The hymnographer Anatolius links Joel's
prophecy to the Nativity of the Lord. In the Praises at Matins on the
Sunday following the Nativity, he refers to Joel 2:30, saying that the
blood refers to the Incarnation, the fire to the Divinity, and the
pillars of smoke to the Holy Spirit.
The Prophet Joel: A Message for Today's Secular
World
And it shall come to pass afterward, that I
will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters
shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men
shall see visions. Joel 2: 28
These words by the prophet Joel (whose name
means Yahweh is God) were spoken during the reign of King Uzziah (800
BC). Joel prophesied to the people of Judah and probably came from that
area. His life overlapped the prophet Amos and the great prophet Isaiah.
Joel prophesized during a time of great
calamity, most often plague and pestilence. He considered these
upheavals not only as a natural disaster, but also as a presage of God
convulsing the earth known in scriptural terminology the "day of the
Lord" which indicated an impending judgment by God when the people broke
His law.
The notion of an Old Testament God reigning
judgment on the earth strikes modern ears as a quaint relic of the past
(but not one that has been drained of all fear). But is this accurate?
Or is our modern perception more the detritus of sated hearts and
distracted minds; the surfeit of material goods we consume beyond our
immediate needs that fills the stomach but dulls the mind?
If the question appears too strong, consider
the words of our Lord: "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be
also" (Matthew 6:19-24). What is our treasure? The treasures of many
Westerners are material goods, comfort, wealth, luxury, power, sensual
gratification, and technological escape. When any of these elements
become an end in themselves, when they distract us from God and the
commandment to love Him and our neighbor, they become idols - false gods
that substitute for the light and life that has its source and origin
only in the true God.
Even worse, in our pursuit of these idols and
our conformance to the demands they make on us, we manipulate other
people in order to experience the satiation the idols offer. We hurt
others to obtain idolatrous treasure and in so doing break the
commandment of God to love our neighbor. This is unadulterated
secularism. The neighbor exists not as a person we are called to love,
but a person who can gratify our desires.
It's a perilous road to travel and our muted
moral awareness makes it all the more dangerous. Jesus said, "Truly, I
say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you
did it to me" (Matthew 25:40). This passage refers not only to the good
things we might do for our neighbor but the bad things as well. If we
abuse someone or use them in pursuit of idolatrous rewards, then we have
committed a grievous offense against God.
When Joel prophesied of the impending calamity
many centuries ago, he described it in terms of a public disaster that
would come upon all the land. He used terms like "destruction" and
"pestilence" that are still meaningful today, especially with our recent
experience of volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, and
tornados.
One description however, invites special
notice. In first chapter of the Book of Joel it is written: "For a
nation has come up against my land, powerful and without number; its
teeth are lion's teeth and it has the fangs of a lioness" (Joel 1). In
Arabic the word for lion is "Osama."
While we cannot conclude that Joel's prophesy
concerns Osama Bin Laden, the complaint of moral corruption of the
perfidious Christian West from Bin Laden and other radical Muslims is
right on the mark. If God still judges the nations for corruption like
He judged ancient Israel (and I believe He does), then the rise of the
lion from the East is a call for the repentance of the Christian West.
This would be an application of the gift of prophesy given to us by the
Holy Spirit applied in modern times (1 Corinthians 14:1-3).
The God of Abraham who spoke through Joel still
speaks to us in these later days, but His voice won't be heard apart
from repentance. The blessing of God and all that it entails such as
protection, guidance, the meeting of material needs, and more is
contingent on His people leading a life in accordance with the
commandment to love God and neighbor.
Joel made this clear when he spoke these words
from the Lord: "Yet even now return to me with all your heart, with
fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not
your garments. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and
merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and repents of
evil (Joel 2: 12-13)."
Pentecost: The Coming of the Holy
Spirit
What would result from heartfelt repentance?
