and an inspiring teacher of Christian spirituality. His book Christ in His Saints is the proof of this. Father Patrick offers to all those who are interested in knowing Christ and His Church through His saints an exciting, spiritually uplifting and refreshing presentation of the lives of close to 150 saints who manifest Christ’s presence. He makes the saints come alive, as they are alive in Christ; in writing about their lives, the teachings of Christ and the Church, the Body of Christ, also come alive. It is the kind of literature that, when you begin reading it, you can’t put it down. Father Patrick utilizes his broad knowledge of scriptural exegesis, knowledge of the Church’s Fathers, and personal penetrating insights to portray Christ in His Saints. Let me lift a few examples from his book to illustrate this. Saint Peter’s story is a very striking one: he is the enthusiastic disciple, always ready to speak first and represent the others; however, he is not always aware of the distinction between “the pumping of adrenaline” and the “infusion of grace.” He promises faithfulness to Christ, and moments later he denies Christ three times! Thank God, he repents, and seeks Christ’s forgiveness. After the Resurrection, Christ restores him to apostleship, by inviting him three times to love Him. Finally, Saint Peter trusts Christ’s feelings, and gives his life for Him, being martyred at the Vatican Hill in Rome. Saint Paul’s life is another example of a repenting Christian. As with every one else, he is not given “to choose the framework and shape” of his repentance; he was commanded to comply with the practices and wishes of the Church, the very “organized religion” which he persecuted. The case of the Canaanite prostitute, Rahab, who instructed the Israelite spies, as a matter of faithfulness to God, is an edifying story of Sample pages only. Purchase the full book at 9 http://store.ancientfaith.com/christ_in_his_saints/

CHRIST IN HIS SAINTS yet another repenting sinner. She is also considered to be an image of the repenting Church. Saint Andrew’s case is a very interesting one: being self-effacing, he is the opposite of his brother Peter; he is the person who, because of his cordial, unassuming ways, was able to know that there was in the crowd a young man who had five loaves of barley and two salted fish, needed for the miracle of the feeding of the multitudes in the wilderness. Mary Magdalene was not one of the “official” witnesses, but rather a “mediational” witness of Christ’s Resurrection, representing the women apostles. Her witness is an “in-house’’ witness, and “it can only be understood in the community of salvation, for it describes a wisdom otherwise not available to this world.” Finally, the example of Nehemiah of the Persian court is that of a person of the world who is also a man of God. He did his work in the Persian court; yet, at the same time, he was a man of prayer and faithfulness to God. He became a role model for Christians who find themselves in situations like his. Overall, Father Patrick’s very exciting book honors the Church’s teaching that the saints have no independent existence. They live in Christ, as Christ lives in them, and lead to salvation in Christ, “the Son of God, who is wondrous amongst His Saints.” Metropolitan MAXIMOS of Pittsburgh October 15, 2003

Introduction: the cloud of witnesses

b The Epistle to the Hebrews, which repeatedly speaks of Christian worship in terms of “approach” (4:16; 7:25; 10:1, 22; 11:6), “entrance” (10:19), and “drawing near” (7:19) to God, describes this worship as a complex liturgical gathering: “But you have come [literally ‘approached’] to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel” (12:22–24). That is to say, when the Christian comes to God, he doesn’t come “one on one,” so to speak; he approaches also the company of angels and saints. This text is particularly striking because of its explicit reference to Christ our Lord as the Mediator of the covenant that gives us access to God. The unique mediation of Christ, an important theme in Hebrews (cf. also 8:6; 9:15), has rather often been cited in recent centuries to negate the role of the saints in heaven with respect to the Christian worship on earth. Yet, here in this description of Christian worship, along with the mediation of Christ and His redemptive blood, the author of Hebrews speaks also of “the spirits of just men made perfect.” The author obviously saw nothing incompatible between the unique mediation of Christ and the communion of the glorified saints in the Church’s worship. Although the bodies of the departed saints are elsewhere described as “sleeping” (1 Thessalonians 4:13; 1 Corinthians 15:6–20), their spirits are very much alive and alert; indeed, they are already “made perfect,” even though they still await the glorification of their bodies. The departed saints are certainly not “dead,” because those who believe in Christ will never die (John 11:26). The departed saints did not simply 11 Sample pages only. Purchase the full book at http://store.ancientfaith.com/christ_in_his_saints/

CHRIST IN HIS SAINTS live a long time ago and now they are gone. Oh no, they are still very much alive, standing in worship with the angels before God’s throne, and that is why, in the mediation of Christ and through His blood, we may join them in worship. These “spirits of just men made perfect” are, of course, identical to the “great cloud of witnesses” spoken of only a few verses earlier (12:1). Indeed, the previous chapter had just narrated their biblical stories: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, and the others, most of whom the author did not name because “time would fail” him to do so (11:32). By these heavenly “witnesses” we saints on earth are said to be “surrounded,” as though to suggest that they themselves form a larger group than we. To describe their company, the author uses the image of a cloud, a classical metaphor designating a thickly packed crowd of people (cf. Iliad 4.274; Aeneid 7.797). In the density of their representation these “spirits of just men made perfect” are comparable to the “innumerable company of angels.” These texts from the Epistle to the Hebrews, then, indicate that all of these glorified saints, “the spirits of just men made perfect,” are part of the awareness and experience of Christians at worship. The reason that the Church adorns her houses of worship with the icons of the glorified saints is that Christian worship raises believers up in mind and spirit to pray with those saints at the throne of God. We believers have access to their company in God’s presence because of the saving blood of Jesus our Mediator. Symbolized in the twenty-four elders, these saints offer our prayers to God with their own and with the praises of the angels (Revelation 5:8; 8:3). Christian worship is inseparable from the communion of the saints. Besides this, the departed saints (and so many more have been added since the Epistle to the Hebrews was written) are also held out as models for our emulation. This was the whole point of the list of the champions of faith in Hebrews 11. This list invites us to study the biblical saints especially, “who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises” (11:33). On page after page, Holy Scripture tells the stories of these men and women, members of that ancient family into which, by baptism, we have been incorporated. Let us now examine their examples, “considering the outcome of their conduct” (13:7). 12Patrick Henry Reardon. Copyright © 2004 by All Rights Reserved. Published by Ancient Faith Publishing.

