Who Is Your Neighbor (The Reality of Loving Your Enemies) - Bishop Mar Mari

0:00 It's good to be back.

0:02 So we thank God the Father for his infinite love. We thank God the Son for his infinite sacrifice. And we thank God the Holy Spirit for his infinite wisdom. The triune God, one God in nature, one in essence, but three persons. We thank the Holy Trinity for guiding us. for bringing us into existence and ever so present in their holy and divine presence. Our beloved fathers, deacons, nuns, faithfuls, both in this holy church and everyone who is watching us through.

0:45 Live streaming, it is good to be back. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

0:54 We thank the Lord Jesus, you know, as Father Daniel mentioned, We thank the Lord Jesus for his grace and mercy that he took all these pilgrims to the Holy Land and to other countries, which were Montenegro and Croatia, such magnificent, beautiful countries, very rich in Christianity. And the beauty of these two countries, the neighboring countries, Montenegro being Orthodox, and Croatia being Catholics. So you could see they're already, you know, next to each other. I pray that the church unites very soon and just take after Montenegro and Croatia, Orthodox and Catholic sharing the same border.

1:43 It took actually two hours by bus to.

1:46 Travel from Montenegro to Dubrovnik, the beautiful Dubrovnik city of Croatia, where they speak the.

1:56 Slavic language Very, very good.

2:01 I've learned, I've picked a few words in the Slavic language, which is amazing. We thank the Lord Jesus for all the group to come back in one piece. There are still some people that sort of continued their journey. We pray for their safe return back home. We had actually three people, two from America, one from New York, one from Florida. And another person from Germany. They joined us and got their all back home safe and sound. And I can see some of the group members are here already in the church. Good to see you. But it's good to see all of you, my beloved. I've missed you not. I mean, I've missed you.

2:47 All right. Now, we come to the....

2:55 The gospel for today's liturgical service, our church fathers have chosen a portion from the gospel according to St. Luke chapter 10 and verses 23 till the end of chapter 10 verse 42. So it is Luke chapter 10 and verses 23 till the very end of chapter 10 which is verse 42. Now we don't have much time unfortunately So we'll sum it up in three things. From verse 23 to 42 of chapter.

3:36 10 of St.

3:37 Luke, the physician, the gospel writer, so amazingly he draws a beautiful portrait.

3:49 He's a painter.

3:51 So when he is telling the story, or the narrative, he is actually painting a beautiful portrait. It begins with this lawyer trying to test the Lord, and says, tell me, good teacher, what shall I do to inherit everlasting life? The Lord Jesus says, what does the law say? How do you read it? Well, he says, the law says, you love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your strength, and with all of your mind. And you love your neighbor as yourself. The Lord Jesus said, truly you have said, if you do all this, you will live. But he wanted to justify himself more. He wanted to really show off before the Lord Jesus himself. And he added and said, who is my neighbor? And then the Lord Jesus says,

5:00 there was a certain man coming down from.

5:02 Jerusalem to Jericho.

5:03 Robbers came his way, bashed him up, stripped him naked, wounded, and they threw him on the side of the road and left him there to die. A priest was coming down that way and passed by. A Levi, or an equivalent of a deacon, In the New Testament. Levi in the Old. Deacon in the New Testament. And a deacon was coming down and passed by. But there was a Samaritan.

5:33 Came where this wounded man was. And showed compassion. toward that wounded man. So he poured wine and oil on his wounds, bandaged him up, put him on a mule and took him to the inn and said to the owner of the inn, here is two denarii, spend them all on this wounded man. And when I come back again, the second time, whatever you've spent more, I will pay you till the very last penny. Then the Lord says to that lawyer, who do you think was the neighbor to this wounded man? The lawyer replied and said, the one who showed mercy on him. He said, well, you go and do likewise. And then the Lord enters the house of Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus, whom the Lord raised from the dead after four days rotted

6:36 in the grave. And then Mary sat at the feet of the Lord. Martha was too busy cooking red rice and white rice and yellow rice and tabbouleh, baba ganoush and everything in the kitchen and the good Italian pizza. And then she turns around and sees her sister Mary caring not, sitting nicely, comfortably at the feet of the Lord.

7:04 So she complains to the Lord Jesus about her sister Martha. Lord, can you please rebuke my sister and tell her to get up and help her sister?

7:15 Then the Lord looks at Martha and says, Martha, Martha, you.

