{"id":6172,"date":"2020-04-13T22:41:23","date_gmt":"2020-04-13T12:41:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/?p=6172"},"modified":"2020-04-16T14:16:44","modified_gmt":"2020-04-16T04:16:44","slug":"a-warning-to-the-fruitless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/a-warning-to-the-fruitless\/","title":{"rendered":"A Warning to the Fruitless"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

A Warning to the Fruitless<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Yacoub Magdy<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In Holy Week, we live\nhour by hour so we remember exactly what the Lord did in His final week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday, we remember the day that the Lord was in Bethany. He woke up and was hungry. From afar, He saw a fig tree that appeared to be full of fruit because of the amount of beautiful leaves that were on it. As He approached the tree, He noticed that were no fruits. The tree falsely appeared to be full of fruit but it was merely an appearance of goodness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lord then cursed the tree. For three years, He was with the disciples pouring blessings of healing \u2013 raising the dead, curing the sick, giving sight to the blind, cleansing lepers and expelling demons – but to the fig tree, He cursed. The next day as He was passing by the same tree with His disciples, Peter remembers what the Lord says and exclaims, \u201cRabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away<\/em>!\u201d (Mark 11:21).  For the first time, something living had died at the hands of our Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was an important\nevent that opens our eyes to the nature of our Lord. The Lord is telling us\nthat the worst sin is hypocrisy. Its underlying sin is arrogance but hypocrisy\nis the manifestation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hypocrisy is to\npretend you are good when are not, to hold an inner life that is vastly\ndifferent to your outward appearance. To appear holy, to appear blessed, but when\nthe Lord looks to your heart, it is withering away like the fig tree with no\nfruits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He speaks firmly to\nthe Pharisees and the Scribes to draw their attention, to overcome their pride\nand hypocrisy. What is the issue of pride?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pride repels repentance. The hypocrite cannot see their need to repent. They are satisfied with their outward appearance. It is a disease that can manifest upon those living in the church for many years. Their pride sustains them and they carry on living with no cause to repent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As St Macarius was passing away, there were two monks with him who asked him to give them lessons to live by. His advice was to live your life as a beginner. This is how you remain protected from pride. As we grow, in service, in knowledge, we think we are doing better and we leave ourselves exposed to attacks of pride. The label of \u201cbeginner\u201d protects us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

St Yostus implemented this same principle all his life, so that others would not see his goodness and there was not even a hint of hypocrisy within him. One night he knocked on the door of another monk. The other monk awoke from sleep in haste to see what was wrong. St Yostus asked him what time it was. The other monk responded, \u201cFather, you wake me in the middle of the night to ask me what time it is? It is after midnight, what difference does the time make?\u201d He turned around angry, and as he was about to get into bed, he saw scorpions on his bed. St Yostus protected him from the scorpions by asking a silly question so that he would not receive any credit. He preferred to appeared crazy before others than have them think of him as a saint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is how the saints protected themselves. The ones that were focused on the opinion of God over the opinions of people. They did what they needed to do protect themselves from the sin of hypocrisy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As St Moses the Black grew in repentance and spirituality, he was given the gifts of healing and prophecy. Word spread throughout surrounding countries and people began to travel to the desert to ask for his prayers. Some overseas travellers found a tall, dark monk in the desert as they were traveling to the monastery to see St Moses. They asked him if he knew St Moses and the monk responded, \u201cwhy would you travel all this way to see him? The stories you hear are false, do not waste your time, he is no saint<\/em>.\u201d They continued walking to the monastery disturbed by what they heard. When they arrived at the monastery, they asked about the monk they had encountered. When asked to describe his appearance, the monks of the monastery were quickly able to identify that the monk they had seen in the desert was, in fact, St Moses. He didn\u2019t like to be described as a saint, he wanted God to reveal what was within his heart. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

St Seraphim of Sarov\nwas a Russian hermit and is very well known till today. He was falsely accused\nof wrong doing. There was a court case before the Russian Synod of bishops and\nhe was asked to defend himself. His disciples implored him to answer but he\nopened not his mouth, he insisted upon this. The Synod had no choice but to\nexcommunicate him. He left joyful and continued in prayer and fasting. Many\nmiracles were performed while he was in excommunication. This was extremely\nembarrassing for the Synod that had found him guilty. His excommunication was reverted\nand he was canonised a saint after his passing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The saints hid their\nsainthood to prevent them from falling into hypocrisy. While we are not at the\nlevel of the saints to show we are bad but we must protect ourselves too. We\nmust not try to convince people that we are good. If we do good, this does need\nto be broadcasted. Many times, the church is given huge gifts or donations and\nno one knows where they came from. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a safeguard;<\/p>\n\n\n\n