The Apostle Paul begins his text today with the wonderful phrase, “Walk as children of the light.” Light, as it is written in the Bible and on the tongue of Jesus himself, means life, life with God and according to his commandments, which makes us intelligent and wise. A phrase like this carries as much awe and responsibility as it does encouragement.

But it is not easy for those who are destined to be children of light to always walk according to the light. All have been baptized and become children of light, but it is not uncommon for them to walk in darkness. Therefore, the Apostle Paul did not hesitate to repeat in one way or another the necessity for a brother to raise up his brother, and if one of them slips or falls, we must raise him up with love and correct him with help and advice. This journey is part of the nature of our church life, and requires that the member care for the other members, in a spirit of love and shared responsibility. The life of church fellowship does not only mean cooperation within the limits of harmony and securing interests as in civil institutions; rather, in depth, it means the member’s commitment with the whole body, and his feeling of responsibility towards each other. The journey in the church is not a race on the path to salvation between individuals, but each individual is like a “rower” in the ship of salvation, and everyone rows so that the ship can quickly reach the shore of safety and overcome the force of history, and everyone in the ship will reach the shore of peace together. Therefore, the spiritualists arouse and reform by warning any brother who has been overcome by evil or who has been forced by circumstances that have made him deviate from the paths of light and truth. The Church is a sailing ship, and not everyone in it will go to his salvation alone. The bond of love that builds its fellowship makes everyone not jump off the ship, fleeing alone in difficulties to the shore, but rather they rush to arouse those who are in distress so that the ship may be saved by everyone.

This is what the Apostle Paul calls the people of Ephesus to do in the letter we heard today. He advises the children of light to walk first in the light, and then to “reprove” other actions.

“Rebuke” is an unpleasant word, but it is only true in the sense and manner in which the Apostle Paul recommends it. Therefore, when he recommends to us “Have no fellowship with the works of darkness… but rather rebuke them,” he goes on to explain several spiritual data that must accompany this “rebuke-warning” so that all things may become “light.” These are the data, in sequence:

1. “Everything that is rebuked “is revealed by the light.” If he who rebukes does not seek revenge but edification, then he can only awaken one who is in the light, that is, he who sees the spot of darkness from the light. He who awakens has no self-interest, except that he and everyone else be in the light, that is, in obedience to the divine commandment. So whoever feels that he wants to make a remark or a warning, must first be certain that he is speaking from the light, and that he knows where the spot of darkness is, and that what he declares is not from his own motives but because the Spirit prompts him, that is, it is revealed by the light,” as the Apostle says.
2. “For all things that are revealed are light,” and by this the apostle means that all things that are revealed in the light of the commandment and under its guidance become light. Light dispels darkness. And all that is in darkness when the light is presented becomes light. Error is not sin when it is ignorance. Sin is to see the light and prefer the laziness of darkness to it. Not all who are in darkness are enemies of the light. He who receives the words of light will become light. For all that is revealed (by light, as Paul had previously commanded) is ultimately light.
3. “Awake, O sleeper!” And arise from the dead! The Pauline language of rebuke is not a merit but a calling. This means that the one who awakens is confident that the sleeper has within him the energies of light, but he needs to pay attention to it. A mistake that is not a mistake, an evil that is not evil, and every member of the Church may be in darkness once but is not dark, may commit evil but is never evil. Trust in the one who has sinned leads us to rebuke his actions, because we believe that he is originally a child of light.
4. “Christ will shine on you.” Can he who has tasted the warmth of Christ’s light endure the coldness of darkness for his brother? “Come, we have found the Messiah,” Philip cried out to Nathaniel. Only around Jesus will we all be in the light. “Rebuke” is for deeds, but man deserves to be “awakened” to live with Christ. Our longing for Christ compels us to go with the other to Him.
5. “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Here Paul does not seem to tolerate the absence of the Son of Light in darkness. It is clear that he is in a hurry because the loss is not ordinary but great. “He who is not for us is against us.” This word of Jesus is also interpreted in terms of time. There is no doubt that darkness is the prevailing circumstance without the word of light always and continuously shining upon it. The world lacks light and time is deteriorating toward the west if the advice of the Spirit does not direct it toward the east. If circumstances are left to their own devices, they will most likely become evil days. That is why Paul cried out to a disciple, “Reprove in season and out of season.” The apostle here means two things by the word “redeeming the time.” The first is not to waste the time of evangelism and service because of our slowness or hesitation, and the second is to make up for what was lost, for what happened in the time of darkness.
6. “Understanding the will of the Lord,” this is the work of light in the Holy Spirit. Paul the Apostle himself is the first example of someone who was in darkness and became, through the rebuke, “Why do you persecute me?” a son of light. And he redeemed the time.

The words here are on the tongue of Paul, and these spiritual tips are for anyone who wants to awaken someone who is mistaken out of ignorance. Because as the book says, “The instruction of the wise will love you, but the instruction of the fool will hate you.” These constructive words of warning are only directed to those who may work the work of darkness, but who originally love the works of light. This is the wise man when he makes a mistake. The warning is not directed to the fool who saw the light but loved the darkness.

“Understanding the will of the Lord” which unites us in the bond of love and covers us with the veil of obedience to it, then we rebuke in the spirit the unfruitful actions so that we may all be in the light and speak to one another only in the language and words of the psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, so that we may chant from our hearts to the Lord, Amen.

Metropolitan Boulos Yazigi
Quoted from the letter of the Archdiocese of Aleppo