Restoring Harmony With God
📌 Homily by Fr. Matthew Brown 🗓️ November 28, 2025 📍 St. Mary Magdalen Orthodox Church (OCA), New York City
Enmity, Alignment and the Law
In the epistle that we read from Paul, he talks about this enmity with God. One of the interesting things is that Paul talks about the law as being sort of the reason or the excuse for why we are at this enmity with God and then talks about the Spirit in contrast to it. One of the things he is trying to get at is this idea that simply rules are not enough and that external changes are not enough. You have to actually change and transform your heart.
He also says that the law or the rules of God’s commandments convict us and point out and show to us where we are wrong. The whole point of the commandments is this idea of enmity. A good way to think about it is not being properly aligned or being in some sort of conflict. When things are not in harmony, this is why Paul talks about peace in his epistle. This word peace comes up over and over again.
Sometimes the word peace in our minds simply indicates a lack of conflict or a lack of violence. But it means more than that. Sometimes it is better to use the word harmony. Harmony gives a more active and positive aspect to what Paul is talking about, which is that there is peace not only because there is no conflict, but because things are in right relationship. They are in right order. They are properly aligned. You are not at cross purposes that push against each other.
Christ the Perfect Alignment
When we think about what this enmity with God means compared to the peace and harmony we are supposed to have, Paul turns our attention to the very person of Christ at the Incarnation. He talks about how Jesus brings both of these things together, the divine and the human, and puts them in right alignment and right relationship. That right relationship gives a sense of peace or tranquility or harmony.
One of the things about the difference between conflict and peace is that in conflict everything is difficult and hard. With peace there is an ease to it. There is something natural about everything that is happening. We see this in the life of Jesus. He puts these things in right harmony. Then we are given this as a model of imitation for how we should put ourselves in harmony and right relationship with God.
This is one way to think about the spiritual life. The goal is alignment. What do we mean by enmity with God or a breakdown of harmony. The thing that is most important, the thing that is highest in the hierarchy of our values, the thing that should be the highest governing principle that everything else submits to and revolves around like the axle on a wheel, is God. When that is not properly aligned, everything else in our lives becomes disjointed.
The Parable of the Foolish Man and the Shortness of Life
This helps us understand the parable Jesus gives us. This parable is actually simple compared to many others. One of the things we are reminded of is how temporary life is and how, because of the reality of death, we should put things in their proper priority.
The man is not wrong for wanting to build bigger barns or wanting to be successful, but there is foolishness in forgetting the priority of things. One of the ways we determine priority in our lives is how eternal or long lasting something is. The longer something lasts over the course of our life, the more valuable it is.
This is a helpful way to think about virtues and vices. One of the reasons stealing, cheating, and lying are immoral is because they do not work over the long run. This is a great way to think about sin. Sin is short sightedness. Maybe hookup culture works for a while but will it work when you are seventy. Maybe lying gets you out of trouble now but what will it do to your relationships in the long run.
Eventually sin catches up with you because it is not an orientation to life that works over the long haul. The virtues we are trying to acquire work for eternity.
The rich farmer lacked a bigger perspective. He prioritized something that should not have been as high on his list. Misprioritizing what matters and failing to recognize that God is at the top is what causes a lack of harmony, a breakdown of peace, and a life experienced as enmity, difficult and at cross purposes with God.
When we struggle to do what is good and right, we are struggling to do what is best for us and for those we love over the longest span of time. It is easy to lose focus.
When we come to church, to the liturgy, it is a way to remind ourselves and reinforce what is most valuable and true. It is a way to recalibrate ourselves. Sometimes when you drive an old car the steering wheel is crooked. A good car that is well aligned can drive straight even without hands on the wheel. A car that is misaligned veers off the road in seconds. That is what we are trying to fix. We need alignment to remind us of what matters.
This is one of the things we are trying to accomplish together on Sunday because the spiritual journey is too difficult to do alone.
Life is short and death is a sadness and a tragedy. Yet it raises the stakes of life and makes things matter. It is hard to imagine anything being meaningful if nothing was on the line. We live in a realm of death, born destined to die, but that also means our choices matter. We see that in the parable and the foolish man. Hopefully we can be a little less foolish and experience a little harmony and right alignment with God today.
Lord Jesus Christ.
Final Thoughts
The whole spiritual life is about alignment. When God is at the center everything else begins to fall into harmony. When He is not, everything feels disjointed. The parable is not about money. It is about perspective, eternity, and learning to put first things first.