A New Look at An Old Truth

good afternoon everyone good afternoon and hello and welcome my name is father Anthony Meza and thank you for tuning in to my weekly Wednesday scope I'm sorry I'm a couple minutes late here today my apologies for that don't worry I'll give you an extra two minutes on the backend for those you're just joining in I show up here on periscope every Wednesday afternoon at 12:30 Eastern time to speak about whatever it is that wrote in my blog in the morning and you can always read my blog at father Anthony com fr Anthony comm and today as I wrote about is we'll be taking a new look at an old truth and I'll be talking about one of the most famous stories in the new testament which is the story of the prodigal son which we all know and love but made me from a slightly different angle than we usually read it from so before I do that go ahead and tell me who is on and where it is that you're tuning in from hello japhet from Sweden welcome nice to have you on all the way from Sweden round it's impressive tell me who else is on where it is that you're tuning in from he we always regular good to see you hi Madhu from Maryland Stephanie from STS a salon from Calgary hello to all of you silvano from Egypt in the home Houston I've in Montreal met Hugh Maryland Viola Canada Mark Jersey Mikael Maryland Joe from East Brunswick Mimi Connecticut faithful Teta always faithful to see you every week great to see you Erin from Indianapolis Naveen from Alberta theology student welcome to V Michael Toronto Mike Toronto Abood and nataline from Stockholm Sweden Wow who knew that Sweden Marianna from Dallas mihari Seattle are you good to see you as well and fufu xxx said you changed my life but thank you for that my pleasure just doing my job I like your screen name FUBU 30 is your shirt series yeah we're still Maryanne Austria welcome to you too someone asked are we still doing a series on marriage yes we are we're doing a series on relationships and you're certainly welcome to join us for that we're gonna jump into today's scope if you would like to share this scope with anyone on your social networks you can do so very easily and that's just by swiping right across the screen and you can share it you look like the dad from American Pie never seen the movie but he's obviously a handsome man if he is if he's not you make it blocked but if you'd like to share this go swipe right you can do so very easily and I appreciate that well go I'm going to start as I do every week before I get into the topic by answering a few questions I do some Q&A scopes every now and then there's always like 10 million questions and I don't get to so every week I try to answer a couple questions before I start the scope and you can always submit those on Twitter or via my blog and we got some good ones here today so let me start this way the first question is from someone named curious curious asks why can't women be priestesses and deaconesses in the past we used to have them so why not anymore why can't women have a bigger role in the church so curious is asking about the role of women in the church and curious actually asked like three different questions there unknowingly so let me let me try to break this down here for you first you said why can't woman be a priestess or Deaconess woman can be Deaconess okay in fact only women only women can be Deaconess man cannot be Deaconess okay only women can be Deaconess so there is that role it's not used very much in our tradition the Coptic Orthodox Church today used to be bigger it's not as much anymore but it is still a role and is still a rank and why it's not you it is used but not as much that's more of a you know a pastoral question you can ask you know the bishop of your church or whatever but it is there okay you please speak up I can't hear you can you guys hear me okay can everyone else hear me okay if there's a problem with the audio let me know if not fou-fou 30 maybe you can just turn it up a little everyone else can hear me okay audio okay there's a problem the audio please let me know yes here okay so there is no such thing as priestess there is Deaconess and it can only be women and the past needs to have this one anymore so again we do have them we never had priestess before but we had Deaconess and we still do okay so the real question I want to get to is why can't a woman be a priest okay and you summarized it here curious by saying why can't women have a bigger role in the church and I'm gonna push back on you for a second there who said that women can't have a what's the definition of a bigger role you know the problem okay and when we say why can't a woman be a priest why can't a woman have a bigger role the problem is we have taken an earthly concept okay we've taken an earthly concept and we've applied it to a spiritual office okay let me say it a little bit different way can you say I can i as a man say why can't men have babies can I say that why can't men have babies because babies come from women okay it's not saying men are higher or lower or better or worse it's just saying that God created it that there's this role called birth giver and it can only be women and there's a role called priests that can only be men now you look at that and saying I can hear some of you okay ready to push back on me okay some of you ready can to push back know somebody ready to push back and say well that's not fair why is it that way why it God who what why is it not fair like ask yourself this question okay and I'm kind of fast for it I'll be happy to have this discussion face-to-face what you're gonna end up we're gonna end up getting to the point what you're going to say the problem is that we have defined priesthood as better we have divine refined priesthood as the leader the boss the guy who's in charge so what I actually want to say is I want says we've abused the priesthood because if you look back to to the early church first century second century third century fourth century there was no such thing as like a one-man show of the priesthood that's why we struggle we say priests are the ones who are in charge and they run the whole show so therefore why can't a woman do that and what I say to you is a mansion do that either okay the role of the priesthood is not to be a dictator or a one-man show or anything like that it's our abuse of power that makes people say it's not fair that only they can do it only they can amuse the power so what I'm trying to say is God defined it God designed it that priest is male mother is