His Holiness Pope Tawadros II delivered his weekly sermon at the Wednesday meeting this evening, from the Karma House in King Mariout, without a public presence. The sermon was broadcast on Christian satellite channels, the official website of the Coptic Orthodox Church, and the C.O.C channel of the Church’s media center on the Internet.
His Holiness continued the series “Ways of Presenting Love,” and discussed the Gospel of the Temptation Sunday Mass from the fourth chapter in the Gospel of our teacher St Matthew, Verses (1-11), and reflected on “How Jesus Christ used the language of love and expressed it” through two scenes that were in this week’s readings, which are:
-“The rich man”
“Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” He said to Him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”
(Matthew 19:16-22)
Here, Jesus Christ used money as a gift to satisfy the needy, while the rich young man went away sad because he did not have the ability to provide love.
-“Feeding the four thousand men”
“Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.” Then His disciples said to Him, “Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?” Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven, and a few little fish.” So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude. So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left. Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.”
(Matthew 15:32-38)
Here, Jesus Christ wanted to present a humble gift to the crowds, which came with true sacrifice and love.
His Holiness the Pope gave a concept for presenting a gift through the verse:
“A man’s gift makes room for him, And brings him before great men.” (Proverbs 18:16)
The gift must be appropriate for the person to whom it is given.
His Holiness presented forms of gifts in light of the two scenes, as follows:
1- Giving: When Jesus Christ gave us victory over Satan in the temptations with the word “it is written,” with which He answered the three temptations, the precious gift became the Word of God in the Holy Bible.
2- Love of the spirit of giving: When Jesus Christ told the rich young man to give his money to the poor, He also satisfied the crowds with the spirit of giving.
3- It has an expression and a symbolic description of the person to whom it is dedicated: just as the Magi presented their gifts to the newborn Jesus Christ, the gold was an expression that He is the King of the world and the King of kings, the frankincense was an expression that He is our intercessor through atoning intercession, and myrrh was an expression that He will suffer for the forgiveness of the sins of all people on earth on the Cross.
4- According to the needs of the person to whom the gift is given: The gift must suit the needs of the person to whom it is gifted.
“But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.” (II Corinthians 9:6-7)
Just as Jesus Christ gave us victory and the key to the gift with the word “it is written.”
His Holiness set the obstacles to offering sacrificial love through Satan’s temptations to Jesus Christ, which are:
1- Self-love (human selfishness):
“But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”” (Matthew 4:4)
Where Satan wanted to make Jesus Christ think about Himself only, in order to move away from the goal of His incarnation, and the salvation plan for which He came for, so in fasting we fast for a period of time so that we remember that life is from God, and for another period in which we eat plant foods to give us calm energy and increase asceticism.
2- Love of comfort (laziness):
“Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”” (Matthew 4:7)
Satan wanted to make Jesus Christ resort to rest, but the person who cares about giving the gift without surrendering to laziness, because rest is not compatible with giving.
3- Love of dignity:
“Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”” (Matthew 4:10)
Satan wanted to make Jesus forget Christ and move away from His goal, but man must not deviate his mind from what is right and worshiping the true God, and should not care about his dignity, or being a person of authority in the world.
“Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;” (Philippians 3:8-9)
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