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07.11.08
The Eighth Sunday after Trinty - July 13, 2008
"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits." [St. Matthew vii. 15]
Jesus’ words of warning in this Sunday’s Gospel reading are as relevant to us today as they were to those who first heard the Sermon on the Mount. It seems that as long as there have been fallen human beings, there have also been false prophets and false ministries. The problem of false ministries was rampant in the early church – just as it is today.
Jesus’ warning against false prophets was immediately preceded by a warning that the way is wide which leads to destruction:
"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." The implication is clear. Some who assume that they are on the road which leads to life are in fact deceived. They do not know that they are heading for destruction because either they are false prophets themselves or because they have been deceived by false prophets.
Jesus goes on to say that part of this deception stems from the mistaken idea that working miracles by the power of God proves a right relationship with God:
"Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Perhaps even more relevant for our day is a similar saying of Jesus found in St. Mark’s Gospel: For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall show signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things. [St. Mark 13:22-23]There was no "if" in what Jesus said. It was more like a promise. False prophets will appear – working signs and wonders for the purpose of seducing and deceiving their hearers. According to Jesus, this would not be an isolated problem. It would emerge as a crisis of major proportions in the Church. Many false prophets will arise and will deceive many.
In the 11th Chapter of his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, the Apostle St. Paul says:
"...what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works." And in his second Epistle, the Apostle St. Peter says: "...there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of." Jesus warned about false prophets. St. Paul warned about false apostles. St. Peter warned about false teachers. In His warning about false prophets, Jesus explained that their message might contain truth and that the miracles which accompanied their message might well be of God. St. Paul warned the Corinthian Christians of the same dangers from false apostles, and St. Peter did the same with regard to false teachers. In all these verses of Scripture, we see the same pattern emerging.
These false prophets and false apostles were not "open, notorious evil livers."
They were deceivers. They were received and recognized by the Church in the exercise of their ministries. They had rendered sacrificial service in the name of Christ. And they performed signs and wonders.
But – they sowed the seeds of discord among God’s people by discrediting other ministries. They promoted themselves and exalted their own work and their own ministries. They corrupted the simple, straightforward Gospel of Christ with error and with speculation. They were unethical in their personal dealings and relationships. Far greater than errors in teaching were the defects in character of the false ones. While they may have in subtle ways twisted the truth, their lives were even more twisted. "By their fruits ye shall know them."
How can situations like these arise among people who are religious, among people who are trying to follow God? An encounter Jesus had with the Sadducees, recorded in the 22nd Chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel can give us some insight:
The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him, Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother: Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh. And last of all the woman died also. Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her. Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Many deceptions, many tragic situations have taken place in the Body of Christ because of God’s people, even God’s ministers, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. Man is not entitled to his opinion of how God ought to work. Man has the responsibility to let his mind be formed by that scriptural foundation of how God does work, and then to bring his life into line with the ways of God.
Listen to these words of God, spoken through a true prophet. We find them in the 55th Chapter of Isaiah:
"As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it to bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish
that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." "My word which goeth forth shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please." In this manner the true prophet proclaims the mystery of the word of God: it is like the rain which comes down from heaven, which waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud; it is like the rain from heaven, which makes fruitful the parched and barren earth. God's word goes forth into all the world, and makes that world fruitful with spiritual life, with words and deed of truth and grace, "seed to the sower and bread to the eater". Thus man lives most truly "by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God".
This word of God that goes forth is the inspiration of the prophet, the message of the anointed one, and the vision of the seer – expressed in human words. We speak of Scripture as the Word of God. But the Word of God is more than words, however true and gracious they may be: words do indeed reveal the Word, but the Word is something more than words. The Word of God is nothing less than God himself. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God," says St. John. The Word is God's own eternal and complete self-knowing, the perfect self-uttering of God himself. The Word is Son of God, The Word is "God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God."
The Word of God goes forth within the life of God Himself - In the life of God, the Holy Trinity, God's Word, his own self-knowing, is eternally begotten. And the Word of God goes forth into the world, for "without Him was not anything made that was made."
Then the Word of God goes forth in all creation: "By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth". And in Redemption, the Word of God goes forth, made human flesh, to dwell among us, that we might behold his glory, "the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth".
The Word of God goes forth in creation and in Redemption. But the Word of God also returns. Jesus tells us: "I came forth from the Father, and have come into the world: again I leave the world, and I go to the Father". "He that descended is the same also that ascended up, far above all heavens, that He might fill all things" - that He might complete all things, that He might fulfill them in their spiritual destiny. The Word of God goes forth and returns - He descends and ascends; and He does not return void or empty. He takes with him our humanity, transformed in resurrection; elevates our humanity and returns it to that realm of spirit which is our true home.
The Word of God goes forth, and does not return empty. There will be times in which the earth seems parched and barren, when the truth and grace of God seem far away, when doubt and dullness and our own persistent sinfulness seem to rule the day. But the Word of God goes forth, and He does not return empty, says the true Prophet. As the rain falls from the sky, so does the Word of God descend from Heaven – in raging tempest or in gentle dew, and the earth brings forth and buds. "It shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it," says the Lord.
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