female okay and neither one is higher or lower anything like I'm just using mother as an example because I know it's kind of a far-fetched one but you all get what I'm trying to say is each one has a role to play in the church is at its best when each one is playing their role and no one is higher or lower or anything like that okay so don't let some people's abuse of power make you think that God designed it so that mineral was in power okay that's what I'm trying to say don't let a man's abuse of his power make you think that God designed it so that men are always in power okay or things like that okay yeah and women co-create yeah women play a role yeah it's just you know men don't desire that role so they're Fords but I mean there's other roles that only women do and there's other roles that only men doing this and these roles that everyone can do together and like it's roles okay it's not a matter of higher lord get rid of this higher a lower thing because this is what causes a lot of problems why can't I be the priest so I can be the one calling the shots Brees has no one who calls Chuck priest has a role priest the role is servant okay not anything else all right Joe asks how do we preach to the high school youth to avoid the heartache that the prodigal son had to go through when he hit rock bottom and started and start loving God from an early age and a true joy will come from him and not the ways of the world many you tell themselves that'll have my fun now and I can go back to God in the future how do we stress that being with God is the true form of fun and joy so Joe is asking this question about high school youth but I would say that this applies to adult youth as much as it applies to high school youth because we do the same thing okay grown-ups we do the same thing which is let me enjoy my college years then I'll go to God later and then we get out of college and let me make my money right now and go to God later let me start my family that I'll go to God later and then when my kids are older oh so we do the same thing and in the end what I told Joe okay responded to him on my blog and I'll answer it right here is don't tell people that being with God is more fun show people and this is on us okay I always say that church should be the funnest place to be on a Sunday morning why because you bring okay you bring a whole bunch of people I know what that word is but it sounds like a bad word you bring a whole bunch of people who are full of joy full of celebration I put them all in the same room and you lock them together you say y'all staying here for an hour or two hours together that place should be full of joy we should be the happiest people in the world aren't we the ones who have the good news I got we the people imagine a room full of people who just won the lottery all right that should be us okay because we through no action of art no no earning of our own just got received the body and blood of Christ okay if you're in an Orthodox or Catholic tradition we just received the the the the the the body and blood of Christ that was crucified on the cross okay that rose from the dead we just received him and we worshipped him and we heard his word who should be happier than us so don't don't tell them you know you should have fun and God should be fun God is fun okay if God is not fun like what someone says to me Church is boring I see Church is not boring you are boring okay and someone was saying our serve services are in English yeah that's a good place okay so that's a new place to start speaking of like you have great news the game but Reese do you telling them in a language they can't understand of course I mean that you know it seems like a no-brainer to me but yeah absolutely church should be the happiest place on the planet we should be the most celebrating people in the whole wide world we have the best news we have the best news last question that I'll get into today's post comes from Daniel who is from Australia and Daniel says what if you want so badly to believe that God is present but you just don't believe it how can we love God from all our hearts how can we love God from all our hearts okay I'll ask you a question Daniel Daniel says how do we know how do I know God is there when I can't feel him that he's there Daniel anyone out there can you feel your brain right now can you feel it like you can't feel it but you know it's there because you know that the the functions that come from the brain you know that you could I couldn't speak unless my brain was in there I couldn't think unless my brains are the fact that I can think means there's a brain the fact that I can speak means a brain I don't need to feel it I know it's there and what I know overrides what I feel I don't feel like I feel empty space between this year and this year that's what I feel but what I know overrides what I feel all right same issue when it comes to God all right when you when you know that God is there okay whether or not you can feel him we need to get past the feeling is my point and whether or not I can feel him I know that he's there how do I know he's there well you know he's there just by the fact that there is something there means there's God there because logic says logic says a creation requires a create or logic okay and logic also says that if there is anything which is good in this universe there had to be a creator of good because by itself okay without getting in all the details if there's no God there can be no good okay because science biology physics okay chemistry if the world was just a creation creator less God and just a spontaneous generation and all that kinds of nonsense if that was all there was then there could be no good okay because biology does not create something called good so the fact that there is good there is love the fact that there is helping one another kindness these things are proof of God's existence I don't need to feel God to know that God is with me okay that's what I'll say okay those are the three questions for today I follow a juicer or an unclear that was helpful I know I now know God isn't but who is he who is he it's a big question but if you stick around okay let me let me answer that right now I will not answer everything about who is he but I maybe I can paint one aspect of God we're talking about the story the prodigal son here today it wrote about it in my blog post a story that everyone knows and it's a story that we've heard so often and sometimes you hear something so often that you don't