IS THE LORD JESUS STILL SAVIOR TODAY?

The message, my beloved, of the archangel Gabriel to the bewildered Joseph about Mary, his betrothed, was: “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for that which is born in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Mt. 1:20)

This message, my beloved, from the archangel Gabriel to Joseph was fundamental: “He will save His people from their sins.” Save. He will be a Savior. Save. Or, just as the angel said to the shepherds, as the Evangelist Luke narrates to us, “Today a Savior is born to you.” (Lk. 2:11) A Savior!

Of course, the idea of a savior was not unknown in the ancient world. The emperor was called “savior”, but of course to what extent the emperor was a savior we hardly need to mention. We know from history that ordinary human beings cannot be saviors, emperors least of all, and of course Roman emperors who were the masters of the lives of their subjects. How, then, could they possibly be seen as saviors? Nevertheless, some of them also took the title “savior” next to their name, as did the kings of Egypt, the Ptolemies.

But when the angel spoke of this Savior who would come into the world, this was a unique Savior, a special Savior, not quite like people would expect or think, not like those men who demand from others that they be addressed as saviors.

But when we say that Christ is Savior, what does “savior” mean? It means that He is a conductor of a salvation. But what does “salvation” mean? For many of our Christians today, salvation unfortunately means the covering of material needs. Like when we say, “I was saved by a raise” or “I got a promotion and was saved”, or even, “Doctor so and so saved me” or “Science saved me”, or other such expressions about our biological needs, our material needs. We can say “We were saved” with such ease. Moreover, we also say this about people, that they are our saviors: “He’s my savior.”

It doesn’t really matter so much that we call all these our saviors and that all other things are our salvation, even if we say we are abusing the term. If, however, we distinguish real salvation, but do not make a distinction, the tragedy is that we sometimes put Christ far below these saviors of ours. Because if we say that “Christ is the Savior of your body”, as the Apostle Paul says “Christ is the Savior of the body” (Eph. 5:23), and I never think to myself that Christ is my savior as much as the doctor is, then it is not simply an abused expression; it is a belief. This is why we must get out of this perception.

Ιn a few days we will celebrate the event of the Birth of Christ. As what? As Savior. As I told you, this was announced from heaven. Moreover, if you like, even the name “Jesus” was predetermined. The angel said to Joseph: “And you shall call His name Jesus.” The name Jesus [Ιησούς] translates as “Savior” [Σωτήρ] in Greek. Jesus means “He who saves”. Consequently, we must always see in the person of Christ the true Savior.

But how will we be able to discern that Christ is really the Savior? First of all, Christ gives an answer to all of the metaphysical questions – not just gives an answer, He is the answer. It is both of these. For who could possibly know the meaning of man’s existence, or even this Man? Do you know that apart from God, apart from the confession of Jesus Christ, we don’t know what man is. This is what Philosophy and Science wrestle with to measure, to reveal and discover what man is. (Some wise and noteworthy expressions have come down to us from antiquity, such as, “Behold–a man!” Some say about Diogenes, that he took a plucked rooster and said: “Behold–a man!” Meaning that man is a being which has two legs and two arms… It is, at any rate, an attempt by man to know who he is.)1 Man could never know who he is had it not been revealed to him by Christ Jesus, and, having been revelaled the truth about man, a man is already being led up to heaven. He becomes a child of God by grace. He enters into the divine glory.

A question for you all: Who will tell me what exists after death? Why should something exist after death? and if something does exist, what is it? The soul? Does a soul exist? We reached the point, beginning in the last century, where the field of Psychology began to speak about psychology without a soul. Science does not accept a spiritual soul. (We are talking, of course, about those psychologists who have materialistic views.) They don’t know… Does man have a soul or doesn’t he? Don’t think that it is obvious. It is not obvious at all. The Lord will answer this for us: “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?” (Mk. 8:36) And He says to the robber: “I assure you, today you will be with Me…” (Lk. 23:43) Where? When someone dies, does it end there? Where will You be with Him? In the tomb?

So you realize, my beloved, that Christ gives the answer to all these great and vexing metaphysical problems – not just gives the answer, He is the answer. For if Christ had not marked the great station of His Incarnation and the individual stations of His earthly life, such as the Crucifixion, the Resurrection and the Ascension, we would never be able to follow His path to our great destination which is heaven. This is how Christ came and answered all these [metaphysical problems]. Yes, He Himself said: “I am the Resurrection” (Jn. 11:25); He said, “I am the Life” (Jn. 11:25; 14:6); He said: “I am the truth” (Jn. 14:6); He said: I am the rest, when He said: “Come to Me all of you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt. 11:28). How am I your rest? Because I am the rest. Pay attention. He did not come to say, “I came to tell you the truth”, or “I came to tell you to be in control of your lives”, or “I came to tell you to find the way to rest.” No. “I am the Life”; “I am the Truth”; “I am the Resurrection.”