I. Repentant Saints

b In the biblical narrative of the creation, it is noteworthy that the original day of creation is not designated “the first” day. It is called, rather, “one day” (yom ’ehad). Although this difference of expression in Genesis 1:5 has proved too subtle for virtually all biblical translations into modern languages, its significance caused it to be maintained in the ancient versions, such as the Septuagint (hemera mia) and the Vulgate (dies unus). In addition, that difference of expression (“one day” instead of “first day”) was the object of explicit discussion in nearly all ancient commentaries on Genesis 1:5, whether Jewish (e.g., Philo and Rashi) or Christian (e.g., Basil and Augustine). In those classical comments on the text, moreover, we find the common assertion that the words “one day” served to elevate that day to something more than part of a sequence. There is a profound reason why the original day of creation is appropriately called “one,” whereas the second day is not appropriately called “two,” nor the third day “three,” and so forth. The original day is “one” in a manner analogous to the number itself. “One” is not simply the numeral that precedes two; it is, rather, the number out of which that second number comes. There is a formal disparity between one and the other numbers. One (to hen) is the font determining the identity of two and the subsequent numbers. “One” is not just “first” as part of a sequence; it is what we call a principle, an arche. The principle of something possesses its qualitative form. For example, there is a parallel and corresponding proposition to be argued with respect to repentance, metanoia. Repentance is the arche, the foundational principle, of the life in Christ; it functions in the life of grace as the number “one” functions in arithmetic. It is not simply the “first” step of the Christian life. Repentance, rather, provides the abiding and formative structure of the whole life in Christ. Repentance is not a first step that we take with a view to getting past it. We are Sample pages only. Purchase 13 the full book at http://store.ancientfaith.com/christ_in_his_saints/

CHRIST IN HIS SAINTS called to remain forever repentant. Although there is certainly progress to be made in the life of grace, all genuine progress is indicated by a renewal of repentance. A Christian does not “grow” in Christ by diminishing in repentance. True growth and authentic progress in Christ always imply growth and progress in repentance. There are several very important inferences to be drawn from this premise of repentance as a principle of the life in Christ: First, as the initial effect of grace, repentance is not of an order different from holiness. This needs emphatically to be said, because for some few centuries now there has roamed abroad the fallacious theory that God’s act by which we are justified remains external to us. This rather recent theory effectively separates repentance from holiness, as though God would declare a man righteous without actually making him righteous, pronounce him to be just without causing him to be a “saint,” and convert him but without giving him a new heart. Against this theory, the Bible indicates that the conversion of repentance is not just an act of God; it is also an act of man’s free will under the accepted influence of God’s grace. Man’s heart, his interior, is altered by repentance. Second, because repentance is the free decision of man as well as the free gift of God, the grace of repentance, if not properly safeguarded, can also be lost. Again, this truth has been obscured in recent centuries by an erroneous theory asserting that repentance, if genuine, cannot perish. However, a more complete reading of the Bible obliges us to say that the blessed assurance given us in Christ (cf. Romans 8:31–39) is no substitute for humility and vigilance. At no point in our Christian lives can we afford to forget that we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12), with discipline lest we fall away (1 Corinthians 9:27). “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (10:12). Third, if repentance is a sustained constant in the life of grace, it is also repetitive. This repetition is both possible and required, not only for the daily shortcomings that befall us all, but also for those more serious infidelities that may even constitute apostasy. Once again, a fairly recent pernicious theory, interpreting the adjective “impossible” in Hebrews 6:4 in an excessively literal sense, has imagined that there is no return for a believer who has deliberately fallen from grace. This mischievous theory, however, is dashed to pieces by the biblical examples of Copyright © 2004 by14Patrick Henry Reardon. All Rights Reserved. Published by Ancient Faith Publishing.

I. REPENTANT SAINTS such men as David and Peter. The command “Repent!” is addressed, not only to non-Christians (Acts 2:38; 3:19; 8:22), but to Christians as well (Revelation 2:5, 16; 3:3, 19). Repentance is the non-negotiable, foundational constant of the life in Christ. However much God’s saints differ from one another in style, tone, and emphasis, repentance is a grace and discipline—a principle— shared by them all.

b 1. Peter at the Charcoal Fire The Greek word anthrakia (cf. the English derivative “anthracite,” a type of coal), meaning a charcoal fire, is found only twice in the New Testament, both times in the Gospel according to St. John. The first instance is in 18:18 and designates the courtyard fire where the officers and servants of the high priest stood warming themselves through the chilly night of Jesus’ trial before the Sanhedrin. Simon Peter likewise came to that place and stood near a cousin of Malchus, a servant of the high priest. It was there by the charcoal fire that Simon thrice denied even knowing our Lord, going so far as to confirm the denials with an oath. It is most significant, surely, that that event, so embarrassing to the chief of the Twelve Apostles, is narrated in detail in each of the four canonical Gospels, for it is thus made to stand fixed forever in the memory of Holy Church. From this story, all believers down through the ages are to learn two lessons that they must never forget. First, anyone may fall, at any time. If Simon Peter could deny Jesus, any one of us could do so. Simon, after all, had not believed himself capable of such a thing. “Even if all are made to stumble,” he boasted, “yet I will not be” (Mark 14:29). He was so utterly resolved on the matter that, when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus in the garden, Simon had attacked them with violence. Alas, he was neither the first man nor the last to confuse human excitement with divine strength, nor to mistake the pumping of adrenaline for the infusion of grace. Within a very short time after he swung his sword at the unsuspecting Malchus (cf. John 18:10), we find Peter backing down embarrassed before the pointing finger of a servant girl. The Holy Spirit took particular care that Christians throughout the ages would never forget that falling away remains a real possibility for any of them. In the words of yet another Sample pages only. Purchase 15 the full book at http://store.ancientfaith.com/christ_in_his_saints/

