Arguing Ikonography

Sermon for the third Sunday after Epiphany

Social media is filled with arguments. They can be as trivial as "which was the best Doctor Who?" They can be as serious as "who do I vote for?" The internet is filled with comments and debates that get heated and, sometimes, quite nasty. Christians aren't exempt from this. Sometimes, Christians can be the worst at arguing. Indeed, it's not a new phenomenon, either. Some of the great Oecumenical Councils had periods of Christians throwing insults at each other. The story of St Nicholas punching the heretic Arius may not be completely accurate but there is probably a grain of truth present. 

Why do we get into arguments? Is it sheer competition that we like to win? Do we see ourselves as knights in shining armour ready to defend the truth from the infidel?

[PAUSE]

St Paul warns us not to become wise in our own conceits, nor to recompense evil for evil. This is something that gets easily forgotten in debates on social media. The reason is clear: in a social media argument, it doesn't look like you're arguing with a person. It looks like you are arguing with a machine. 

Even if this is true, we do have to think about why we are arguing in the first place, especially when passions begin to run high. For the Christian, presenting the Christian Faith and giving our testimony is vitally important. People need to hear the Gospel. There will always be those who do not want to hear the Gospel. There will always be those who want to stop the Gospel from being heard. One nasty little trick of the Devil is to make the argument seem more important than the person we are arguing with. There might come a point when, all of a sudden, we become the only one who can save the Faith. This might be true of someone like St Athanasius, but the one who is truly faithful to God will still see Christ in his opponent. 

The screen can rob us of seeing the face of Christ in the person we disagree with most. This is another trick of the Devil to take away our humanity and rob us of the image of Christ.

[PAUSE]

Ikons are so very important and sometimes we forget their significance. With an ikon, we see the Holy look back at us. We glimpse into Heaven itself and all its realities. They say a picture paints a thousand words but an ikon reflects what is true. And we must remember that we are ikons too. We reflect God's humanity because God partakes of it so that we might partake of His divinity. We must therefore always learn to see the face of Christ in our opponent. 

We need to stop wanting to win arguments and rather tell the truth without taking away the humanity of the one we're arguing with. Sometimes, it is best to step back and stop the argument before it begins to become heated, allowing our opponent the last word if necessary. Other times, it is better to imagine the face of our opponent. Better still is to have an ikon of Christ on or near your screen so that His eyes can see you and you can gaze back at His humanity and remember the humanity of the one you're arguing with. 

[PAUSE]

Producing an irrefutable argument is nothing in comparison with working the love and mercy of Our Lord in the world. The Gospel is found on the lips, in the hands and in the heart of those who love God. At all times, those outside the Church must be able to say of us, "see how these Christians love each other!"

Sometimes, in a argument, to lose is to win and he who wins shall lose. We cannot lose Christ if we see Him in the face of everyone we meet, even online.