Remember what the Lord said to Martha, the sister of Lazarus: Don’t you believe that your brother will rise? (Jn. 11:23) I know Lord, she said, that one day, at the end of history, there will be a resurrection of the dead (24). The Lord said, I am the Resurrection (25), and since I am the Resurrection, whoever is incorporated into Me will be resurrected into eternal life. (25-26)

Do you perceive, then, my beloved, who the person of Jesus Christ is? Can He possibly be compared with the “savior” emperors of Rome or with any other “saviors” in history, those who promised salvation and proclaimed salvation to the people? Indeed, we are an impoverished civilization when such a title is given to a man, a title which belongs only to Christ.

Moreover, Christ is Savior because He dissolves the guilt. Did you notice what the angel said to Joseph? “For He will save His people from their sins.” What does this mean? It is what the Lord said later: “If you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins” (Jn. 8:24). Believe that I am what? The Lord. He who forgives sins. Consequently, He is the one who really forgives sins.

When we say “forgives”, it means God no longer sees sins. “Blessed,” it says, “are those whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered” (Ps. 31:1). Covered. If I put a bandage on a wound, the wound is not visible. But for God, every creature is naked and visible. So how could God not see what is under the bandage? So when the Psalmist says that in God’s eyes sins are covered, he means He doesn’t see them, but “He doesn’t see them” means they don’t exist anymore, because God sees everything. There are no objects in-between or which hide an object from God’s sight.

Therefore guilt no longer exists. Did you catch that? Do you know that the core of all psychological problems is guilt?2 Do you know this? Of all the ills man suffers from, bodily illnesses and also the psychological illnesses, the mental illnesses (and I will stay on this particular topic), do you know that the core of all these mental illnesses is guilt? I’m not the one who says this. The psychologists say this. So then, if we somehow eliminate the guilt, we will not have psychological problems, the mental illnesses.

But how will guilt be eliminated, since guilt, like it or not, has a metaphysical dimension? It is impossible for us, then, to eliminate it, unless God eliminates it, and God does this through that philanthropic sacrament of Confession to grant forgiveness of sins. Such an easy way. [Forgiveness of sins through the sacrament of Confession eliminates metaphysical guilt and, consequently, illnesses.]

It is enough for there to be an “I’m sorry” [μετανοώ] on the part of the person, an “I’m sorry” from the heart. And “I’m sorry” means “I change my mind. I repent. I am changing my way of thinking. I am changing my lifestyle. From now on, I won’t go back to whatever those old ways were.” This is why the sacrament of Confession is such a philanthropic sacrament, because it effects the blotting out of sins, the erasing of sins. This makes Christ Savior.

The day before yesterday, a young man who was beginning to lose his faith in the theanthropic person of Christ visited. I said to him: “Ah, poor child, you have tied my hands; because only if you believe that Jesus is God become man will He be able to work the mystery of forgiving your sins. You insist, even forcefully, that you don’t believe that Christ is God Incarnate. I am sorry. It is not possible to grant you forgiveness of sins.” And he left. As he came, so he left… There is no forgiveness of sins unless you believe. So in this sacrament, my beloved, Christ comes and dissolves the guilt, the source, center and starting point of all psychological (as I told you) problems and mental illnesses.

Moreover, Christ is Savior of the body in an ontological way. Have you considered this? As the Apostle Paul says (I have told you this before), “And He is Savior of his body” (Eph. 5:23). How is He Savior of his body? He means this suffering body, which is an image of the Incarnate Son of God. (Because Christ did not take our image, but we took His image. He was not made man in the image of Adam, but Adam was made in the image of Christ, even if Adam came first historically, even if we have this form after. Christ, however, leads as a model. This form called “man” was destined to become the Son of God. And He made Adam according to His image and likeness. And when Adam’s first child is born, he will be in the image and likeness of his father, Adam.)

So then, the human body is in the image of Christ. Sin reduced this body to death, to the grave, and it becomes that from which it was composed of, earth. It decomposes. Consequently, this body cannot remain standing and composed, but will one day decompose into that from which it was composed. Who will rebuild this body? Not in the sense that the new generation is coming and the human race is being rebuilt. For example, I give of my being, of my essence, for a new child to become a new person. Is this person me? It is not me; it is a new existence. I provided the necessary materials in order for this person to be constructed. I, however, am on my way to disintegration.

How can Christ be a Savior for you? By resurrecting your body. This is how Christ is Savior ontologically. He comes to resurrect the body, my same existence. I am one, my child is another, and my grandson is another. We are different persons, whether three, or four, or a hundred, or a million. In this case, however, we have salvation as individuals, personal salvation, not “general salvation” as it is called. No. Every person has his personal Savior, Jesus Christ. All will be resurrected by Christ Jesus, the godly and the ungodly. So, my beloved, Christ is the ontological Savior. How did He become Savior? By virtue of His Resurrection. These are not mere words. It is a reality. Just as Christ became man and resurrected after He had died, He takes my own mortal nature and now gives it life. By virtue of this event, I will resurrect.

So then, if, my beloved, humanity accepts Christ in this way, then we can have all those other good things which we call salvation. We say “my food is salvation, my profession is salvation…” God gives all of these good things, as long as we have identified correctly what salvation is.

