The End of Religion

The key to understanding Orthodoxy is that it is centered on God, not on you and making your behavior "good." It's about remaking you.

There is a common temptation to reduce all religion to merely behavioral modification systems. In other words, too many people think Faith is about making you a “good” person. For some religious systems, this may be true.

But it is decidedly NOT the normal Orthodox Christian mindset.

Orthodox Christianity isn’t about making you a “good” person but making you a “REAL” person. The changes in your behavior, choices, and priorities in being a faithful follower of Jesus Christ are always the byproduct, never the goal!

Consider how radical a change this reality can make in your life. If you practice the Orthodox Faith, this wisdom and this life of repentance will make you a “new creature,” as St. Paul says, and the byproduct will be righteous actions. Far from being just another “religious philosophy,” Orthodoxy is the “end of religion.”

Look at our lesson today in Luke 6:17-23:

At that time, Jesus stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came forth from him and healed them all. And he lifted up his eyes on His disciples, and said: “Blessed are you poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God. Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven.”

Jesus begins His preaching here, which would eventually be called “The Beatitudes.” And you may be wondering why I said Christianity isn’t a behavioral modification system. Fair enough. Let me see if I can answer well enough.

First, the word “blessed” is used for life situations that most people would not really feel are places of blessing: being poor, hungry, weeping, hated, excluded, and so on. The average person looking at their life and seeing all this would say they were being punished or treated unfairly, but I doubt many would say they are blessed.

And yet that is the word our Lord uses.

And He does this for a compelling reason. Notice every one of these sad situations is temporary!

You may be poor, but not forever. You may be hungry, but not forever. You may be weeping, but not forever. You may be hated, but not forever. You may be excluded, but not forever. None of the difficulties mentioned by the Lord is an eternal state UNLESS you choose to remain in that state!

None!

So, this is far from some social command to relieve these sad situations, though the Lord commands us to do this in other places. No, it is a revelation that even if we devote our lives to relieving the suffering of others, there will still be people who suffer.

That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t relieve suffering. We should and we must.

But it does mean we must also avoid the shallow and depressing notion that this is what the Faith is all about. No, the real power of our Faith is the eternal perspective we offer to the world AND the power of God's love and grace to turn even our worst times into pathways to peace regardless of current circumstances because it’s only being free enough to be at peace no matter what is going on around you that can ever be truly Good News to a world gripped by chaos.

It’s the reason the Lord reminded His disciples in another place that “the poor you always have with you.” There are always going to be hurting people around us, and we, ourselves, will always have good times and difficult times. It is the Faith that Christ reveals that invites us to embrace an eternal perspective that makes impotent any temporary situation that would destroy us and make us abandon our hope in Christ.

St. Nicholas of Myra is a perfect example of this mindset. He relieved those suffering with concrete actions, prayed for those traveling, and remained faithful to the theology of the Church when it was under attack by the heresy of Arianism. But we remember him today primarily for his selfless focus on serving. He was not preoccupied with himself and was such an influential and beloved hierarch. It was also why so many miracles were attributed to his prayer that he was called “the Wonderworker.” And yet his focus was always on what these acts of mercy could accomplish, not merely relieving suffering but turning people’s hearts toward eternal relationships with Christ!

Today, are you blessed by being set free by Christ and His gift of eternal life from ever allowing even painful temporary troubles to steal your joy? You can be. By practicing the disciplines of the timeless faith, you can see treasures in every moment of a Normal Orthodox life!

P.S. A model of faith and the image of gentleness, the example of your life has shown you forth to your sheep-fold to be a master of temperance. You obtained thus through being lowly, gifts from on high, and riches through poverty. Nicholas, our father and priest of priests, intercede with Christ our God that He may save our souls.

Fr. Barnabas Powell is the parish priest at Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene Greek Orthodox Church in Cumming, GA. He is also the founder of Faith Encouraged Ministries and produces the Faith Encouraged Daily Devotional on Substack. Watch the Faith Encouraged YouTube Channel here - https://www.youtube.com/@FaithEncouragedTV

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