SUNDAY MESSAGE (audio message)
BY HIS EMINENCE THE METROPOLITAN
KYTHIRA & ANTIKYTHIRA SERAPHIM
SUNDAY OF THE 11TH LUKE
(15-12-2024)
WRITTEN DIVINE PROCLAMATION
The parable we heard today, my fellow Christians, from our Lord Jesus Christ, should, if we have a Christian conscience, cause us to reflect, especially during these days when we are preparing to celebrate the Birth of the God-man.
First reminds us that the host of this world, Jesus Christ, is present in our daily lives and invites us to the table of the Great Supper to eat together and drink together, and thus become one with Him and with each other.
He came to earth, was born, preached, suffered, was crucified as a human being, and rose again as Almighty God to «feed» us at every Divine Liturgy with His Body and Blood.
Secondly reminds us that we, as baptized Christians, are invited because we are «His friends,» just as the invited friends of the ruler in the parable were His friends. .
However, while the guests initially accept, when the time for dinner arrives, they all ask to be excused because they do not have time for such a dinner (they may have other commitments), since their daily concerns are numerous and they are constantly preoccupied with them. . . waste time on such a dinner (they may have time for other things), since their daily concerns are numerous and more . . . important!
Saint Chrysostom notes «Man, God gives you six days for your daily needs. You cannot give Him one day, and what am I saying, one day, two hours on Sunday?».
The text of the parable is prophetic because, as a contemporary theologian says, it reflects people of every era. It reflects all of us. Those who think they have God in their «pocket,» those who have replaced Him with other «certainties,» those who are indifferent, those who procrastinate, those who despise.
Nevertheless, the dinner is not canceled. Contempt brings the host's wrath, but people want to eat from the rich table, so he invites the poor, the disabled, and everyone who is considered «marginalized» by «high society»—and yet it is they who become the chosen ones of our Lord.
We must therefore seriously reflect on today's parable as we prepare for the coming Christmas: are we the called, but are we also the chosen? Will we eat and experience Christmas with Christ, or alone, absorbed in our own well-being?;
Prot. p. Pan. Megalokonomos