real the magnitude of it someone who sees the sunrise every single morning all of a sudden may lose wonder and amazement on how beautiful it is and I don't ever want to become that with the Word of God okay and recently I was reading the story of the prodigal son and meditating on it and it hit me in a bit of a new light and let me give you a little bit of context as to where this is coming from I see a lot of people who struggle with guilt struggle with shame I do not personally struggle with guilt and shame I'm probably on the opposite side all right where I can probably use a little more guilt all right just my personality but also its product I believe of my profession okay when you see people okay struggling with sin and the guilt and the shame that it does and and and I see you know this person okay feeling it the worst person out here the next person who says something even worse and they feel like the worst person and I feel the next person who says something so I I can see in an objective way that truly all sinned and fall short of the glory of God you may not be able to see it in your seat because the problem is is you only see people's good side okay because we only show each other our good side we don't show each other our bad side but to a priest where the doors closed and you're in the confessional then all of a sudden the bad stuff comes out and I want you to know that everyone has bad stuff and nothing breaks my heart more than when I tell someone you know what this is bad and you know you're sorry and you did God forgives you and it's over and it's done with and repentance washes away the sin and then I see the guilt start to kick in and say no no no father Anthony and I hear people tell me you know I have to confess this again and like no you're not confessing it again because when you confess it the first time it was forgiven so that's it you're starting like after you confessed you repented you're starting blank that's the beauty of the Orthodox Church that's the beauty of the sacrament of confession that's why when people say why do we have to confess I say have to confess I say why do I get to confess how lucky am I to get to confess okay you you you may struggle with sin I get to confess all right I'm the luckiest person where I get to have someone put his hand on top of my head and hear the words your sins are absolved my goodness have to don't have to okay get to there's no saying is have to why do I have to have my debt paid back okay like why is the bank have to give me all this money okay the bank doesn't have to give you the money if you don't want confession is free money confession is someone saying you're in a hole okay why does the tow truck have to help me get home okay it doesn't have to you get to alright see where I'm going with this story the prodigal son okay look at it from this perspective we all know that God's love is undeserved all right the story of the prodigal son shows us that and it shows it that no matter what we've done God will always love us but I want to talk about it from slightly different perspective I want to look at it from this angle all right have you ever heard the expression grace is God giving us what we don't deserve okay that's what grace is an undeserved gift God giving us what we don't deserve well mercy is kind of the inverse of that grace is God giving us what we don't deserve mercy is God not giving us what we do deserve a lot of time as we struggle with but I deserve this and I've done this and I'm and I have and there's no way God could like I understand God chose me as his son but I've done this and I've lost him I've gone too far the story of the prodigal son okay my children are 12 and 10 years old right now I have the best children in the whole wide world I wouldn't trade them for anything my children along with my wife are the source of my joy I got God I got wife I got Michael and Lizzie this is what I got them like okay this is this is my joy in my life I love my children so dearly but because they're children they're the best in the whole wide world but because they're children sometimes they disobey and you as parents okay but those who are parents out there you realize it sometimes your kids disobey and there's a difference between like a two-year-old disobeying and a three-year-old disobeying and something like a twelve-year-old disobeying or a ten-year-old disobeying like it when it's two it's not like defiant it's just like they're kids all right so you kind of like you know what my kids don't deserve me to love them but I love them and my kids don't deserve they don't add any value to my household but I love them anyway as your kids get older all right it moves from they don't deserve it to they deserve the opposite of okay because now you see like an intentionality and now you see that like no they may be really aren't trying to hurt another now you see like you know what their defiant they're trying to challenge me again my kids are the best I'm not complaining about my kids I'm being honest I I wouldn't trade my kids for the whole wide world I wouldn't trade them for your kids especially but what I'm saying is I see this a lot in parents with children is that kids as they get older they do stuff and we did this when we were kids to to challenge our parents when we're young we don't deserve when we're older we deserve that opposite of if that makes any sense when we're young we don't deserve our parents love when we're older not only we don't deserve it we deserve the inverse of their love we deserved anger and we deserve you know punishment and we deserve and all those negative things that's the story of the prodigal son not only he didn't deserve the Father's love he didn't deserve the father's love when he was in the house before he took the money before he ran away and wasted it all after he had done that after he had an essence spit in his father's face and wasted all his inheritance at that point he deserves to be punished like logic says he deserves something negative to happen to him but that's the beauty of the story the beauty of this story is that what we learned from the father in the story the prodigal son is that every father's greatest desire listen carefully if you struggle with guilt every father's greatest desire is to have a relationship with his children that's his number one objective and the pain I see it so often okay in parents when their children are away from them causes tremendous pain and anguish - a parent's heart a father's heart or a mother's