CHRIST IN HIS SAINTS converted sinner, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12). Second, Christians were also to learn from this story that, as long as they are alive, repentance and a return to forgiveness are always live options. In this respect, the repentance of Simon Peter is to be contrasted with the despair of Judas. Thus, the Gospel stories tell us, until our very last breath, it is never too late to return to God in answer to the summons of His grace. It is probably Luke’s Gospel that gives the most poignant description of this conversion: “And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. . . . So Peter went out and wept bitterly” (22:61–62). This event is turned into a prayer in an ancient Latin hymn composed to be sung at cockcrow, the very hour of the denial: Jesu, labantes respice / et nos videndo corrige / Si respicis labes cadunt / et fletu culpa solvitur— “Jesus, gaze upon those who are falling, and set us right by the gaze. Our sins fall away at Your glance, and guilt is dissolved in weeping.” The second charcoal fire in John’s Gospel is the one in its final scene, the fire kindled by the Lord Himself, over which He prepared breakfast for His dispirited Apostles (21:9). After breakfast it was at this fire that Jesus would put to that same Simon Peter his threefold question: “Do you love Me?” The Apostle understood, of course, why the question was asked of him three times, for it was the very number of his own denials. At this point the chastened Peter, no longer trusting himself, relies completely on the Lord’s knowledge of his heart (21:17). But there is more to the story. Simon Peter’s threefold profession is followed by a reference to his eventual martyrdom, which had already happened by the time this text was written down later in the first century. Indeed, the author of John 21 clearly presupposes his readers’ familiarity with Peter’s martyrdom. The story of the Apostle’s crucifixion on Vatican Hill in Rome in the mid-60s was so widely reported among the churches that John could simply refer to the stretching out of Peter’s hands as “signifying by what death he would glorify God” (21:18–19). The point required no further explanation. The early Christians were so familiar with the circumstances of Peter’s martyrdom in Rome that around the turn of the century Clement of Rome (Ad Corinthios 5.4), writing from Rome, and Ignatius of Antioch (Romans 4),writing to Rome, felt no need to elaborate on the details and circumstances. That this Johannine passage (“you will stretch out your hands . . . signifying by what death he would glorify God”) did in fact refer to Peter’s crucifixion in Copyright © 2004 by16Patrick Henry Reardon. All Rights Reserved. Published by Ancient Faith Publishing.

I. REPENTANT SAINTS Rome was perfectly obvious to Tertullian, writing in Africa slightly after the year 200. Citing that Johannine verse, he wrote: “Then was Peter ‘bound by another,’ when he was fastened to the cross” (Scorpiace 15.3).

b 2. Judah and His Brothers The personality of the patriarch Judah is chiefly elaborated in the story of Joseph, where Judah is part of a rather complex narrative. Thus, in the encounter between Joseph and Potiphar’s wife (Genesis 39), the example of Joseph’s chastity is heightened by a contrast with two of his older brothers, the incestuous Reuben in Chapter 35 (cf. 49:4) and the lustful Judah in Chapter 38. This contrast, moreover, is quietly introduced by the specific attention directed to both of these brothers (37:21f, 26f, 29) in the context of Joseph’s being sold to Potiphar (37:36). Later on, of course, both Reuben and Judah will be important to the developing tension of the Joseph story (42:22–24, 37; 43:3, 8). The tale of Judah and his daughter-in-law in Genesis 38 is particularly relevant here, for it deliberately interrupts the account of Joseph’s trials near their very beginning. Nor is this break in the story a distraction from the theme. Inserted between Joseph’s arrival at Potiphar’s house and the incident of Potiphar’s wife, this tale of Judah manifestly serves three purposes. First, it provides a literary “meanwhile,” hinting at the passage of time in Joseph’s life. This “Judah interlude” allows the reader to put Joseph out of his mind for a while, so that he can “get settled,” as it were, down in Egypt. Only then will attention be drawn back to Joseph. Second, as already noted, the incident of Judah’s lust offers an immediate contextual contrast to Joseph’s chastity. Third, this position of Judah near the beginning of the drama of Joseph prepares the reader for Judah’s essential role in its resolution (44:18–34). Thus, when Jacob’s sons finally arrive at Joseph’s home for the story’s memorable denouement, it is significant that they are called “Judah and his brothers” (44:14). Even as the story of Joseph comes to an end, we learn that “Judah is a lion’s whelp” and that “the scepter shall not depart from Judah” (49:9–10). Indeed, in this final section of Genesis, properly known as the Joseph Cycle, one easily detects another motif that can be called “the conversion of Judah.” Born fourth among the twelve brothers, Judah will rise to promiSample pages only. Purchase 17 the full book at http://store.ancientfaith.com/christ_in_his_saints/

CHRIST IN HIS SAINTS nence after the moral failings of the older three (49:3–7). It is in the Joseph story that he is brought specifically to the reader’s notice, when he proposes that the younger brother be sold instead of killed. There is a moral emphasis here. Whatever his other moral failings, Judah is at least sensitive to the sin of fratricide: “Let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh” (37:27). There immediately follows the extended interlude that recounts the mutual deception of Judah and Tamar. Bereaved of a wife and two sons within six verses (38:7–12), the wily Judah deceives his daughter-in-law by withholding his youngest son from his levirate responsibilities (38:11). He is in turn deceived by Tamar’s impersonation of a harlot (38:12–23). Once again there is a moral note in the story. Judah, at first indignant about Tamar’s alleged adultery (38:24–25), is smitten in conscience when the truth is revealed (38:25–26). Tamar has turned the tables on her father-in-law; he can only acknowledge his paternity of the children whom she carries in her womb. This narrative, in addition to its importance in the genealogy of the chosen people, is a chief component in the moral development of Judah. Judah’s finest hour arrives with his lengthy pleading for the delivery of Benjamin (44:16–34), which leads directly to Joseph’s revelation to his brothers (45:1–15). It is essential for Joseph to know that his brothers have really changed over the years. Will these men simply go back to their father with heartbreaking news about Benjamin, as they did in his own case so many years before? Or will they come clean about their offense? Are they yet the coldhearted men of yesteryear? Joseph has to know. It is at this point that “Judah came near to him and said” (44:18), and, in answering these moral questions, he assumes his destined leadership among the sons of Jacob. To the yet unrecognized Joseph he pleads with tears that their aged father be spared any further distress, and the supple, forgiving soul of Joseph needs to hear no more. Judah has repented with all his heart.

b 3. The Fall and Rise of David In its story of David’s double sin, the Bible describes certain theological aspects of all sin, by portraying David’s offense through a series of striking parallels with the earlier account of Adam’s Fall in the Garden. Copyright © 2004 by18Patrick Henry Reardon. All Rights Reserved. Published by Ancient Faith Publishing.