7:20 Are troubled about many things, but only one thing is asked of you, and your sister Mary chose the good portion. So the gospel today starts with What shall I do to inherit everlasting life? What does the Lord say? Love the Lord your God. So we begin with love. Then the parable, the Lord Jesus gave a certain man was coming down from Jerusalem to Jericho.

7:59 We call it mercy. And then Mary sitting at the feet of the Lord Jesus, the good portion, We call it wisdom.

8:13 So love, mercy, wisdom. What does love give you? Everlasting life. What does mercy give you?

8:23 Forgiveness. What does wisdom give you? Humility.

8:29 Or in other words, what does humility give you?

8:32 Wisdom.

8:35 Love, mercy, Humility, sitting at the feet of the Lord. In order for the Lord Jesus to be your portion, in order for the Lord Jesus to be your portion, you need humility. For the Lord to be your portion, meaning to be connected to Jesus Christ of Nazareth, to be with Him always, tied together, inseparable. It is only made possible through humility. You can never ever be connected to Christ without humility.

9:19 Impossible. Because humility, my beloved, is emptying one's self.

9:29 And the Lord says, you cannot walk with me, you cannot follow me unless you deny yourself because there cannot be two I am's at the same time. It is either I, Jesus Christ, the I am, or it is you, the small little I am. So if you're going to follow me with your own I am, it will not work. Because your I am walks in pride. And my I am walks in humility. Humility, self-denial.

10:09 Self-denial.

10:11 Effacing yourself in order for Christ to be vividly seen in you. So to be connected to Christ, it requires humility.

10:26 Humility will give you wisdom.

10:31 You see, when people go and study in this world, when people go and study in this world, and I'm talking about, you know, Christian faith, theology, they are gaining.

10:46 Knowledge, not wisdom.

10:51 Wisdom is given by God and God alone, no other source. That is why wisdom will come from within, not from without. What you gain from external source is knowledge, but what you gain from an internal source is wisdom. God's gift is always internal.

11:18 Never external.

11:20 Because everything that is external is temporal. Everything that is external is vivid to the naked eye. But everything that is internal is hidden from the naked eye. Whatever the naked eye can see is temporal. And whatever is invisible to the naked eye is eternal. So wisdom, my beloved, is given by God, and God will never give you His wisdom until you deny yourself, humble yourself. Mary sitting at the feet of.

12:00 The Lord, humility.

12:03 So now, humility leads you to wisdom, and wisdom gives you Jesus Christ to be your good portion.

12:15 Now love gives you eternal, gives you life. Love gives you life. But love can only be gained through knowledge.

12:29 Love can only be gained through knowledge. Wisdom can only be gained through humility. Love can only be gained through knowledge simply because, I've said it many times, you can never... you can never ever claim to love someone you do not know. You cannot love someone you do not know. You can only say, I love the person I came to know. But prior to knowing the person, there was no love. But the moment you started knowing the person, you started loving the person. Because what leads to love is knowledge. And what leads to wisdom is humility. You see, when knowledge leads you to love, love will give you life.

13:23 When humility leads you to wisdom, wisdom will give you Jesus.

13:26 Christ as your good portion. Between love.

13:33 And humility, there is mercy. The sign of mercy is forgiveness. The sign of mercy is is forgiveness. Love alone is not enough. Love alone is not enough. The sign of mercy is forgiveness. Love is not enough.

14:02 And this is a piece of advice to those who are seeking to getting married.

14:12 Some people come with issues later on and say, but we loved each other immensely before. And we thought because we love each other, that's it, it's enough.

14:26 No, it's not.

14:29 Because love is the foundation to the house, but it's not the house. You cannot call the foundation a house, but without the foundation, stop talking about a house.

14:44 You can never build a house without a foundation.

14:46 But the foundation is not the house, but the foundation makes the house possible. Love is the foundation that makes that house possible. But there are so many factors to make the house possible.

15:04 There is the walls.

15:06 There is the doors, the windows, the ceiling, the roof, the lights, the furniture, all of these things put together, then it is a complete house. But without the foundation love, you cannot build a house.

15:20 Wisdom is needed to.