Ultimately the world would experience an outpouring of the Spirit of God
upon the earth. Cleary Joel prophesized of a time his hearers would
never see since Pentecost occurred many centuries after the book was
written. But note how the moral exhortations, particularly the call to
obey the commandments of God, remain timeless including the implication
that disobedience to God's law invites judgment while repentance can
forestall it. St. Peter, in his first sermon on the day of Pentecost,
said:
Let all the house of Israel therefore know
assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus
whom you crucified." Now when they heard this they were cut to the
heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren,
what shall we do?" And Peter said to them, "Repent, and be baptized
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of
your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For
the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far
off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him" (Acts 2: 36-39).
The same holds true today. When authentic
repentance is made, those who have betrayed our Lord will receive the
gift of the Holy Spirit. At times it takes calamity, distress, and
disaster in order for people to sense their loss when God has been
pushed away and dependencies on persons and things other than God have
been developed. An inner metanoia -- a turning of the mind and
heart has to take place for God's restoration - His salvation - to be
appropriated.
The Parable of the Prodigal Son
illustrates the process, particularly how crisis can foster true
self-awareness so that the idolatry of inordinate dependencies are
broken:
(A)nd he (the prodigal son) began to be in
want. So he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that
country, who sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would
gladly have fed on the pods that the swine ate; and no one gave him
anything. But when he came to himself he said ... I will arise and
go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned
against heaven and before you ... " (Luke 15: 14-18).
Mental health clinicians working with people
suffering from various addictions such as alcoholism, drugs, gambling
and sex report that "hitting bottom" often the beginning of healing (Morelli,
2006). How far down do nations have to fall before they see themselves
in the swill of sin and initiate repentance so that their healing might
occur?
Social restoration begins with the
strengthening of families
A nation is only as strong as its families and
any restoration of cultural stability will occur only if we work to make
families stronger. Joel's prophesy, repeated in St. Peter's sermon on
Pentecost that God would, " ... will pour out my spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters ... " (Joel 2:28-32, Act 2:14-21).
Sons and daughters are found in families, and
the family is the mikree ecclesia or "small Church" the Church Fathers
told us. The family is where societal values are handed down from one
generation to the next. For most of us, it is the first and most
important place to light the candle of faith and obedience to God since
our family members are our most immediate neighbors.
Christian parents in particular (even though
the commandments of God are given to all people) must model the love of
Christ in their family. They must become vessels of love to their
children, and in so doing enable the Spirit of God to work among them.
This is confirmed by the prayers read at the wedding service (which, in
a sense, ordains the couple to proper parenthood) where they are charged
to give their children the fear of God and a good education in His ways.
The father must model Christ the Good Shepherd while the mother models
the devotion of the Theotokos (Mary, the mother of God) to Christ in
their relationships with their children.
Imagine if the level of repentance we are
exhorted to practice by the Prophet Joel and St. Peter were practiced in
the home. Self-reflection and active engagement with the commandments of
God would become part of the family culture with far reaching
implications. Sons and daughters would understand why sexual abuse was
wrong (Morelli, 2005a), or why caring for the body and the large
environment in the appropriate ways is necessary. The answer to moral
questions that bedevil society like abortion or euthanasia would be
clear.
Further, children would intuitively recognize
the absence of God and moral virtue in popular entertainment. (When was
the last time you saw a main or even secondary character in a movie or
on television portrayed as going to Church or even remotely religious?)
They can develop compassion for the poor around us - clearly a directive
by God as indicated in Matthew 25 - such as the plight of immigrants or
the religiously oppressed in other lands.
The Prophet Joel called out to the people of
Judah for a collective transformation of their hearts. The change of
heart of one person is a change of the world. But any transformation
first requires that the self-centeredness and self-indulgence which
replaces obedience to the commandments of God be confessed and
repudiated. The love of objects that have replaced authentic love of God
- the idols (again, using scriptural terminology) must be torn
down.
Such transformation must occur from within the
person. It cannot be imposed from the outside. Any program or system, be
it media centered, political, even theocratic, will fail. The Gospel of
Christ (which is the source and origin of any transformation since the
preaching of the Gospel reveals Christ the healer of persons) must be
preached without coercion and compulsion, just as the Prophet Joel
foretold and the Apostle Peter accomplished.