I. REPENTANT SAINTS First, regarding the circumstances and immediate consequences of David’s infidelity, there are several points of correspondence with the offense of Adam. Thus, both Adam and David were tempted by women, Eve (Genesis 3:6) and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11:2–4). Likewise, in both cases the two men were abruptly confronted with the gravity of their sin: “Have you eaten from the tree . . . ?” (Genesis 3:11) and “You are the man!” (2 Samuel 12:7). Next, judgment was pronounced on the house of each offender in the shape of death (Genesis 3:19; 2 Samuel 12:14). Indeed, Adam and David would each be preceded to the grave by a son born of that same woman (Genesis 4:8; 2 Samuel 12:18). That is to say, in both instances sin led immediately to death (cf. Romans 5:12). On the other hand, in each example, a new son was born as a sign of promise and renewed hope (Genesis 4:25; 2 Samuel 12:24). Thus, in the circumstances of Adam’s and David’s sins, we see a narrative sequence of fall, judgment, curse, and mercy. Second, with respect to the more extended effects of their transgressions, both Adam and David became the fathers of fratricides, Cain (Genesis 4:8) and Absalom (2 Samuel 13:29). Their fall, that is to say, led to hatred and murder. Indeed, there is a remarkable similarity between the description of Cain’s murder of Abel and the parabolic portrayal of Absalom’s killing of Amnon. In each instance the murderer rises up and slays his brother in a field (compare Genesis 4:8 and 2 Samuel 14:6). We observe, moreover, that in each case, the murderer himself is initially spared (Genesis 4:15; 2 Samuel 14:11), though a restricting curse still hangs over him (Genesis 4:16; 2 Samuel 14:24). Thus, even though in neither instance is the murder punished by death, guilt remains as an active element in the story, a source of continuing narrative tension. Third, the biblical text goes to some length to demonstrate the longterm consequences of the sins of Adam and David, which intensify through the fratricides committed by Cain and Absalom. Both of the latter act in hatred, which in turn provokes the fear of vengeance (Genesis 4:14; 2 Samuel 14:7). The consequences of these offenses will eventually include full-scale rebellions. In the account of Adam this rebellion is indicated both before and after the Flood (Genesis 6:5; 11:3, 4), while in the case of David the resulting rebellion takes shape in Absalom’s civil war (2 Samuel 15—18). Thus, by this remarkable series of parallels with the fallen founder Sample pages only. Purchase 19 the full book at http://store.ancientfaith.com/christ_in_his_saints/

CHRIST IN HIS SAINTS of the human race, the biblical tale portrays the offending David as the symbol of all human offenders since Adam. David’s sin becomes, like Adam’s, a kind of archetype of man’s rebellion against God’s command. This was not a theory. The tenth-century BC narrator of this story had seen it happen, and his sixth-century editor had witnessed its later fruits toward the end of the Davidic monarchy, culminating in the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. Within the full canonical context of the biblical account, nonetheless, David’s swift repentance serves as the proper pattern of conversion and pardon. The contrition of this fallen king is the story of all who fall and rise. It is instructive, then, that the Bible’s great psalm of contrition, the Miserere (Psalm 50 in Greek, 51 in Hebrew), is traditionally ascribed to David. It is significant, too, that the Church prescribes this prayer of a repentant adulterer and murderer to be recited daily in the Canonical Hours and again by her priests during the incensing before the Great Entrance at every celebration of the Divine Liturgy. The Church thus places the repentance of David very close to the center of her own relationship to Christ our Lord. Indeed, at the “tenth prayer” of Orthodox Matins, which quotes several verses of that penitential psalm, the Church opens each day by thinking of David. It begins: “. . . O Lord our God, who hast granted unto men pardon through repentance, and hast set us, as an example of the acknowledgment of sin and of the confession which is unto forgiveness, the repentance of the Prophet David, do Thou, the same Lord, have mercy on us according to Thy great mercy . . . Blot out our transgressions.”

b 4. The Paralytic from the Roof In all three Synoptic Gospels, the healing of the paralytic (Matthew 9:1–8; Mark 2:1–12; Luke 5:17–26) is followed immediately by the calling of the tax collector and the Lord’s eating with sinners (Matthew 9:9–13; Mark 2:13–17; Luke 5:27–32). This common sequence of the two narratives probably reflects an early preaching pattern, explained by the fact that both stories deal with the same theme: Jesus’ relationship to sin and sinners. The paralytic was healed, after all, “that you may know that the Son of Man has power [authority] on earth to Copyright © 2004 by20Patrick Henry Reardon. All Rights Reserved. Published by Ancient Faith Publishing.

I. REPENTANT SAINTS forgive sins,” and the point of the second story is that “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Thus, the most significant thing about the paralytic is not his paralysis, but his “sins,” so this is what Jesus addresses first. Indeed, even when He heals the paralysis, Jesus does so in order to demonstrate His authority over the man’s sins. In what He does in this scene, then, Jesus inserts Himself between God and the man, speaking to the man with God’s authority. It is not without significance that all three versions of the story also include the detail that Jesus could, like God, read His accusers’ inner thoughts. In each of the three Synoptic Gospels, moreover, the Lord’s claim to authority over sin here becomes the first occasion on which His enemies accuse Him of blasphemy. This is significant too, because at His judicial process before the Sanhedrin, blasphemy will be the crime of which He is accused. In a sense, then, Jesus’ trial begins with His healing of the paralytic, because this scene is recognized by even His enemies as the occasion on which He forcefully claims divine authority. This more dramatic aspect of the account is perhaps clearest in the versions of Mark and Luke, where it is the first of five conflict stories that cast an ominous cloud over Jesus’ activity through the rest of those Gospels (Mark 2:1—3:5; Luke 5:17—6:11). In Mark’s rendering, furthermore, the resolve to “destroy” Jesus is explicitly taken at the end of this sequence (3:5). In all three Synoptic Gospels, the paralytic becomes the “type” of the sinner. He is helpless, carried by others because he cannot carry himself. He is utterly in need of mercy above all things. Indeed, even his forgiveness and his cure are not credited to his own faith. All three accounts mention that the Lord sees the faith, not of the paralytic, but of the men who support him. This point of “corporate faith” in the forgiveness of sins is accentuated in Matthew’s version, where the authority of Jesus to forgive sins is shared with “men” (9:8). The plural here is significant and touches on an important theme in Matthew, the Church’s authority to bind and loose in God’s name (16:19; 18:18). This theme is related to the Great Commission at the end of that Gospel, where the entire mission of the Church is rooted in the total “authority” of Christ (28:18). Even functioning as a literary and theological type, however, this Sample pages only. Purchase 21 the full book at http://store.ancientfaith.com/christ_in_his_saints/

