On Preachers Who Make Christ Known

Ever since Saint Mary Magdalene became aware that the man she took to be a gardener was in fact Jesus Christ, crucified and now resurrected, Christians cannot help but be caught up in the mystery of God. Awe, wonder, trembling. And this moment, depicted in our icon here, perfectly defines what mystery means: hiddenness which is revealed by God; Christ resurrected was hidden within a gardener, and the hidden mystery was unveiled at God’s chosen time. While it has been said humorously of Anglicans that “mystery is horrible to us,” that is, something we resist and want no part of, mystery abounds everywhere in our faith and religion. So much so that Paul spoke of his entire servant ministry as a steward of the mysteries of God. And what happens to people when mystery is unveiled? What happens is that they are transfigured, and the eyes of their heart see in a new way. This is what the Feast of the Transfiguration celebrates: that knowing the truth of Christ, fully God and fully man, opens the eyes of our hearts to see the uncreated light of heaven shine through Him. And this mystery of transfiguration matters quite a bit, as we will see shortly.

I am going to bring Paul’s teaching today together with that of Jesus. From Paul we have him exhorting and encouraging us to live according to the Spirit. To live according to the Holy Spirit. He says, “If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” And then Paul adds, “All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” That word “sons” can trip people up, so let me say firstly that “son” means sharing in the activity of something. It means sharing the nature of it. So “sons of God” means sharing and participating in God’s activity, indeed participating in Him. Mary Magdalene was participating in Christ’s glory on Easter morning. Peter, James, and John were participating in the Christ’s glory at the Transfiguration. Thus, Paul’s teaching is “All who are led by the Spirit of God are participating in God’s activity.” What hinders this participation is living according to the flesh, according to self-centeredness, concupiscence, measured by worldly values. To be led by the Holy Spirit requires the putting off of self-centered, worldly living, and instead thinking, living, and acting according to Christ’s sacred humanity. To be led by the Holy Spirit means we continue in that holy fellowship, and do all such good works as God has prepared for us to walk in.

What we hear from our Saviour Jesus Christ in Saint Matthew’s Gospel is that we must beware of false prophets – that is, false teachers – and recognize good teachers, that is good Priests who preach the true Faith of Christ Crucified and Resurrected. Such people are, by definition, those who are led by the Spirit of God, participating in the redemptive stream of Christ’s living water. These people are not living according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. And Jesus says, “You will recognize them by their fruits.” By the fruits, then, we recognize holy Preachers of the Word of God.

What are the fruits by which we recognize holy Preachers of God’s Word? This is another mystery of God – the mystery of Him being known through preaching, through His chosen Preachers, those chosen and ordained to proclaim the faith of the Church through preaching. How do we recognize them? What fruits are we looking for?

What we are looking for are preachers who have been transfigured by the Gospel, transfigured by the uncreated light of Jesus Christ, preachers fully led by the Holy Spirit. And the specific means to recognizing holy preachers are that in them we see what are called the Fruits of the Spirit. There are nine Fruits of the Spirit, and these nine come from Paul’s teaching to us in Galatians 5:22-23. There is revealed to us that the Fruits of the Spirit are: Love, Joy, Peace, Long-suffering (patience), Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness (sometimes just faith), Gentleness (that is, meekness), and Self-Control (or temperance). These are qualities that people living according to the Holy Spirit show in their life, illustrate in their actions, their words, and exhibit as part of their personality.

These are what we are to look for in Preachers, that we can separate and distinguish between true preachers and false preachers, between good and bad, between ones we should listen to, and ones we should not. Every healthy, godly tree bears good fruit that we must use to recognize the holiness of the tree. We look for in Preachers the qualities of Love, Joy, Peace, Long-suffering, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-control. By these, the mercy, love, and presence of Christ is revealed through the Preacher, through any truly Christian person.

We need preachers to be themselves transfigured. The nine fruits of the Spirit are the proof that the preachers have been transfigured by Christ and are being led by the Holy Spirit. And we therefore can have full trust in such preachers, that the Holy Spirit has filled that person, and that we can not only listen to them, but be led by them, for it is the Holy Spirit who leads us and guides us into all truth. The truth which is Jesus Christ Himself, Who lives and reigns with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.