A call to radical love
I have a simple understanding of the Gospel of
Christ. If someone is in need, whether they be Jew or Greek, American or
Mexican, black or white, rich or poor, enslaved or free, Jesus tells us
that we are obligated to care for them. Law and politics, while
important, have only a secondary importance. The primary law is the Law
of God, and the essential precept of God's law is the commandment to
love. Any legal precept, political boundary, or social convention that
violates that sacred precept must be ignored.
Take the Good Samaritan for example. Did Jesus
teach that the Samaritan, hated by the Jews, should first ask for the
passport or question the legality of the man who fell to robbers before
he reached out to help him? Jesus, asking a lawyer what the commandments
of God are, heard this response from him:
"You shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and
with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."
"And he (Jesus) said to him, "You have
answered right; do this, and you will live."
"But he, desiring to justify himself, said
to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus replied, "A man was going
down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who
stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now
by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him he
passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to
the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to
where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion, and went to
him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; then he set
him on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took care of
him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the
innkeeper, saying, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, I
will repay you when I come back.' Which of these three, do you
think, proved neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?" He
said, "The one who showed mercy on him." And Jesus said to him, "Go
and do likewise." (Luke 10: 27-37).
One reason why Christians must think more
deeply about these issues is that the communications revolution has
expanded our neighborhood. My neighbor is not only my spouse, the waiter
who serves my lunch, or the mechanic who fixes my car. He is also the
oppressed Sudanese, the terror victims of Beslan, or the suffering
children of the tsunami disasters. Technology has increased our
responsibilities.
Monks in the earlier times practiced such
"politic-blind" charity. St. Benedict, in his Rule of St. Benedict
written over 1,500 years ago, instructed his novices that even if a
guest were Jew or Muslim, they "are to be welcomed as Christ." St. Basil
taught that hospitality extends to Christian and non-Christian alike.
His Long Rule states:
Is it a secular person who has arrived? Let
him learn through actual experience what verbal instruction has not
convinced him of ... Although meager, food as the monks would have
would be given to such a person ... and let him be give a model and
pattern of frugal sufficiency in matters of food because of Christ
gives us no cause for shame.
This hospitality (the Fathers used the term to
mean love of the stranger) is both a commandment of God and a gift of
the Holy Spirit. St. Basil continued:
From the Holy Spirit is the foreknowledge
of the future, the comprehension of mysteries, the understanding
hidden things, the distribution of graces, the heavenly way of life,
association with angels, unending happiness, residence in God, the
likeness of God and the highest of all things to be desired, to
become God.
We have modern witnesses of the radical love
who eschew the conventional boundaries of class and politics as well.
Fr. Arseny was an Orthodox priest banished into a Soviet gulag where he
suffered alongside the other prisoners. He is a modern saint. His
biographer recounts that Fr. Arseny, upon seeing in spiritual visions
the humanity of his fellow prisoners -- some political, some brutal
thieves and murderers, some prison officials and guards who tortured him
in a Soviet labor camps -- prayed: "O Lord, O my Lord! Do not leave
them. Help them save them!"
His biographer continued:
Fr Arseny saw each person carried within
himself a soul .. souls of some were afire with faith which kindled
the people around them; the souls of others burned with a smaller
but ever growing flame; others had only small sparks of faith and
only needed the arrival of a shepherd to fan these sparks into a
real flame. There were also people whose souls were dark and sad,
without even the least spark of Light. "Lord! How can I leave them?
How will I be without them? Do not leave all those who live here
without your mercy help them!" And kneeling in the snow he prayed.
This is the depth of the transformation that
the Prophet Joel is calling forth in us and all the peoples of the
earth.
As an Orthodox priest and clinical
psychologist, I have observed that the ability to bridge socially
defined categories that we see in people like Fr. Arseny is typical of
psychologically healthy functioning individuals. Maslow (1999) called
such people "self actualizing" individuals. A major characteristic of
self actualizers is what Maslow called "a democratic character
structure."