CHRIST IN HIS SAINTS paralytic is certainly not reduced to an abstraction. Indeed, because of the detail of the removal of the roof (in Mark and Luke) in order to lower the paralytic down into Jesus’ presence, still dangling between earth and heaven, this is one of the more colorful and unforgettable scenes in the Gospels. Matthew’s slightly shorter and less colorful version, which comes quite a bit later in his narrative sequence, has certain notable features proper to that Gospel. It is the sixth in his series of ten specific miracles that fill chapters 8 and 9, demonstrating Jesus’ “authority” (exsousia) in deed. The Lord’s authority in works of wonder corresponds to His authority in teaching, demonstrated in the Sermon on the Mount, which immediately precedes this section of Matthew. The latter had noted that Jesus “taught them as one having authority [exsousia]” (7:29). The Lord’s authority to forgive sins, in Matthew, thus stands in sequence with His authority over sickness (8:9), fever (8:15), demonic possession (8:16, 32), blindness (9:29), muteness (9:32), hemorrhage (9:22), and even death (9:25). Matthew is alone in placing this story immediately after the stilling of the storm and the driving out of the Gergesene demons. When the healing of the paralytic is effected to demonstrate that Jesus is possessed of the “authority to forgive sins,” it is done with that same ready dispatch with which He stilled the storm and drove the devils into the swine.

b 5. The Tax Collector and His Friends Since the call of Levi falls in exactly the same sequence in the Gospels of Mark and Luke as Matthew’s call in the Gospel of Matthew, we are surely correct in regarding these two men as identical, notwithstanding the contrary opinions mentioned by Heracleon, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen. Mark and Luke place this tax collector’s calling fairly early, soon after the calling of the fishermen, where we might naturally expect it. Matthew puts it somewhat later in the narrative, after the Sermon on the Mount. It is much more significant, however, that all three Synoptic Gospels treat the call of the tax collector (Levi/Matthew) as a centerpiece bracketed between two stories about sinners: the paralytic being forgiven his sins and Jesus having dinner with notorious sinners. Thus set Copyright © 2004 by22Patrick Henry Reardon. All Rights Reserved. Published by Ancient Faith Publishing.

I. REPENTANT SAINTS between these two events, the call of the tax collector represents above all the evangelical summons to repentance and the forgiveness of sins. The dialogue connected with the meal at his house illustrates this meaning of the tax collector’s call. Jesus, criticized for his association with sinners on this occasion, explains that “those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick” (Mark 2:17). In thus addressing sin through the metaphor of sickness, the Lord strikes again the note recently sounded by His healing the paralytic as proof of His authority to forgive the man’s sins (2:5–12). Furthermore, summoning sinners to repentance and salvation is not just one of the things Jesus happens to do. There is a sense in which this is the defining thing that Jesus does, the very reason He came into this world. This truth is affirmed at the meal at the tax collector’s house, where He proclaims, “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Luke 5:32; cf. Matthew 9:13; Mark 2:17). Again, it is in the context of the call of yet another tax collector, Zacchaeus, that Jesus says, “the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). One of those “lost” was the Apostle Paul, who remembered himself to have been “a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man.” But then he recalled that the same Lord who received the friends of the tax collector also received him: “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief ” (1 Timothy 1:13–15). Christ can call sinners, only because He can really do something about their sins. And He can forgive their sins precisely because He has paid the price of those sins. Therefore, Jesus’ forgiveness of sins is theologically inseparable from His dying for sinners. Correct repentance, then, brings the sinner to the foot of the Cross. In truth, this soteriological dimension of the call to repentance is implied in the Gospel stories under consideration. Both at the forgiveness of the paralytic and at the tax collector’s dinner, all three Synoptics speak of the hostile presence of Jesus’ enemies, the very men who will contrive to kill Him. They accuse Him of blasphemy on the first occasion (“This man blasphemes”—the very charge for which He will be condemned to death) and find fault with Him on the second (“Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”). In both cases Jesus confronts them on this matter of His relationship to sin and to sinners. Sample pages only. Purchase 23 the full book at http://store.ancientfaith.com/christ_in_his_saints/

CHRIST IN HIS SAINTS Every time an Orthodox Christian approaches the Cup of Salvation, the Church exacts of him a twofold confession, explicitly and out loud. First, “I confess that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” And second, “who didst come into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” This double formula, combining the confessions of St. Peter and St. Paul, means “You-Lord, me-sinner,” which pretty much puts us tax collectors in our place at Communion time. Truly this is the meal at the tax collector’s house, and only sinners have been summoned. But calling myself “chief of sinners” is not a quantitative statement. It is not a thesis that I prove by demonstrating that I have committed a larger number of sins than other people. To think of myself as the chief of sinners is not an inference based on a comparison of myself with others. Indeed, the notion of “other sinners” here is nearly a metaphor; there are no other sinners right now, at this moment of Holy Communion. Only one sinner, and only one Savior.

b 6. The Demoniac and the Pigs Except for the Passion narratives, it is not often that several consecutive Gospel stories are told in the identical order in all or even several of the Gospels. Indeed, apart from events that obviously belong near either the beginning or the end of Jesus’ earthly life, factual chronology seems not to have been of great concern to the four evangelists, and the differing positions and juxtapositions of individual stories within their Gospels seem determined less by a care for historical precision than by the literary and theological considerations that guided their minds. (Early in the second century, Papias of Hierapolis already remarked on this feature in the Gospel according to St. Mark.) Consequently, when we find four consecutive stories told in exactly the same order in three of the Gospels, the fact is noteworthy. Indeed, in such a case we are justified in suspecting that the sequence of the narrative was determined by very early tradition, perhaps even the historical memory established by an apostolic eyewitness. We have such an instance in the order of the following four stories: the stilling of the storm, the driving of the demons into the pigs, the healing of the woman with the blood-flow, and the raising of Jairus’s daughter. These accounts appear in each of the three Synoptic Gospels in exactly the same sequence. Copyright © 2004 by24Patrick Henry Reardon. All Rights Reserved. Published by Ancient Faith Publishing.

