GOSPEL MESSAGE & RECORDING
In the Gospel Reading today we encounter a Jewish priest named Zachariah and his wife Elizabeth, who are of mature age, yet they do not have children. They are, as the Gospel of Luke reports, blameless; that is, they have kept all the laws and upheld the traditions of their fathers and mothers.
The gospel also records that, as the Priest, Zachariah is in the temple conducting his priestly service, when an angel appears to him and announces that his wife will be with child and that “even from his mother’s womb will be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Although an angel appeared to Zachariah and delivered this amazing news, he doubted and did not believe; therefore, the angel declared that Zachariah would be mute. And as the narrative goes, when Elizabeth conceives, Zachariah's voice returns to him and he is able to speak.
The interesting point I want to make here, and which will be my thesis for this message, is that the Bible declares St. John was filled with the Holy Spirit in his mother’s womb. In fact, this “being filled with the Holy Spirit” shows us that “life” begins in the womb, that is, at the time of conception. This “truth” extends to all people who are conceived. This is a “hard pill” to swallow in our present time, especially since abortion is such a hot political topic in our society. But my direction here is not politics; rather, to drive home the message that every life has value. The idea that what is conceived in the womb is without life is foreign to Christian teaching and contra to Biblical truth. For, if we consider that all human life is valuable, then what is in the womb a woman before delivery is also human. We cannot split the truth based on our own ideas, but rather, we have to conform them to biblical truth, which is always our point of reference.
The idea of all life having value does not end with the above paragraph, it extends to those who are considered to be disabled, either mentally or physically. During the 1930s there was a movement called “eugenics,” which attempted to develop a perfect race and therefore dehumanize those with disabilities. This is contrary to biblical teaching. A Christian must regard all people as having the spirit of God, and therefore, must be treated with full dignity and respect.
As Orthodox Christians, we do not accept gay marriage nor conform to the sex/gender adjustment movement. Nevertheless, we are not to treat those who are of such persuasion with contempt or hatred. On the contrary, we are to open our parish to them as a means of healing and restoration for their life. Just in the same way we were restored from our sins, so also God is opening his arms of healing to restore them from their sins.
This is hard for us to “stomach;” but we must, not by segregating our idea of life according to our political views, but by embracing, as the Bible teaches, all of life. This extends even to our environment. If we say we are for life, we must be for the environment. God calls us to be stewards of the environment; that is, to take care of it and the animals that it is inhabited by. We can’t claim to be for life and at the same time separate what that means. If we are going to stand for the value of life then we must stand for all that life encompasses.