While Maslow's work falls short of the
standards of scientific psychology (Morelli, 2006) and should be treated
only as a case study and hypothesis for future research, his
observations in this area were consistent with Christian teaching. He
found that psychologically healthy persons are accepting of all people
regardless of class, education, ethnicity, fame, wealth, and the other
constituents that shape our perceptions about people and their social
station.
Psychologically adjusted individuals don't act
superior toward anyone, but are ready to learn from anyone. (This
certainly falls within the definition of humility.) The self-actualizing
person also distinguishes between means and ends, and right and wrong.
They are guided by an ethical-value standard rather than expediency.
To have the spirit poured out on us means the
presence of God would not only be known by each individual personally by
illumining the center of each heart, but by all children in the total
sense they are the people of God who come to see themselves as made in
His image and drawn to one another in love. To do this we have respond
to God's grace, call upon his name and repent. The Prophet first said,
"And it shall come to pass that all who call upon the name of the Lord
shall be delivered" ( Joel 2: 32).
Saint Paul, in the letter to the Romans further
explained: "For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same
Lord is Lord of all and bestows his riches upon all who call upon him.
For every one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved" (10:
12-13).
But merely mouthing God's name ("Lord, Lord")
is not enough. We must have the Spirit of God implanted in our hearts so
the fruit of the spirit may emerge from us. St. Paul wrote that
the fruit of the Spirit " ... is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is
no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh
with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also
walk by the Spirit." When the fruit of the spirit is present, we have
the Spirit in us and so is the prophesy of Joel fulfilled.
And what happens to those who call of God out
of a duplicitous heart and have no authentic communion with Him, that
is, nothing of God's Spirit with them? Matthew quoted Jesus saying:
Every tree that does not bear good
fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them
by their fruits. Not every one who says to me, "Lord, Lord," shall
enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father
who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, did
we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and
do many mighty works in your name?" And then will I declare to them,
"I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers" (Matthew 7: 19-23)
Our prayer ought to be that we are on the right
side of this divide, experiencing in concrete ways the power, energy,
and descent of the Holy Spirit that prophesized by Joel and conferred to
all who believe in God in spirit and in truth.
By - Father George Morelli
References
Alexander, Servant of God. (1998).
Father Arseny, 1893-1973: Priest, Prisoner, Spiritual Father.
Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press.
Maslow, A. (1999). Toward A Psychology
of Being. (3rd ed.). NY Wiley.
Morelli, G. (2005a, July, 19). Sex is
holy: Psycho-spiritual reflections in a secular world.
http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/
articles5/MorelliSexIsHoly.php.
Morelli, G. (2005b, September, 22).
What Do You Know: The Score Or The Saint?
http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/
articles5/MorelliScore.php.
Morelli, G. (2006, April 03) Sex
Addiction : An Orthodox and Scientific View.
http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/
articles6/MorelliHypersexuality.php.
Morelli, G (2006, May 08). Orthodoxy
And The Science Of Psychology.
http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles6/
MorelliOrthodoxPsychology.php.
St. Basil (1950). St. Basil Ascetical
Works. In The Fathers Of The Church A New Translation. (V. 9). NY:
Fathers of the Church.
St. Benedict (1942) The Most Holy Rule
Of Our Most Holy Father Benedict. Trappist, KY: Abbey of Our Lady
of Gethsemani.
V. Rev. Fr. George Morelli Ph.D. is a
licensed Clinical Psychologist and Marriage and Family Therapist,
Coordinator of the
Chaplaincy and Pastoral Counseling Ministry
of the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese,
(www.antiochian.org/counseling-ministries) and Religion Coordinator (and
Antiochian Archdiocesan Liaison) of the
Orthodox Christian Association of Medicine,
Psychology and Religion. Fr.
George is Assistant Pastor of St. George's Antiochian Orthodox Church,
San Diego, California
