The Path of Life or Death?
Every day, in every choice, we reveal which path we are on. Better to wake up to this reality now than to be forced to face it at the Judgment.
Christ is risen!
One of the oldest manuscripts from the earliest days of the Christian Faith outside the Gospels is the Didache or “The Teaching of the 12 Apostles.” This ancient writing dates from the First Century A.D. and begins with an intriguing phrase: “There are two ways, one of life and one of death, and there is a great difference between these two ways.”
It seems that the Christian faith consistently teaches this basic wisdom of two paths: one that leads to Life and one that leads to death. As Jesus reminds us, “I have come that you might have life.” We Christians are against every place death rears its ugly and defeated head! And that includes the current madness in society that reduces people to their faddish “identities” that seem to shift every time popular culture says something “new.”
The Way of Life is so distinct from this self-indulgent age that they must make the Way of Death look like “freedom” to get you to accept it.
So, why are so many still gripped by the darkness of death and fear and faithlessness?
Look at our lesson today in John 5:24-30:
The Lord said to the Jews who came to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself, and has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of man. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment. I can do nothing on my own authority; as I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of the Father who sent me.”
Our Lord Jesus consistently preached that knowing Him, hearing Him, and following Him leads to Life, and rejecting Him leads to judgment. And here is where we see modern humanity’s problem with Jesus and His message: We don’t like to be judged.
But Christ enshrines in a consistent Christian Faith the message that His teaching leads to the destruction of death and the reversal of the power of mortality to hold humanity to a hopeless existence. The very reason we Orthodox “do” Pascha the way we do with all the services, prayers, pageantry, and beauty is to reinforce this normal Christian message that Faith in Jesus destroys death. And, in fact, Jesus Himself has risen from the dead, “trampling down death by death.” And make no mistake, the Resurrection irrevocably changes the universe. There’s no going back!
That is the judgment. It is delusional that you won’t ever have to face the consequences of a life lived as if Jesus isn’t alive and His life isn’t the way of true living. Ignoring God is just the delusion that you won’t ever have to face Him.
But what is the Lord’s message to those who ignore this “path to life?” It’s judgment. The normal Christian message is if you foolishly ignore the invitation of our Loving God to embrace life, if you choose to remain gripped in the slavery of dead-end narcissism and self-centeredness, you won’t escape that reality coming to light! You will have a resurrection. Your mortality will still be defeated. You will be raised from the dead, but it will be a resurrection of the realization that you chose to live your life as if you wouldn’t be raised from the dead! No wonder the Fathers constantly write about life outside of Christ as fantasy and delusion!
St. Theodoros is called “the Sanctified” because of his loving obedience to Christ in all things. He was a monk in St. Pacomios’ monastery. Even though he was younger than the other monks, St. Pacomios entrusted him to help administer the monasteries St. Pacomios planted. This caused some other monks to grumble, but St. Theodoros never seemed to notice. He was faithful in serving his brothers as a true spiritual example to them. His choice of the Way of Life measnt he became more and more like Christ in his actions and thoughts. By the time St. Theodoros died in 368 AD, the brothers loved and respected him so much that it was said people could hear them weeping in mourning across the river!
Today, what resurrection will you have? God, in His love and respect for you, gives you the power to decide which resurrection you will have—life or Judgment! And the decision-making is happening right now. Will you embrace the path to life, or will you make choices today that betray your loyalty merely to yourself and the path that leads to death? Living a Normal Orthodox life keeps you on the Path to Life!
P.S. You proved to be a citizen of the desert, an angel in the flesh, and a wonderworker, O Theodoros, our God-bearing Father. By fasting, vigil, and prayer, you obtain heavenly gifts, and you heal the sick and the souls of them that have recourse to you with faith. Glory to Him that has given you strength. Glory to Him that has crowned you. Glory to Him that works healings for all through you.
