Lipstick on a Pig

Overall, I am not that bad of a person, or do I not have you fooled? I am a sinner! Of course I have the daily struggles of getting angry with the slow poke in front of me, my spouse for touching the thermostat again, dealing with folks at work and their poor attitudes, loving my neighbor who turns me in to the HOA every time I start my chainsaw. And then there are those times when I am careless with my prayer life and my church responsibilities. Somewhat last and not least, there is my pride which weighs every encounter I have with everyone as to wither I was treated properly. Pass the lipstick!! It looks like I cover up a lot of sin! 

Here at the church we participate in prayers for the world and we also ask mercy for our sins and hope of repentance as we battle with our selfishness. We unite ourselves to Christ in order to defeat Satan in our own lives so that we can become what Christ expects of us: “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden under foot by men. You are the light of the world.”(Matthew 5:13–14) Salt purifies and preserves. St John Chrysostom writes:”Jesus signifies that all human nature has 'lost its taste,' having become rotten through sin. For this reason, you see, he requires from his disciples those character traits that are most necessary and useful for the benefit of all."

As St. John Chrysostom also reminds us, "If you cannot find Christ in the beggar at the church door, you will not find Him in the chalice." If I cannot find the face of Jesus in the face of those who are my enemies, if I cannot find him in the unbeautiful, if I cannot find him in those who have the wrong ideas, if I cannot find him in the poor and the defeated, how will I find him in bread and wine, or in the life after death? If I do not reach out in this world to those with whom he has identified himself, why do I imagine that I will want to be with him, and them, in heaven? Why would I want to be for all eternity in the company of those whom I hated and avoided every day of my life? (Homily 50.4 Mathew)

The demons possessing the men in the Gospel this morning asked Christ: “What have we to do with Thee, Jesus, Son of God? (Mt. 8:29) And so I ask of you this morning, why are you here? If we have come to reflect upon our worldly choices and seek repentance for our lack of Christ like love, and if we have come to serve others and lift up each other in prayer, and if we have come because our saltiness has become to sugary, may the Lord strengthen us as we battle the world and death. We are an army of believers, knee deep in the trenches of life! We are here to cast out Satan from his deathly grip on our lives, one battle at a time.     

Bishop Luke of Syracuse writes: “Dear right-believing Orthodox Christians, it is not actually death we fear, but judgment. The Lord tells us that all …shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation (Jn 5:29). Our conscience accuses us and therefore we fear the righteous judgment of God. As a result, we have no courage, we conform to the image of this world, we are fainthearted, of little faith, seek the easy way out, are not interested in truth, do not confess the truth in our actions but only with our lips.” 

And it is at that point that all the lipstick the world has to offer us will not hide that we are still a pig loving the slop and the mud holes more than we love Christ. May the Lord continue to draw us into the light and strengthen the longing we have to be more like Him and continue to have mercy on us all!

Fr. Gabriel Weller 7-17-2022