15:24 Preserve and protect love. You see, without wisdom, you will lose love. Wisdom is there to preserve, protect that love. Mercy is the mechanism for the continuity of love. And for the preservation of humility. One of the things that make love continue on is when you're able to forgive. If you cannot forgive, love will die. And if you cannot forgive, that shows you're not humble as yet. That's why the Lord Jesus, through his gospel writer, Saint Luke, he put between love and wisdom, Mercy. And the psalmist says, King David, which the Lord speaks through King David, he says, I did not come seeking, you know, sacrifices.

16:49 I came seeking mercy.

16:52 Before you offer your sacrifice, I want you to offer your mercy. In other words, as a Christian, before you come to my church and offer that sacrifice, Because you're sacrificing your time. You're sacrificing your comfort. You're sitting in the church and the bishop is preaching for ten and a half hours where you could have been laying on that beautiful couch and watching some sort of a movie or some program on TV. Well now you're sitting uncomfortably listening to the best looking bishop in the world for ten and a half hours. So that is a sacrifice.

17:33 That is a sacrifice. You know, I haven't slept for two days. Thanks, I didn't know that one. You know, to be able to forgive, you must be humble. Otherwise you cannot. And when you forgive, Love continues. What enables you to forgive is humility. And forgiveness keeps love on. But you see, that's why you need the Lord Jesus.

18:26 How can you forgive? This is a question to every human being. How can you forgive? See, mercy is only made possible when you show an act based on love towards someone who is not worthy of it.

18:54 Again, I'll say it. Mercy... is only made.

18:59 Possible when you show an act towards someone else based on love and that someone else is not worthy of that act that you have shown toward them which was based on love.

19:15 They're not worthy of it.

19:18 In other words, if you love a person that loves you, this is not mercy. you're only returning the same favor back. This is the law of the Old Testament, which both our beloved Jews and Muslims follow this law till this very day. That is the law of the Old Testament. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

19:41 Love the one who loves you and hate the one who hates you. This is the law of physics. This is the law of the natural realm. And this is the law of the Old Testament. The Lord Jesus came with a law from heaven because He is the only one who came down from heaven. No one ascended to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man who art in heaven. So when the Lord Jesus came from heaven, he brought the law of heaven.

20:19 And the law of heaven says, love your enemy. This law is non-existent in this tangible realm. But guess what? We are taken from this realm. Our body and our soul are taken from this realm. Body from earth and soul from nature. So two components are taken from this realm. Only one component from the next, your spirit. And that's why the most influential law on a normal human being, and I say in any and every human being, is the law of this tangible realm. Love the one who loves you and hate the one who hates you. It is only fair to do so. But when it is not fair, According to this realm is love the one who hates you.

21:17 Come on, bro.

21:18 What do you mean love the one who hates me? I'll smack the daylight out of them. You tell me off, I'll chop you. You stab me, I'll stab you. You hurt me, I'll hurt you. That is the natural law. That's not an act of mercy. If you invite me to your home, I'll invite you to my home. If you don't, dream of it. But when you're able to forgive someone who has hurt you, rest assured you are walking in the footsteps of the Messiah.

22:12 Your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

22:15 Some people always ask me, Bishop, how do I know if I am following the Lord?

22:25 How do I.

22:25 Know that I am really, you know, walking, you know, and behind the Good Shepherd?

22:31 How do I know?

22:33 Like I know how to go from Fairfield to Liverpool. I know how to get from Fairfield to Gosford.

22:40 The good old Gosford. Or the entrance. I know how to get there. From A to B. A to Z. I know. But I don't know the way of Christ. Because it's spiritual.

22:53 I can't see it with my naked eye. And I am not sure if I am really walking in His way or not. You want to know my child 100% sure if you are walking in the way of Christ, the day you're able to forgive your enemy, not only your enemy, the day you're able to forgive the one who has hurt you, rest assured you are walking in the footsteps of your Lord Jesus. Because You cannot forgive someone who has hurt you. This law is not from this realm. This realm can only do one thing. Love the one who loves you and hurt the one who hurts you. But to love the one who hates you and do good unto the person who has hurt you a lot always. This law came from one place.

23:45 Heaven through Jesus Christ. No other one.

23:50 So the Lord says, the Lord said to that lawyer, you want to enter eternal life?

24:03 He said, what shall I do? I don't have the time. This passage is so deep. It's so deep.

24:13 He said, what shall I do to enter eternal life? He said, what does the law say? It looks like you are a man of the law. The Lord Jesus is God. He knows everyone.

24:25 He looked at him.

