I remember fondly the many bible stories in our Sunday School at Saint Paul's Greek Orthodox Church. Of course, there was a lot coloring of the images from these stories that kept us actively engaged as small children, but the lessons were learned and the simple activity reinforced the simple lesson. After all, children--like adults--love a good story, and they like to play.

           One of the many stories from the Old Testament that I recalled was the story of the Tower of Babel (The Book of Genesis 11:1-9.) It taught me that we dare not consider ourselves equal to God. To think of ourselves in such a way was idolatry. God is beyond comparison, measure, or understanding. After all, how can we as created, limited human beings possibly understand the Uncreated, Unlimited God? It is inconceivable and illogical that the created being can understand God the Creator, for if we could, then, by definition of God, He would no longer be God. The logic was inescapable and the thought, therefore, inconceivable.

           The story of men even trying to build something to reach God, to impress God, or equal God was disrespectful and foolish. To continue to build this Tower of Babel was the march of hubris and the height of folly, and yet, man who fell because of his pride in Paradise was about to repeat the same mistake and fall again.

Who is fallen man to even dare to attempt to challenge the Omnipotence of the All-Powerful One, All-Omniscient, and Only God? We children got it. We could not understand how adults could not get it. We were simple, and that is probably why we all need to become like simple, trusting children again to receive God's lessons.

           The story is all-familiar. At first, the earth was of one language and one speech. They were united in one tongue. They could all understand one another. Then they decided to build a tower that would reach to Heaven and make a name for themselves. They thought they were worthy and able to fathom, touch, and gain that which did not belong to them. They dared to think themselves worthy of Divinity, a name, and renown, and they strived to attain glory that alone belonged to God; but to God belongs all glory.

           Their motivation and approach were all wrong. They did not serve God; they served themselves. They were selfish and prideful. They tried to accomplish without God. They did not need God or His help to get to Heaven. (Sound familiar?) They tried to attain the unattainable. They did not begin in God's Name and build and accomplish for His Glory, but rather for themselves.

Although as created, they could create nothing and could only fashion from God's creation, they were not grateful and respectful of God, thinking they were accomplishing and progressing on their own, when they were merely borrowing what God had created for them--but not as good stewards with gratitude, respect, and reverence, but as prideful, selfish, ingrates.

           Their unity of language and purpose was a false unity. It was a unity of selfishness and pride, without God, not a unity of God in the community of the Trinity. Thus, as in all things, that which is not real does not last, and in time, is inevitably doomed to fail.

           Man's true identity, authenticity, and unity is union and Communion with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This true unity, this true state of being, cannot be earned, merited, achieved, or attained; it can only be given by God and received by man. Man cannot become God, save by His Grace, and that is why God became man, so that Man can become God.

Man cannot ascend on his own to Heaven by a tower. God descended so that man can ascend with God, for only the infinite God can bridge the infinite chasm that exists between God and man, heaven and earth. Thoughts and aspirations otherwise are but the epitome of hubris that leads to utter destruction.

           This is what happened on the plain in the land of Shinar. Men tried to reach heaven on their own, without authentic unity, and in spite of their one language, they became confused and did not understand one another. They become confused, divided, fragmented, and separated, and thus, condemned to fail.

They could no longer communicate, and the Lord scattered them abroad from there to the four corners of the earth, and so, they stopped building this infamous tower, and it received the ignominious name of Babel as a lesson for posterity to those who are ungrateful, prideful, selfish, idolatrous, and have the effrontery to overreach.

           On that dry, ancient plain, the Lord confused the languages of all the earth, and from there, the Lord God scattered them like sands in the wind across the broad face of the earth. Here, we see that a unity of language is no guarantee of success when one begins without the fear of God (which is the beginning of wisdom), the love of God, the gratitude of God, and the reverence for God and His gift of His creation entrusted to our providential care as His stewards.

           This was the lesson of the Old Testament, and now, we move on to the lesson of the New Testament as clearly seen under the transfiguring Light of Christ. In the New Testament, we learned and know that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, descended from Heaven to become Man, to suffer, to die, to resurrect, and to ascend for us, so that one day, through Him, we may ascend and be introduced with Him into the Unity and Community of the Holy Trinity.

           50 days after His Resurrection, the Disciples were assembled in one place for the Feast of Pentecost in Jerusalem. They were together with one mind, one purpose, and one accord, many as one, to worship the One True God.  They were each unique and distinct with various gifts, but nevertheless, they were together to collect, share, and offer their respective gifts for the glory of God.

To Jerusalem, the center of the world, at the intersection of three great continents and races, men came from all over the world to gather in one place for the great Feast, each speaking different languages, representing different peoples and customs from all over the face of the earth.

           Whereas from Babel they were once scattered, now they have been reassembled. Whereas once they all spoke one language but did not understand one another and were confused, divided, and separated, now they spoke many languages but understood one another, were gathered, and united.

They were like the many grains of wheat that make up one loaf of bread for sharing and fellowship; they were gathered together as one Eucharistic body for communion on this Great Feast in which God sent down the Holy Spirit to unite that which was divided, heal that which was fragmented, clarify what was confused, and reconcile that which was separated.

           The Holy Spirit completed what was lacking and guided the disciples who assembled in peace to worship and honor God--not themselves--and let Love, not selfishness, preside. With the Love of God and the Love for one another presiding, the Holy Spirit was received in the form of fiery tongues, and everyone miraculously understood the Disciples who, although very different, spoke the unifying language of Love in the Holy Spirit.

           Thus, in Christ, we see redemption, for the Old is redeemed in the New, and Pentecost fulfills Babel. Man's tower was not established to reach to heaven, but Christ's Church was established to bring man to Heaven. Moreover, the unity of language at Babel was insufficient for man's ascent, but the unity in the Trinity, the Love of God, and the Communion at Pentecost was sufficient for the ascent of man through God's Grace.

           Yours in our Resurrected, Ascended, and Glorified Lord,

                                                                                                          †Father Jim