I. REPENTANT SAINTS The likelihood of strict chronological precision is even stronger in the sequence of the storm scene and the episode involving the demons and the pigs. Since the latter event was remembered to have taken place in Gentile territory (Jews not being permitted to tend pigs) on the east side of the Sea of Galilee, we naturally find it preceded by a boat trip to arrive at the place. Beyond simple historical sequence, however, the two narratives are appropriately juxtaposed for two other reasons. First, both stories are concerned with the mysterious identity of Jesus in a context symbolic of baptism. First, the marveling Apostles raise the question of Jesus’ identity in reaction to His manifest authority over the storm (Matthew 8:27; Mark 4:41; Luke 8:25), and then the demons address Him as “Son of God” (Matthew 8:29; Mark 5:7; Luke 8:28): “Who is this? The Son of God.” This combination of query and response, found in all three Synoptics, suggests that the demons themselves are answering the question that the Apostles have just asked: “Who?” The joining of this specific doctrinal question and this specific dogmatic answer, given at the waterside, follows the ancient interrogation of the Sacrament of Baptism (cf. Acts 8:36–37, for example), which in the Church has always been prefaced by an exorcism. To this very day, when someone is presented for baptism, that person is first exorcised of demons, who are explicitly rejected, and is then asked to confess Jesus as Son of God, Savior, and Lord. Second, the juxtaposition of these two stories suggests an imaginative analogy between the outer, physical storm on the lake and the inner, spiritual storm afflicting a tortured soul. (This suggestion is not at all affected by Matthew’s having two demoniacs here, apparently moving the second one to this scene from Mark 1:23–26. Such doublings are typical of Matthew.) Both of these storms, the outer and the inner, have a “before and after.” Thus, of the first one we read, “a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat,” and then, “the wind ceased and there was a great calm” (Mark 4:37, 39). Of the second storm we are told, “he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones,” and then, they “saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind” (Mark 5:5, 15). In both cases, it is the encounter with Jesus that produces the calm. In each instance, Jesus’ command is inexorable: “Even the wind and the sea obey Him” and “Send us to the swine” (4:41; 5:12). Sample pages only. Purchase 25 the full book at http://store.ancientfaith.com/christ_in_his_saints/

CHRIST IN HIS SAINTS Prior to meeting Jesus, this poor demoniac is the very type of the lost soul, his heart and mind fractured and fragmented into thousands of warring parts. (There were six thousand foot soldiers in a Roman legion, besides cavalry. Now, if six thousand demons entered into two thousand pigs, that would mean . . . well, you can do the math.) This meeting with Christ is baptismal; the demons perish in those same deluge waters from which the Church has just been delivered. More specifically, that raging demoniac, living in Gentile territory, represented the hopeless plight of the uncovenanted Gentiles described by St. Paul: “without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12). Prior to meeting Christ in the mystery of baptism, he was day and night dwelling in tomb caves, the realm of the dead, breaking iron chains with his bare hands, crying out in despair and gashing himself in anguish; it was truly the case that “he saw Jesus from afar” (makrothen—Mark 5:6). Indeed, from very far, and without hope. But even to those in such a state was St. Paul able to write, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off [makran] have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13).

b 7. The Woman at the Well Among the loveliest lines ever penned for Christian prayer, I think, are those in the tenth strophe of Thomas of Celano’s Dies Irae: “Quaerens me sedisti lassus / Redemisti crucem passus / Tantus labor non sit cassus!” or “Seeking me, You sat down weary, / Redeeming me, You bore the cross, / Let not such labor be in vain!” No Calvinist was Thomas of Celano. He believed, from the Scriptures, that the Lamb of God suffered and died for everyone, atoning for the sins of the whole world, not just the sins of the elect. “Copiosa apud Eum redemptio!” says Psalm 129 in the Vetus Latina, “With Him is copious redemption.” Broadly flooding in libation, Jesus’ blood was shed even for the sake of those sinners who, by their own choice (not God’s!), would be damned. And that Lamb’s dear blood would be, in the latter case, without avail, cassus. Thus Celano prayed that the wide labor of Christ’s redemption be not wasted in his own regard. But these second and third lines of Celano’s terza rima are so rich that one might easily miss the delicate allusion of its first line: “Seeking Copyright © 2004 by26Patrick Henry Reardon. All Rights Reserved. Published by Ancient Faith Publishing.

I. REPENTANT SAINTS me You sat down weary.” Once the line is noticed, nonetheless, its allusion is perfectly clear. These words refer to the scene in John 4:6— “Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well.” Just why did Jesus sit down weary by Jacob’s well? Celano answers that He was waiting for someone special whom He had in mind to meet that day. He was seeking me. The Samaritan woman at the well is each of us. The Evangelist John surely knew that woman’s name, just as he knew the names of the paralytic at the pool and the man born blind, because he narrates all of these one-on-one encounters with details that he could only have obtained from the individuals themselves. So John most certainly knew their names. His omission of those names in the stories, then, has literary significance, and Celano is probably right to suppose that we are dealing here with anonymity for the sake of reader identification. That is to say, each of us, as we ponder the text prayerfully, becomes that paralytic, that blind man, and that woman at the well, encountering the Lord in the power of His Scriptures. As an “every Christian” account, the story of the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well serves to illustrate certain distinct stages in the path of conversion. We observe, for instance, what might be called a growth in Christology as the story progresses; there is a pronounced evolution in the terms by which the Lord is regarded. Thus, when the woman first meets Jesus, He is called simply “a Jew” (4:9). This is important to the story as a whole, of course, because the Lord Himself will presently declare that “salvation is of the Jews” (4:22). On the woman’s lips, nonetheless, the designation “Jew” indicates two things: First, it says that Jesus is at first assessed only within a certain class of people. He is not yet a distinguishable person, important on His own account. And second, the word “Jew” indicates the woman’s sense of separation from Jesus, because “Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.” Next, Jesus is addressed as “Sir” (4:11; presumably the Aramaic Mar). This term of respect is a great step for the woman to make, indicating her change of attitude toward Jesus. But then, within four verses “Sir” becomes “prophet” (4:19), when the Lord directs the woman’s attention to her own sins. Then Jesus takes the initiative in His own identification, calling Himself the Messiah, the Christ (4:25–26), and the woman immediately departs. Sample pages only. Purchase the full book at 27 http://store.ancientfaith.com/christ_in_his_saints/

