Christ is risen!  Indeed He is risen!

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

“Now about the midst [middle] of the Feast [of Tabernacles], Jesus went up into the Temple and taught.”

The only connection of today’s Gospel with this Feast of Mid-Pentecost is the phrase found in our hymnody for this day, “In the middle of the feast, O Saviour, . . . .” (Mid-Feast of Pentecost Troparion). 

In today’s Holy Gospel, we find our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ in the Temple teaching, that is to say, He is indoctrinating the people.  Unlike His entry into the Holy City of Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, Jesus chooses to go up this time in secret, without fanfare, for, as He tells His brethren, His time has not yet come fully (Jn. 7:6, 8).  Everything in our Lord’s life – as in ours as well when we live by faith – is accomplished with purpose and divine intention.  Embodying the words of the Prophet, the Lord comes to His Temple (Ml. 3:1).  God – the Son and Word of God – stands and feeds His flock with power so that those who hear His words – and we – might dwell in the glory of the Name of the Lord God (Mc. 4:2-3, 5; 6:2-5, 8; 5:4-5).  In the words of the “Lord, I Call” sticharion, it points to our coming glorification in the Ascension of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ’s sitting down at the right hand of the Father clothed in our flesh.  In the meantime, we live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God for the words of our Lord are Spirit and they are Life to all who hear and believe, which means, we do what He says, even if we don’t fully get it (Dt. 8:3; Mt. 4:4; Jn. 6:63).  For our Lord has come to us to reveal the Father in His glory, not merely by or solely by His works, but by His words, that is, His teachings, His doctrine (Jn. 1:14, 17-18).  His teaching – His doctrine – is Light that exposes our darkness because He is the Truth (Jn. 3:19-21; 14:6).

Of course, those who heard Him there in the Temple marveled, which is to say, they were amazed at His wisdom and insight having never studied officially.  Our Lord replies, explaining, that what they are hearing – and, indeed, what they even see! – is not His.  It is all of God the Father.  “’My doctrine is not Mine,’” He says, “’but His that sent Me.’”  On another occasion, that is, on the night of His betrayal, Jesus says,

‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.  He who does not love Me does not keep My Words; and the Word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s Who sent Me’ (Jn. 14:23-24).

What Jesus is declaring here is that He has not come into this world to assert Himself, to elevate Himself, to promulgate His thoughts and opinions, but rather to do the will of the Father and glorify Him Who sent Him on His divine mission of redemption and sanctification.  He has come from the Father and will return to the Father, He says (Jn. 14:28; 16:28; 17:11).  In short, then, Jesus defers to the Father.  As God, He is equal to the Father, but as Man, He humbles Himself doing the will of Him Who sent Him, teaching the divine Truth of Him Whose Word is Truth and sanctification (Jn. 17:17; Pp. 2:5-11).  Our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ, therefore, as the Light and the Illumination clearly shows us God’s will and how to live our lives in this world as Christians, not for ourselves, but for God.  For we no longer belong to ourselves, but to God Who has purchased us with His blood (1 Cr. 6:19-20). 

Jesus says, “’My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me.’”  Doctrine is from God.  He inspires it just as surely as He does Sacred Scripture.  “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tm. 3:14-17; 2 Pe. 1:20-21).  Doctrine is of divine revelation.  In His High Priestly Prayer our Lord prays thus to the Father, “’For I have given unto them [i.e., the Apostles] the Words which Thou gavest Me; and they have received them . . . I have given them Thy Word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. . . . .’” (Jn. 17:8, 14). 

And yet, doctrine, as a word and as a concept, is anathema in our culture.  It is used generally in a derogatory manner as though there is something inherently evil in holding a doctrine.  It is propaganda associated oftentimes with crazy religious or political cults and brainwashing, that is, indoctrination.  Doctrine is many times viewed as fundamentalism gone awry and intolerance by its adherents. 

But, what does our Lord say, what does He propagate?  He says that what He teaches and its associated beliefs is not of His own making or invention.  It comes instead from the Father.  Why?  Because the Father has something to teach us, to enlighten us with, to show us, to indoctrinate us in.  It is “Light from Light,” if you will (Nicene Creed).  In His Light we see light (Ps. 35 [36]:9).  God wants to infuse us with His divinely revealed Truth which drives our doctrine-allergic, relativistic world nuts.  Doctrine is beliefs, teaching.  In general, all of us adhere to doctrines, in some form or fashion, either personally, culturally, or both, whether it be superstitions, prejudices, notions of how the world works, our political views, our moral values and ethical understanding, even a doctrine of self.  There may be religious doctrines, obviously, scientific doctrines, philosophical doctrines, medical doctrines, political doctrines.  Some doctrines by their nature or by our design may be more permeable than others and transitory, changing with the spirit of the times, reflecting the world around us.  Doctrine is unavoidable in our world no matter how much we fuss and fume because we all have sets of beliefs that influence how we think and direct how we live, teachings we have gleaned over time or have been inculcated in us at home, in school, on the playground, at work, or elsewhere. 

What matters is from whom and where we are receiving our beliefs, our teachings, our doctrines.  Do we drink from the fountain of Life and Light or from the fetid waters of the world?  St. Paul advises Timothy in verses leading up to his doctrine of Scriptural inspiration, “But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, . . . .” (2 Tm. 3:14).  Why?  Because there is coming a time, the Apostle says, when the world will not “endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the Truth, . . . .” (2 Tm. 4:3-4).

If we want to know God, beloved, we absolutely need to know Jesus the Son and Word of the Father Whose doctrine is from the Father.  In fact, what Jesus says is that if we want to know God we have to start doing what He teaches, commands, and says, thereby more fully coming to know the God Whom we seek and desire to know.  This is how we test our Lord’s teachings.  Doctrine involves our minds, yes, and our hearts just as much: to will the will of God, just as our Lord says and just as He Himself does. 

God’s doctrine is good and life-giving and not petrification.  It exposes our error and waywardness called sin so that we may walk in the paths of God’s righteousness “for His Name’s sake” (Ps. 22 [23]:3).  It involves and necessitates “right Faith and right worship” (Orthodoxy).  Doctrine is dead and petrifying only to those who are themselves dead in spirit and soul, who prefer darkness at the expense of light, falsehood to Truth.  The Church’s doctrine is Jesus’ doctrine.  As divinely revealed Truth, doctrine is at the heart of our worship and it defines the Church as apostolic.  For what our Lord has given to the Apostles, they have received, and, in turn, have traditioned to us.  God’s Truth gives us a proper perspective and view of the world and ourselves so that we can be people of the Truth which is Jesus Christ.  It helps us to see things clearly, rightly (Ps. 72 [73]:1-28).  God’s Truth is indeed a Person – the Person of His only-begotten Son – but that Person has taught us all the heavenly words of the Father Who grants to His Church the Holy Spirit Who guides the Church into all Truth (Jn. 16:13).      

Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us.  Amen.

Christ is risen!  Indeed He is risen!

VIGIL PROPERS:                               PROPERS:

Mc. 4:2-3, 5; 6:2-5, 8; 5:4-5                           Ac. 14:6-18

Is. 55:1; 12:3-4; 55:2-13                                 Jn. 7:14-30      

Pr. 9:1-11