Sermon Tone Analysis

Our Venerable Father Zachary and James, Confessor; Our Holy Father Artemius, Bishop of Thessalonica; St Artemon, Martyr-presbyter

Title

True Security

Outline

Our Old Testament reading is profound

The purpose of God in Gen 1 is for humanity to multiply, spread over the earth, govern it under God, and make it an Eden, a Temple garden

With humans deciding that they would place themselves in the center (the fall), Eden is gone (after exile from Eden), community has become alienation, and eventually violence led to destruction of humanity.

Now we are starting again

Will humanity spread over the earth and retain community and together govern the earth via their common language?

No, they will instead build a city (not a community) with a tower to heaven (so they, or at least the elite, can be as God), and not spread because God’s purposes are not theirs and they feel security in their city.

They will not govern under God, but over against God.

God scatters them

He does so by confusing their language.

Without being able to cooperate, they are scattered, as envisaged.

But they are scattered as competing groups without communication and therefore with hostility.

Brothers and Sisters God will establish a city

That is in Revelation, the city that is a community not a structure, and which is centered on the one God, which is more than Eden - it is the sanctuary within Eden.

But humanity will always try to establish its own cities, annihilating or absorbing those who are different in culture or language, using force to do so.

In the center is the human - sometimes an image of humanity, sometimes a particular human - as the one who is like God, the measure of truth and of right and wrong.

The Annunciation is God’s penetrating this city of man, fully one with man, so he could remake us into his image through unifying us in him.

He will do this by absorbing our evil into himself fully united with the will of God.

There is no security in the city of man.

They will all crash, for God will bring them down.

There is full security in the community of God, for God makes humanity one with himself.

And that puts them higher than any human tower can reach.

Readings

OLD TESTAMENT

Genesis 10:32–11:9

32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, in their nations; and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.

11  Now the whole earth had one language and few words. 2 And as men migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.

3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.”

And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar.

4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” 5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men had built.

6 And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; and nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.

7 Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”

8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.

9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

OLD TESTAMENT

Proverbs 13:20–14:6

20 He who walks with wise men becomes wise,

but the companion of fools will suffer harm.

21 Misfortune pursues sinners,

but prosperity rewards the righteous.

22 A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children,

but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous.

23 The fallow ground of the poor yields much food,

but it is swept away through injustice.

24 He who spares the rod hates his son,

but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.

25 The righteous has enough to satisfy his appetite,

but the belly of the wicked suffers want.

14 Wisdom builds her house,

but folly with her own hands tears it down.

2 He who walks in uprightness fears the LORD,

but he who is devious in his ways despises him.

3 The talk of a fool is a rod for his back,

but the lips of the wise will preserve them.

4 Where there are no oxen, there is no grain;

but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.

5 A faithful witness does not lie,

but a false witness breathes out lies.

6 A scoffer seeks wisdom in vain,

but knowledge is easy for a man of understanding.

Notes

Byzantine Lectionary (Revised Julian) (3-24-2022: Fourth Thursday of Great Lent)

THURSDAY, MARCH 24, 2022 | TRIODION AND GREAT LENTFOURTH THURSDAY OF GREAT LENTDark Vestments

Violet or Rose

Old Testament Isaiah 28:14–22

Old Testament Genesis 10:32–11:9

Old Testament Proverbs 13:20–14:6