CHRIST IN HIS SAINTS Nonetheless, she leaves the well with a question in her mind, a question about the identity of Jesus. It is the fundamental question that would in due time be addressed by the Ecumenical Councils: “Who do you say that I am?” Just exactly who is Jesus? “Come,” she invites her friends, “see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” (4:29). Everyone in John’s Gospel seems to be asking such questions: “‘This is the Prophet.’ Others said, ‘This is the Christ’” (7:40, 41). At the end of the woman’s story, the designation “Christ” is embraced by her Samaritan friends, who promptly complete it with another important Christological title: “We know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world” (4:42). The lady from Samaria has now come all the way. Starting out that day, hardly suspecting what lay ahead, she laboriously carried her sins to the well, where she met a Jew, who asked her for a drink of water. The Jew presently became a Sir, and then a prophet who reminded her that she was a sinner. No matter, though, because this prophet was also the Christ, who, because He was the Savior of the world, knew exactly what to do with her sins. Seeking her He sat down weary, and to redeem her He would, in due course, endure the cross.

b 8. The Paralytic at the Pool Although our Lord evidently cured a number of people from various kinds of paralysis (cf. Mark 4:24; 8:6), the Gospels narrate only two such instances in much detail: the paralytic lowered through the roof (Mark 2:1–12; Matthew 9:1–8; Luke 5:17–26), and the man lying at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:1–15). It also happens that these are the only two occasions of physical healing in which Jesus refers to the sins of the person whom He heals. Thus, He says to the man lowered through the roof, “Your sins are forgiven you” (Mark 2:5), and after restoring the man at the pool of Bethesda the Lord exhorts him, “Sin no more” (John 5:14). Now it is worthy of remark that we find no references to personal sins in Gospel stories about Jesus cleansing lepers, or restoring sight to the blind, or curing other sorts of ailments. He does not say to Peter’s feverish mother-in-law, for example, “Your sins are forgiven you,” nor does He exhort the man born blind, “Go, and sin no more.” Indeed, in Copyright © 2004 by28Patrick Henry Reardon. All Rights Reserved. Published by Ancient Faith Publishing.

I. REPENTANT SAINTS this latter instance the Lord specifically denies that the blind man was blind because of his personal sins (9:3). In short, only in those two instances of paralysis does Jesus refer to the sins of the people He cures, even addressing one of them with the exact words that He spoke to the woman caught in adultery: “Sin no more” (8:11). One is disposed to wonder if there is some special reason why the restorations of the paralytics are alone distinguished in this way. Though the Gospels do not specifically address the question, one is prompted to inquire if there is not, in this kind of disability, some feature particularly symbolic of sin. Is there perhaps some aspect of paralysis itself that serves as an allegory of sin, something about the affliction that narrates the properties of sin? This question of allegory is especially urged in the case of the paralytic at the pool, because of the recorded dialogue between this man and Jesus. The Lord’s question, when He asks the paralytic, “Do you want to be made well?” is apparently elicited by the fact that the fellow has been lying in that place for thirty-eight years. It is because Jesus knows that “he already had been in that condition a long time” that He makes the inquiry, “Do you want to be made well?” In other words, there is room for doubt about the man’s genuine desire for healing. Maybe his heart and soul have become as helpless and lethargic as his body. Moreover, his response to our Lord’s question is hardly reassuring. Instead of answering, like the blind men, “Yes, Lord” (Matthew 9:28), the paralytic immediately begins to make excuses: “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me” (John 5:7). There is his answer. It is always somebody else’s fault, somebody else’s advantage over him, that he has not been cured. He is not to blame, poor victim; he has been lying there at the pool of Bethesda for nearly four decades, using the same excuse to explain why, in a place where healings took place frequently, he has never been healed. Year after year he just lies there. It gets easier all the time. It becomes a way of life. This seems to be the point, then, of the question that Jesus puts to the man: “Do you want to be healed?” Perhaps, in his deeper heart, he does not want to be healed, not really, and perhaps that is the sin to which Jesus is referring when He tells him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you” (5:14). Sample pages only. Purchase 29 the full book at http://store.ancientfaith.com/christ_in_his_saints/

CHRIST IN HIS SAINTS In removing his paralysis, the Lord also gives the man a straight, unambiguous order: “Rise, take up your bed and walk” (5:8). If this paralytic wants to walk in the way of the Lord, he must begin now. No more excuses. He must not lie around one minute longer, theorizing about the mysterious relationship between divine grace and human effort. This lethargic soul must not worry whether he may be slipping into semi-Pelagianism or whatever. He must get up on his feet, put his bed away, and get busy walking. Conversion is grace, but it is also command. Surely wisdom too is God’s gift, but what is the first step we take to attain wisdom? Obedience to an emphatic command: “Get wisdom! Get understanding!” (Proverbs 4:5). No more lying around, making excuses (usually involving other people who are to blame), no more theorizing abut the nature of wisdom. Just get up and get it!

b 9. The Prodigal Son “I have acquired Thy testimonies by inheritance,” prayed the Psalmist, clearly appreciative of his legacy. Alas, such opulent legacies are not always cherished. Few sins, indeed, are so common, and fewer still, perhaps, so distressing, as the squandering of birthrights. The Bible is very concerned about this sin. For example, the various warnings that fill the Book of Proverbs, especially those concerned with discipline among young men, are based on the fear that a son’s goodly inheritance may be lost because of a failure to recognize its worth. In truth, Holy Scripture records examples of such loss. One thinks of the sons of Eli (1 Samuel 2:12–17, 22–25), the sons of Samuel (8:1–5), the son of Hezekiah (2 Kings 21), and so on. These were all foolish young men who, failing to recognize the worth of their birthright, thoughtlessly tossed it away. The Bible gives more ample treatment to two such young men, whose cases, I suggest, warrant comparison: Esau in Genesis 25 and the younger son in the Lord’s parable in Luke 15:11–32. First, we note that both of these young men enjoyed the fortune of good and godly fathers. Esau, the elder son of Isaac, ostensibly stood in the direct line of the divine promises made to Abraham, while in the household of the other man’s father, even the hired servants had “bread enough and to spare” (15:17). Second, both of these young men were utter fools, the very sort Copyright © 2004 by30Patrick Henry Reardon. All Rights Reserved. Published by Ancient Faith Publishing.

