4th Sunday after Pentecost; Holy Apostle Jude, Brother of the Lord

Cast your care upon the Lord and He will nourish thee.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today we have the opportunity to consider two kinds of fear. The first is that which pleases God. As it is written, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and they that foster this have a good understanding. This fear is the fear of sin. The righteous Joseph, when he found himself alone with the Egyptian woman who wished to have him, ran away from her as quickly as possible. He fled from temptation, as must we.

The second kind of fear, which we hear about in today's epistle, is its opposite. "Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you, exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith, which was once and for all delivered to the saints... But I want to remind you that you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe."

What is unbelief? We are given the example of Israel traversing through the wilderness after passing through the Red Sea. The Lord rained down manna from heaven, grain that they gathered to eat. They were not permitted to collect in excess of the grain for themselves, but rather to rely on the Lord. And then they remembered their previous life: "Oh, that we had died in the land of Egypt when we sat by the pots of meat and we ate our bread to the full." They did not enter into the Promised Land.

In the book of Acts, we find something similar. A man named Ananias and his wife sold their possessions and went to join the apostles and the rest of the faithful. But they secretly kept back a portion of the profits for themselves. And when they laid these things before the apostles' feet, they breathed their last and were carried away. When the Sanhedrin conspired to betray the Lord, they said to themselves, "If we let him alone like this, the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." We might recall the parable of the farmer whose land yielded a great harvest and who built storehouses and said to his soul, "Soul, you have many good things laid up for you. Take ease, eat, drink, and be merry."

Sometimes it is said that there are very few people in the world who have faith. But perhaps it is, in fact, the case that there are very few people in the world who do not have faith. Rather, it is a question of what it is that they are putting their faith in. The Israelites' unbelief held them back from the Promised Land. The unbelief of Ananias and his wife held them from entering into eternal life in the church. And the unbelief of the Pharisees led them to forsake Him who is eternal life. The root of this unbelief was fear. A fear of letting go, of losing those things which will inevitably be lost. A life that seeks to unite itself with what is passing; to live for time and not to live for eternity. It is because of this, say the Fathers, that the majority of people did not recognize the Savior while he was on earth.

But today we are also given the antidote to this fear. A man once came to church during the week, around noon. A man of distinction asked to see the priest. The woman who stood at the candle stand went to summon the priest. And when the priest had arrived, he did not know what to expect. He never saw this man before in his life. Dressed in a nice suit, wearing Italian shoes, the priest asked him, "What is it that I can do for you?"

To which the man replied, "I want to request a moleben," which is a prayerful service for various needs or occasions.

"Of course," replied the priest, "is this for somebody's health?"

"No," the man replied. "Around the time my first child was born, I built a business that took off. Now my children are fully grown. They live their own lives. I don't see or talk to them. Not that I ever really did."

And the priest asked, "What is this service for?"

And the man replied, "Glory to God for all things. I am filing for bankruptcy. The business that I poured my life into for more than 20 years has failed, and I want to order a moleben of Thanksgiving."

"Most assuredly I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel," said the Lord after conversing with the Centurion in today's Gospel. The Centurion, as it is written, "came to him, pleading with him, saying, 'Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed and dreadfully tormented.' And Jesus said to him, 'I will come and heal him.' But the Centurion answered, 'Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof, but only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.'" And at this faith the Lord marveled.

What is the essence of this faith? It is that he confessed the Lord to be the God of all, the all-powerful, whose word everything obeys. But we are also reminded that powerful faith is itself a gift, a gift that is given to those who ask for it and ask often. May we too remember that the Lord who loves us governs all things, and may we also have the courage to ask the Lord for true faith. Amen.