24:25 He said, oh, you're an educated man. You've learned and you studied the law. So you should answer your question. He said, well, the law says love the Lord your God with all of your heart. With all of your soul. With all of your strength. And with all of your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself. He said, well, truly you said it. Do this and you shall live. But who can do it? Can we love God with all of our heart? You know why Adam failed and broke God's word? Because he did not love God with all of his heart. If Adam had loved God with all of his heart, he wouldn't have transgressed against God. But looks like he had a small percentage of love for himself, not for God. If all of his heart was for God,

25:26 he would never ever break God's word. The only one who never broke God's word was Jesus, Christ of Nazareth.

25:33 Why?

25:34 Because Jesus as the man, the only man who loved God with all of his heart and who loved his neighbor like himself. Actually, I can say he loved his neighbor more than himself.

25:51 He surpassed. He surpassed the law.

25:55 If we truly allow the Lord Jesus to fill our hearts with His divine love, everything.

26:12 Matters not anymore.

26:18 If we truly allow the Lord Jesus to fill our hearts with His true divine love, nothing matters anymore.

26:32 Do you know when you will truly live? Truly live.

26:38 You see, there is a lot of people who are living, but not truly living. They're living, but so miserable. A miserable life is no life. Living, but like dead. So what kind of life is that? You know when you are truly alive? When you're free. When you're free, you can say, now I'm living. If you are still living in bondage, chained up, locked up, then you are not living even if you are living. The only time you can claim that you are truly living, is when you're free.

27:25 You know when you will receive your freedom? Is when.

27:32 The people who love you and the people who hate you, for you, they are the same.

27:44 A day that.

27:44 Comes when the people who love you and the people who hate you you see them the same, you're free.

27:54 You're living now.

27:56 You know when you will see all people the same? Those who love you and those who hate you, you will see them equally. And genuinely I mean this, those who love you, you'll say, yeah, that's all right.

28:09 And those who hate you, you'll say, oh, it's all right. I like it.

28:15 I like the ones who love me and I like the ones who hate me equally.

28:19 This is true living.

28:25 You know when you will see them all the same? It's when you don't see them anymore, but you see Jesus. Martha, Martha, you are troubled about many things, but Mary has chosen the good portion. No one can take that away from her. The good portion, Martha, is me. I, Jesus Christ. You see, Mary focused on me, not on what shall I cook for lunch. Oh, Jesus is it and our place. He visited our home. He entered our home. Martha got up and said, I've got to prepare.

29:13 I don't know.

29:14 I'm kind of lost now. I wasn't expecting the Lord to come. I'm kind of embarrassed. What shall I cook? What shall I do? Shall I bring tea first? Maybe he's hungry. Shall I bring water? Maybe he's thirsty. Shall I bring.

29:32 Red rice? I don't know.

29:34 He's not Bishop Murray. Look alike, but he's not Bishop Murray. He's much bigger than Bishop Murray. So she was chaotic. But Mary was focused. The Lord Jesus entered their house. Mary sat at his feet. You know, Mary focused on the Lord While he entered her house. Then how much more we need to focus on the Lord. When we enter his house. When you come to church. Focus on the Lord. Don't focus on anything else. Focus on the Lord.

30:22 Anyone who comes into your house. Automatically you'll go to the kitchen and do something. Coffee, tea, something. Yet the Lord entered Mary's house, but Mary did not focus on anything but the Lord.

30:44 Takes an effort. And a huge one too.

30:51 When Christ is the center of your life, is the center of your focus, forgiveness It's very easily done. But when Christ is not, you will struggle all your life to forgive one little thing. But listen, my child. If you cannot forgive, there is no love. And if there is no love, there is no life. And if there is no life, there is no home. So instead of preparing food for the Lord... Prepare yourself for the Lord.

31:35 The Lord did not enter your house for you to put a cup of tea before Him. The Lord entered your house so that you can put your heart before Him.

31:46 Your heart. Your heart, my child. To be able to love, you need to know.

31:59 When through knowledge you're led to love, love, the moment you love, you live. The moment you love, you live. The moment you stop loving, you're dead. You don't live anymore.

32:16 What makes life, life is love.

32:20 But the moment you humble yourself before the Lord, Christ is your portion. The good portion You receive wisdom. Jesus Christ gives you wisdom. When He gives you wisdom, through that wisdom, you protect that love which you gained through the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

32:47 And when you.

32:47 Begin to protecting the love through humility wisdom, the natural, the natural outcome is you'll be able to forgive.

