12th Sunday Dormition of the Theotokos

Title

In The Hour of Our Death

Outline

We all face death

Some of us face it more immediately due to age or infirmity

Some of us have faced it more personally in the death of a parent, sibling, child, or other loved one

But ultimately we all face death, even though much of modern life is organized around a denial of death

Our texts tell us that our death does not mean that life is “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing,” but that in death is the meaning of life

Our Epistle tells us that Jesus passed through death into exaltation

Rather than remaining solely divine and above death

He, by the unified will of God, became fully human to the point of willingly suffering the worst sort of death

He humbled himself this way so as to break the power of death over us

Thus if we humble ourselves with him for the sake of others we will with him be exalted after our death

Our Gospel speaks to what this humbling might look like

Martha had become distracted with upholding the honor of the family with putting on a good meal

Mary at some point had chosen to focus on the teaching of Jesus - she is the one about whom Jesus said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

The one is not bad - it may in fact be necessary to serve a simple dish, which is one interpretation of Jesus’ reply to Martha - but to find meaning in life and beyond life one listens to the teaching of Jesus and does it.

Remember that Jesus teaches by what he does as well as by what he says.

So we come to the Dormition of the Theotokos

You may well not have been keeping for the past two weeks the fairly strict fast which the Deacon spoke about, but surely you realize that this is about her falling asleep

The Eastern Church focuses on her falling asleep in parallel to our falling asleep, although it is clear that she also ascends to heaven

The Western Church minimizes her falling asleep (some might deny it) and focuses on her being assumed body and soul into heaven

For both the key point is that she is one who “heard the word of God and kept it!” - she is the humble one who remained humble, she is the one who followed her son and listened to his words, she is the one who followed him to the cross.

She is therefore the one who experiences the ideal death (other than martyrdom) and a resurrection and exaltation, not just because she bore Jesus - was the Theotokos - but because she also followed Jesus

Brothers and sisters, Mary is one whom we can emulate

We may well not be called to die for others as Jesus was, nor to go to the depths of humiliation as he was, and we certainly will not be exalted with the “name above all names” as he is.

Yet in the Theotokos we have our fully human mother who shows us how it is done by most of us only human ones; she shows how to live the teaching of Jesus and what gives meaning to life and ultimately leads to resurrection

Now I say this with caution, for in the Coptic tradition and to a degree in earlier Alexandrian teaching there is a tendency to minimize the human soul, the full humanity of Jesus, to reject the Council of Chalcedon, and therefore to exalt the Theotokos. That shows up in some legends about the Dormition and in the extreme fasting of some of the Desert Fathers, among others, in which Martha’s one dish is made into no dish - all should be merely contemplatives.

And in both Eastern and Western devotion as more and more focus was put on Jesus’ divine nature Mary was often raised to the only one who really is like us and yet has been fully divinized so that we do not go to Jesus through Mary but simply go to Mary as if she were divine.

Still, truth is truth, so I urge you to meditate on the Dormition of Mary, including her Assumption as the gift of her Son, and let it be a model for you of how to find the meaning of life and how to finish life with what is indeed a good death, for it opens into an existence beyond this life in which we fully experience the deep meaning of our lives.

Readings

Epistle for 12th Sunday

Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition Chapter 15

15 Now I would remind you, brethren, in what terms I preached to you the gospel, which you received, in which you stand, 2 by which you are saved, if you hold it fast—unless you believed in vain.

3 ¶ For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 ¶ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 ¶ and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 ¶ Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 ¶ For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God which is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) 8-15-2021: The Dormition of the Theotokos

EPISTLE

Philippians 2:5–11

5  Have this mind among yourselves, which was in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. 9  Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Gospel for 12th Sunday

Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition Chapter 19

16 ¶‖ And behold, one came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?” 17 And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? One there is who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” 18 ¶ He said to him, “Which?” And Jesus said, “You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, 19 ¶ Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 20 The young man said to him, “All these I have observed; what do I still lack?” 21 ¶ Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions.

23 ¶ And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When the disciples heard this they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” 26 ¶ But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) 8-15-2021: The Dormition of the Theotokos

GOSPEL

Luke 10:38–42, 11:27, 28

38  Now as they went on their way, he entered a village; and a woman named Martha received him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving; and she went to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41  But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; 42 one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her.”

27  As he said this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!”

28  But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

Notes

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) 8-15-2021: The Dormition of the Theotokos

SUNDAY, AUGUST 15, 2021 | DORMITION OF THE THEOTOKOS

THE DORMITION OF THE THEOTOKOS

Bright Vestments

Blue

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) 8-15-2021: The Dormition of the Theotokos

Matins Gospel Luke 1:39–49, 56

Epistle Philippians 2:5–11

Gospel Luke 10:38–42, 11:27, 28