I. REPENTANT SAINTS about whom the Book of Proverbs has so much to say, none of it very good, and, being fools, both young men treated their heritage with disrespect. We know that Esau was a “profane person . . . who for one morsel of food sold his birthright” (Hebrews 12:16), while the other “gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living” (Luke 15:13). Third, in due course both young fools came to regret their mistakes. It is in respect to those regrets, however, that our comparison between the two of them must be modified into a significant contrast. Whereas one of those men simply regretted his loss, the other genuinely repented of his sin. We may start with Isaac’s elder son, of whom Holy Scripture tells us, “Thus Esau despised his birthright” (Genesis 25:34). He certainly regretted the loss of that birthright. There was no sign, however, that he ever assumed responsibility for its loss. It was always Jacob’s fault, not his. “He took away my birthright” (27:36), Esau complains of his younger brother. Never do we perceive in Esau an awareness of himself as a sinner. Thus, laying elsewhere the blame for his misfortune, Esau never found his way to repentance. If Esau espoused any recognizable theology, it was the theology of “cheap grace,” which claims godly favor without godly repentance. Having bargained off his birthright for a bowl of lentil soup, Esau imagined that he could later turn around and procure the blessing of the firstborn with a plate of venison. Having treated so lightly his paternal heritage, he traipsed in carelessly for what he fancied to be an easy paternal blessing. Esau never reflected that he had sinned against his father on that day when, merely to appease a moment’s hunger, he had contemned his father’s legacy. Esau spoke not a syllable of regret for any loss except his own. And now it was too late. The birthright was gone; the blessing of the firstborn was gone, and Esau “was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears” (Hebrews 12:17). Not like Esau was that younger son in the parable, for his was genuine repentance. When his folly drove him to the dire straits of destitution (as the Book of Proverbs, page after page, had warned that it would), the young man did not take to blaming others for his plight. He did not start expressing jealousy and bitterness toward his brother, for example, nor complaining of his father’s discipline, or some possible Sample pages only. Purchase the full book at 31 http://store.ancientfaith.com/christ_in_his_saints/

CHRIST IN HIS SAINTS shortcoming in his own education or opportunities. On the contrary, we are told that “he came to himself ” (Luke 15:17), and, coming to himself, he realized that he was the one who had sinned, and the responsibility was entirely his own. His had been, moreover, a twofold sin, an offense against both God and that man whom God had given him to be his father: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son” (Luke 15:21). Such is the voice of genuine repentance, that “fear of the LORD” which is, according to Psalm 111:10, “the beginning of wisdom.”

b 10. The Conversion of Saint Paul We are not free to choose the framework and shape of our repentance— surely this is one of the clearest teachings of the Bible. Jesus “poured water into a basin,” says the Sacred Text, “and began to wash the disciples’ feet” (John 13:5). The Lord determined the basin, the instrument that gave specific contour and dimensions to the shape of His cleansing water. He then came to each of the disciples, one by one, and they understood that they had to put their feet into that basin, so that He could wash them. In other words, the Lord Himself chooses the manner and pattern of our washing; how we are cleansed by Christ is not a decision for our personal choice. “Here is the bowl,” the Lord’s action affirms; “put your feet right in here, this specific basin, and I will wash you clean, for if I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” This truth was among the most important that Saul of Tarsus had to learn, and God took special care that he learned it well. As he was ruefully to reflect so many times during his later life, Saul had been a persecutor of the Holy Church (1 Corinthians 15:9; Galatians 1:13, 23; Philippians 3:6; 1 Timothy 1:13). “As for Saul,” we are told, “he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison” (Acts 8:3). So when the Lord converted Saul on the road to Damascus, He made an explicit point of obliging that persecutor to submit to the Church that he had afflicted. Some modern Christians imagine that they can come to God by “Christ alone and not by an organized religion,” but the Lord would suffer Saul to entertain no such illusion. On the contrary, in Saul’s conversion Jesus most explicitly identified Himself with the Church: “Saul, Copyright © 2004 by32Patrick Henry Reardon. All Rights Reserved. Published by Ancient Faith Publishing.

I. REPENTANT SAINTS Saul, why are you persecuting Me? . . . I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (9:4, 5). It was in this moment that Saul learned that Jesus and His Church are inseparable. Thus, Saul would never be able to say that he came to God by “Christ alone and not by an organized religion.” Indeed, after Jesus identified Himself to Saul, He gave him not one word of further direct instruction. When Saul asked Him, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Jesus simply directed him to make that same inquiry of the Church: “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do” (9:6). That is to say, not even the Apostle Paul, in the very hour of his conversion, was permitted to deal with Jesus “one on one.” The contour and shape of his repentance had to be determined by a specified “organized religion.” Paul would have no “personal relationship to Jesus as Lord and Savior” except through obedience to the doctrine, discipline, sacramental worship, and corporate life of the Church; he could not have a “personal relationship to Christ” on his own terms. Apart from the Church, the saving knowledge of God in Christ was not available even to St. Paul. He was constrained, rather, humbly to submit his heart and conscience to the divinely commissioned authority of that same body of Christians that he had hitherto been persecuting. Paul’s sins were not taken away simply by his “asking Jesus to enter his heart.” There is nothing in the biblical text to suggest that he did any such thing on the road to Damascus. On the contrary, Paul’s sins were taken away by his deliberate submission to the Church’s sacramental discipline: “Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16), because he “who believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16). Paul was obliged to adhere to the same procedure as every other believer, a prescription enunciated in the Church’s very first sermon on Pentecost: “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38). Paul was forgiven his sins in exactly the same way required of everyone else, by joining the sole organization in this world that has the authority to forgive sins (cf. John 20:23). Surely, then, it was in the experience of his conversion that the Apostle Paul received the seed of all his later teaching about the Church, which he identified as “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15). Paul knew nothing of any noninstitutional Christianity. He was familiar with no Christ except the Christ of the Church, that Sample pages only. Purchase 33 the full book at http://store.ancientfaith.com/christ_in_his_saints/

CHRIST IN HIS SAINTS constituted, organized communion of believers so intimately identified with Christ as to be called His “body” (Ephesians 1:22; 4:15–16; 5:23; Colossians 1:18, 24).