This Sunday follows the great feast of the ascension of Christ, when he was taken up into the heavens. Fr. Micah explains that many Jews of the first century could not accept Christ sitting at the right hand of the Father at his ascension. It meant that he was the living God, having unity and equality with the Father while humbling himself and becoming flesh.

Fr. Micah explains that many heresies — from Arianism to Nestorianism to iconoclasm — come from this inability to accept the extreme humility of Christ. Throughout Scripture, we see God’s great humility, and this is the humility we are to emulate as Christians. Fr. Micah explains that we can acquire this great humility through love — love that puts others first, including our enemies. 

He concludes by pointing out words of Christ in today’s Epistle reading, in which he says it is better to give than to receive. Fr. Micah urges us to live according to this saying, giving until we have emptied ourselves as Christ emptied himself. Through this humility, through this love, we can encounter the living God who is enthroned in the heavens.