heart causes tremendous pain and anguish to their heart I am saying that is a fraction of God's heart when we as children are away from him so when we as children we sin and we come back and say God I'm sorry God's number one thing in his mind as any parent is I want to restore the relationship not I want to punish not I want to teach a lesson God will discipline us as any parent would and may change his behavior okay but it's always with the purpose and the goal of restoring the relationship so when you come out of it and you say you know what I can't and I'm too bad and shame and guilt you are doing the exact opposite of what any father would want from his children it's not what the prodigal son his father wanted it's not what your father in heaven won I remember one time okay I won't say which them one of my children I won't say not to embarrass them in case when they get older they watch this one of my children there was a time where there's probably like five years ago or something like that one of my children did not want to get a haircut and we had been like negotiating this haircut for like months maybe not months maybe like a month and we finally chose the day okay I don't want this day and what and we went through it all this day and get a haircut and like the bribery and the money and the lollipop or a little chick-fil-a act like we did all that kind of stuff finally get to the haircut place and the kid know the cave flips out and the kid says no means no means no I'm a priest I'm in the mall like you know the situation parents when you were in public okay and you want to but you can't okay as a priest that's worse okay because I can't let a lot of people think Catholic priest doesn't have kids anyway so they might think I'm gonna be back I don't know what people are thinking so I gotta be nice and I'm like no we're gonna get the haircut now because we agree to get to here cousin if you don't get there and I have to play this King but I want to kill my kids no means no no haircut man I'm telling ya I came home I honestly thought okay this child is stubborn okay this child is stubborn like her you know what like no I'm just joking just joking okay actually to be honest big personality I'm the more sober then not the mother I thought okay like I'm here the child is there that child is never gonna say sorry that child I know they feel like horrible but what they did they feel so in like so worthless and and and I know they want to say sorry but they can't get himself to say sorry because they can't get past the guilt and the shame and I am begging them come out the room restore and I thought you know I thought this job was never gonna come out room I can't tell you how much it pained me it pained me so much I thought you know what I'm just you know I'm not gonna be invited to this child's wedding like this is an end of our relationship the child is five years old and like hey that's what I thought and it pained me it pained me because I knew the child needed me I knew the child needed me and I knew you know if I thought the child was better off without me without the haircut without Thor whatever I wish the child the best I knew the child needed father and that's the way we are okay we need our Heavenly Father and therefore when God sees us shame and guilt it pains him because he knows we're only hurting ourselves and we need him I wrote this on my blog this morning I said I once heard that it was said grace is getting what we don't deserve well if that well mercy is not getting what we do deserve at first I understood grace now I think I understand mercy gee thank you so much I appreciate that but I just cuz I'll be tell you the good stories you don't hear the not-so-good story so that's our message okay thank you so much fufu 30 I appreciate it that's our message okay no guilt no shame not from God okay not from God if anyone has any questions I'll be more than happy to answer any questions that you got about this subject or about any other subject if you don't have any questions and you your fingers itch II push that button down there that's how you give me hearts and you show me that you appreciate what it is that you heard and that's your way of encouraging me so I MW five six six five says where in the Bible to God to find priesthood for men [Music] okay so again that's I'll answer quickly that's a where in the bible does it say that there's a lot of things it doesn't say clearly in the Bible where does say in the Bible that you know you shouldn't you do crack-cocaine where to say in the Bible that you shouldn't jump off a bridge there's a lot of things that aren't in the Bible all right so what's clear in the Bible is that Jesus gave special authority to a group of men twelve disciples all right and asked and commanded them to be leaders of the church okay and that kind of sacramental kind of away okay yeah and the Old Testament is even clearer but I'm just trying to fast forward and show you give a one-minute answer but you're correct okay you can go the Old Testament see that clear and then what's even more clear is that after Jesus left and those guys started the church that there was something called a priesthood and it was only for men so it's not a matter of does the Bible say that all right because a lot of things that the Bible doesn't say exactly right but we're not limiting that because the church existed before the Bible so it's clear in the church that priesthood was only men all right again it doesn't mean that women are bad okay just means okay different role should we get more attention to school or God God easy but isn't this because they're cultural barriers at the time no not because of cultural barriers at the time I look forward to the series on who God is yeah I mean every week I'm preaching about who God is and hopefully it helps you out there fufu thirty any other questions that anyone has about any other subject I'd be more than happy to answer if you're still hung up on that women in priesthood one that's that's again that's I did my best to answer in like a minute but I'd be more than happy to if you're in the area come visit Church I'm gonna be more than happy to go deeper with you on that one but um if not thank you all so much for your time have a great rest of the week and I'll see you all next week

Channel: Fr. Anthony Messeh

Views: 784

Rating: 5 out of 5

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Id: N9hseasLAuI

Length: 25min 36sec (1536 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 20 2017