33:00 Your enemies.

33:01 This is what will differentiate you from the world. The world cannot forgive. But when you're able to forgive, the world will see this person is different. Oh, this person follows Jesus Christ. That's why he's different. When Christ dwells in your heart, you'll automatically be different. Christ is known to change people. And not just any change. He changes them from dead to living ones. Why are the people of the world dead? Because there is no love. Well, they're all alive, but they're all dead.

34:00 Because there's no love.

34:02 They act. They fake it. The united nation. The un-united nation. They sit in parliament and talk. They take photos together.

34:25 Smile. There's no love.

34:32 The church got divided for two things, two reasons. Lack of love, lack of humility. Don't tell me my theology, your theology, my doctrine. Leave that aside for now.

34:49 Relax.

34:51 What caused the main, main reason for the division was the lack of love and the lack of humility.

34:59 One day I had a phone call. I was driving.

35:03 I don't know how that happened, but maybe it was from the Lord. And this young man on the other side of the phone, he says, we have a gathering on this date, at this hour, to pray the rosary.

35:18 I said, yeah, okay, no worries. Am I invited? He said, yes.

35:22 I said, have you got the right number or the wrong number? I think you've got the wrong number, my dear friend. You're talking to a bishop, and he happens to be Orthodox.

35:33 Oh, really?

35:35 So it's not so-and-so? I said, unfortunately not. My name is Bishop Mari. My name is Bishop Mari and I am Orthodox. I don't pray the rosary, but doesn't matter if I come, I will. If I get invited to a beloved Catholic church and they happen to pray the rosary and they invite me, I'll pray it. And respect of that house. I don't pray it in my own house.

36:08 But if I get invited for the love of Christ, I'll pray it. Hail Mary, full of grace. You want me to say it in Aramaic? Shlem lachmaryam melyath tayyibutha. Maran ammach. B'richat ab nisheh. Wamwarahu peret kharsakhi sho'a. That is in Aramaic.

36:37 Crucify him. He's a traitor. Hallelujah.

36:43 That guy said, I've never spoken to an Orthodox bishop that says, I don't mind to pray with you the rosary.

36:51 You know, I'm impressed. I said, me too. Love one another. For in this, the world will know you're my disciples.

37:11 Love in order to live. Be humble in order to be wise. And with love and humility, mercy is possible.

37:25 Let's bow our heads.

37:32 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen. Our good God and full of mercy, our good God and full of mercy, whose grace and mercy is poured upon all, pour, my Lord, the compassion of the delightfulness of your love upon your servants, and again transform them in the hope of renewal to the life of repentance. Renew in them your Holy Spirit, by whom they are sealed for the day of salvation. Purify them by your compassion from all flesh and spiritual blemishes. and assure the hope of their faith by the aid of your grace, and instill the walks of their behavior and the paths of righteousness. Please them along with the saints in your kingdom by the assurance of the hope of their faith and the adoption

38:15 as your children and in the joy of your absolving mysteries. Empower them by the aid of your mercies to observe your commandments and fulfill your will, to confess, worship, and praise your holy name, the Lord of all, Father and Son and Holy Spirit forever.

38:32 Amen.

38:34 May the Lord Jesus forgive us. May the Lord Jesus have mercy on all of us. And my beloved, please, please, I beg you, whatever you do in life, don't lose Jesus Christ of Nazareth. You can replace anything and everything and everyone.

38:51 But Jesus is the only person that is irreplaceable. Irreplaceable.

38:58 Don't lose eternity for a moment of pleasure on earth. Don't lose eternity for the sake of friends taking you to the wrong places for the wrong reasons.

39:14 Don't lose Christ for no one's sake. No one's.

39:21 Because our life on earth is like a dream at the awakening. Before we know it, I'm gone. I'm preaching tonight, but maybe tomorrow not. Only God knows. And when God calls me, am I ready? Am I ready to face Him? Come here and give accounts to what you have done.

39:51 On earth for me. Forget about the world. The world is a noise pollution. Dark evil. Enjoy life.

40:09 With the honor of this life. You can still go to Maccas. No, no, don't go to Maccas. I promoted them long enough. They never paid me for it. I've canceled them. Let's go to Hungary. You can still go out. You can still have your coffee. You can still have your lunch with your loved ones. But do it with the light of the world. Do it with the light of the world.

40:47 Thank you.