These days we will celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. How will it be celebrated? With a Christmas tree? With lots of good food on the table? With vacations? With spending money? With amusements? With dancing? And, for some, with fornications and various sins? (The other guy is going to find a girlfriend for Christmas. What oxymoronic things! What contradictory things! He’s going to find a girlfriend, to celebrate Christmas…)

Do you realize, my beloved, how the world celebrates? They simply use the occasion for a vacation, nothing more. What more could there be, since they don’t have the least bit of knowledge about the feast of the birth of Christ, that is, about the event of the Savior Christ’s becoming man. So then, let us leave such views behind.

As for the legitimate things, “give us today the bread we need”, as we say in the Lord’s prayer, these things will be given to us, if only we put the Savior Christ first. God Himself says the same thing in the Old Testament: “If you listen to Me, you will eat the good things of the earth” (cf. Deut. 7:12-14; Deut. 28:1-14). We would change it a little bit to say: “If you in some way understand the meaning of the events, the feasts which are behind these various events, then you will eat the good things of the earth.”

So then, let us not make idols of the things of this world. Let us not make idols of our body, our health, our belongings, and think that these are our saviors. Our only savior is Christ, and Him alone.

A troparion of these days says: “Come, O believers, let us see where Christ was born!”3 It is so lovely! In fact, all the hymnology of these days, and the hymnology throughout the year, is lovely. It is so lovely! It is so human! It is so moving! It is so poetic! Where, if one returns to being a child in heart, with a sound mind, then he delights in these expressions.

“Come, O believers, let us see where Christ was born!” Picture a group of little children saying to each other: “C’mon guys, lets see where the hidden treasure is!” That familiar game. “Come on guys…” Only if someone is also a child can he feel this expression, “Come on guys.” And with all the delight that every child feels, they say to each other: “Let’s go see…” “See what?” This is what it is like, because as I told you, our hymnology has so much feeling.

So then, “Come, O believers, let us see where Christ is born.” In other words, so we can truly learn the meaning of the Incarnation. Where was Christ born? In Bethlehem? This happened once. If I go to Bethlehem and worship there these days, will I be fulfilling this, “Come, O believers, let us see where Christ was born”? And those who don’t go there, so to speak, to that place, will they not learn this? Will they understand nothing at all? This is not how it is, my beloved. There are many pilgrims who go, without of course perverting the idea of pilgrimage, yet they remain oblivious as to where Christ was born. So, whether I go or not, the point is this: I must learn where Christ was born. And where was Christ born, my beloved? Once in Bethlehem, but always within every human heart. This is not a figure of speech; it is not poetic imagery to say that Christ is born in the heart. It is a reality. When we say that Christ was born in a manger (in a trough used for animal feed) and that the heart becomes a manger, this is not a figure of speech. It is a metaphor. At first it might seem that this doesn’t have much importance and significance, that He was born in a manger. Here is what is significant: If Christ is born in my heart, then He also makes it His manger. In other words, Christ is really born in my heart – and He is born from having knowledge, theological understanding. Moreover, He is born to come and stay inside me, fully incarnated, with His Body and His Blood. Because, what does “He was laid in a manger” mean? It means that He was placed there. So when I commune, what does this mean? It means that I place my Savior Christ within me, to make me eternal, to make me immortal, to dissolve my guilt, to answer all of the agonizing problems of my existence and my destiny. He is the Savior of the world.

We celebrate these days, my beloved, His Birth, His Incarnation. Let us therefore grasp the meaning of this great event, and grasping the meaning, we may celebrate the event as the greatest and most central in History.

1. “The ancient Greeks debated this topic feverishly. Plato famously attempted to define a man, using references from his mentor Socrates. He settled on a scientific definition, naming man a “featherless biped,” two characteristics that distinguished humanity from other animals. In a humorous scene, Diogenes the Cynic, hearing Plato’s definition, plucked a chicken in his home and brought it to one of Plato’s lectures. When Plato asserted that man was a featherless biped, Diogenes stood, brandished the bald chicken and shouted, “Behold—a man!” Plato, perhaps missing the point of Diogenes’ criticism, then continued to amend his definition to “featherless biped with flat, broad nails.” (https://sites.psu.edu/sierraastle/2019/10/21/behold-a-man)
2. See, for example: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13548506.2021.1903058
3. Nativity of Christ Matins, First Kathisma, First hymn:
   Come, O faithful, let us see where Christ the Savior has been born;
   let us follow with the kings, even the Magi from the East,
   unto the place where the star does direct their journey.
   For there, the Angels’ hosts sing praises ceaselessly;
   shepherds in the field offer a fitting song,
   while saying, Glory in the highest
   to Him this day born within the cave
   from the pure Virgin and Theotokos
   in Bethlehem of Judah.
   (December Menaion, Holy Transfiguration Monastery, p. 217, slightly edited.)

THE END – GLORY TO THE HOLY AND TRIUNE GOD