Sermon Tone Analysis

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

Introduction:

“If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

Story- There once was a man who was barefoot lying in soft, green grass.

Next to the man was a large field full of thorny bushes.

Beyond the field of thorns was an oasis of water, just waiting to be had.

The man was saddened and dying of thirst because he could not cross the field without proper shoes.

The barefoot man was too sick and too afraid to cross the treacherous terrain.

As the man laid there, there came a physician passing by.

The physician looked down at the man and said why are you here lying on the grass suffering when you could be drinking from the water on the other side?

The barefoot man responded I cannot make it across the field I have nothing to protect my feet.

I’ll never make it.

I’m afraid.

Just then the Physician went running across the field of thorns clearing a path for the barefoot man.

As the Physician neared the water he turned and yelled back to the man lying in the grass, “It is possible.

I have crossed the thorny field, and having stepped on the thorns they have been blunted.

Come on!”

Just then the Physician went running across the field of thorns

“If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”

Before Christ’s crucifixion on the cross we too were like the man who was unable to cross the thorny field.

The man was sick in his sin and not equipped to overcome it.

So, Christ who was equipped and who was sinless, crossed the field for us in order for us to have a path to follow.

In order for us to partake of the life giving spring on the other side!

This reminds me of a book by Alexander schmemann, called, “O Death, Where is thy Sting?”

This is my first point.

This is why we celebrate the Cross on the 3rd Sunday of Lent: to encourage and remind us that Christ has overcome death by death on the cross.

He has blunted death’s sting.

He has trampled on the thorny field!

Today I’d like to talk about briefly how we can deny ourselves and follow Christ towards through the path he has created for us in order to reach the life giving spring.

1st Paragraph: So, The path is open.

The way to the life giving spring is clear.

The Physician is calling us! (Pause)

(softer) Why aren’t we moving…?

(Pause) We are too infatuated with the soft grass.

We are enjoying the sun.

We are distracted by the cool breeze.

In other words we are not focused on what is important.

We are distracted with ourselves.

We have not denied ourselves in order to even see Christ.

Personal Story- I remember when I was a kid I would come home from school and listen to music while I worked on my homework.

As I did this is I would blast music in my headphones.

My mom would always call out to me to tell me something and I’d just be in my own little world.

This is what is happening to us.

1st paragraph: We are too infatuated with the soft grass.

If we choose to do so… we can go through life doing whatever we want and not having to worry about Christ calling out to us.

If we choose to do so we can drown him out and simply live our life lying in the grass and enjoying the sun.

But is this living?

Is it truly living simply going from one comfort to the next?

No, this is simply existing.

This is simply dying comfortably.

The only way to live life fully is to understand that we must deny ourselves pick up our cross and follow Christ.

Because if not, we will end up thirsty, salivating for meaning in our life, and dying for something more.

So we must wake up!

And understand Christ is calling out to us.

We must deny ourselves.

The word in greek is aparneomai- which means to disown yourself.

In other words when we put Christ first in our life in everything we do then we are denying ourselves.

This is a paradox.

But life is a paradox.

Father Matthew Farley describes the Divine Paradox in this way, “Here is the Divine Paradox.

If one clutches and clings to his safety and comfort, refusing to follow Jesus because of the suffering involved, then one will lose one’s life at the Judgement Seat of God.

But if one  loses his life, sacrificing comfort, riches, and honor, for the sake of Him and His Gospel message, being willing even to die for Him - then one will save his life at the final Judgement, inheriting the true and lasting life in the age to come.”

On this metaphor I mean this to be: we do not have the proper disposition in life.

We will never be able to follow Christ if we first do not

In order to protect ourselves, we must put shoes on.

What do I mean by this?

The only way we can even walk the narrow path towards Christ is if we protect our feet.

We have not denied ourselves.

We cannot go forward and backward at the same time.

We either deny Christ for our sake or we deny ourselves for Christ’s sake.”

So let us go forward in denying ourselves and pointing ourselves toward God.

2nd Paragraph- So as we finally get up and decide to walk towards Christ, we realize we have no shoes!

We cannot carry on without shoes!

The way we put our shoes on is through obedience.

This goes part and parcel with the idea of denying ourselves.

Every time we say the Lord’s Prayer we say, “Thy Will be done.”

Not “My will be done”.

This obedience is key to the Christian life.

We must always be at the mercy and will of God.

Throughout Holy Week we read from the Book of Job.

This is a man that truly portrayed obedience.

He was called to always keep hop and faith in Christ no matter the trials he endured whether it be: loss of loved ones, loss of livestock, loss of everything.

Job is a great example for us to have as someone to model.

We too are called to stay obedient to God no matter the struggle.

3rd Paragraph: This brings me to my final point as to how we should pick up our cross and follow Christ through the thorny field and to the water of salvation.

We must walk with faith and joy.

We must always remember no matter how heavy our cross is, no matter how tired we get carrying whatever burden we have that Christ has a plan for us.

Saint Nikolai Velimirovich says on this topic, ““The measure of our suffering is no less calculated than the measure of day and night, or the bounds of stars in their courses.”

In other words, God knows how we are suffering and is there with us every step of the way.

Every Great Compline we sing God is with exei o theos.

God has it.

It is because of this that we can walk with faith and with Joy.

We know that the path has already been laid out for us.

We know that our Lord is simply calling out to us and waiting for our response.

So how can we not run with faith and with Joy to our Lord!

How can we not joyously take up our cross and seek out Christ!

We are people of the resurrection.

The Archdeacon says something that I love very much- We shouldn’t just sing Christ is risen during the Paschal season.

We are children of the Resurrection.

We should be chanting Christos anesti at all times and having that message imprinted on our hearts and reverberating throughout our soul everyday.