Sermon 12/15/19

Man can live his entire life around church, pray, do volunteer work and charitable labor, all without knowing Jesus.

He can be a theologian, know the Bible very well, still without knowing Jesus.

He can walk holding Jesus’s hand, see Him every day, go fishing with Him, and even share bread with Him- all still without knowing Him.

Most of us are unable to recognize Jesus in others, in fellow parishioners, in neighbors, in coworkers.

We are still not changed, our old nature- Saul, not yet transformed to new person- to Paul.  We are not hopeful, not joyful, not emotionally secure and not in peace in our hearts.

We don’t know Jesus. All we need is faith size of a mustard seed. Matthew 17:20, Jesus said, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” A little faith will open our eyes and open our hearts.

If we have faith the size of a mustard seed, then one slight touch to Jesus can change our whole life and give new meaning to it. Touch! It can be miraculous and saving. It is called touching Christ by faith.

One touch, one gentle childlike touch and little faith is all we need.

There are no classes on how to love, or how to believe. They are as natural as breathing. When my son was young, I asked him “Why do you believe in Santa Claus?”  He said “Santa is good, fun and joyful”.  Children believe in good, it doesn’t matter in which form or in whose image it appears.

Children believe anything that is beautiful, just, kind, honest, and good- no proof needed, no experiments. This is not, however, blind faith. The heart can see and grasp as much as the brain can, or even more. Antoine de Saint-Exupery, in The Little Prince wrote, “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

We all are born with ability to see with our hearts. I call this ability faith, and it is inside all of us. We are born capable to move mountains, calm storms, walk on water, and heal the blind. We believe in Santa, in the bright star leading the Magi’s to Bethlehem, in angels that sing all night.

All these things are natural when you are a child, but when we get little older, we are expected to be rational and to have proof   and evidence for everything we believe. And now here we are- grown-ups living a boring life without any magic.

Recently, I had a small disagreement with a friend, who stated “I will not lie to my kid about Santa’s existence, I don’t want to disappoint her when she finds out that Santa is not real and you can’t see him or touch him or sand letters to him.”

I asked him, “What does real mean? Is love real, is hope an actual thing? Can you touch, smell, and hear, see, or taste love? But we know that they are real.”

Children can give us all some lessons in faith.  They are wise and smart.

Matthew 19:14 “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Jesus is calling for us to be more like children.

We were all children once. Many grownups forget what it’s like. This is sad.

What we have lost is our ability of thinking with our heart. We have lost our sense of wonder.

You know what? This, the most wonderful time of the year, is a perfect juncture to draw magic back into our lives

Zacharia Saribekyan