Homily on the 32nd Sunday after Pentecost
In today’s gospel we have heard the recount of when our Lord restored sight to the blind man as He (Christ) journeyed to Jericho.
When the man heard that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by, and shouted “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!” Lk 18:38
The man in faith, acclaims Jesus as the Son of David, thus professing that Jesus truly is the Messiah; Emmanuel! (God is with us)
As I have stated in previous homilies, God can only intervene if we invite Him too; we must meet Him half way, it’s not good enough to just ask and wait for something to happen. We must help ourselves in order for healing to take place. Moreover, the most important criteria of them all is FAITH! A reoccurring theme played out within the Gospels; as Christ heals people from their infirmities; He always says “Go in peace, your faith has made you well.”
When our Lord saw, that the blind man believed that He (Jesus) had the power to heal, Jesus restored his sight. In making such a confession, the blind man risked persecution; even death for in the eye’s of some, it would have been considered as blasphemy!
The blind man never gave up hope in that one day, God would answer the plea of his heart and restore his sight. The blind man’s faith remained strong.
I remember in my teenage years as a young altar server in the Roman Church, there was a young girl who was born blind. I recall one particular time, we were counting the money from the collection, and she told me that she had fallen into a deep depression and one time she even contemplated suicide!
One day, she headed the advise of her mother and attended a Church service. She found that many people enjoyed her company and valued her as she was.(A daughter of God)
Later on she was the designated person who would take charge of the weekly collection. She loved counting the money with the other lady’s as the listened to the service from the other room.
Several years later she received a guide dog, thus making making her more mobile than ever before. The Lord God had provided; she loved and enjoyed every minute of life. Thus, just as she was prepared to end it all, she summoned up the last bit of faith she had left within her heart and gave it a go! As is evident the Lord reached out onto her in His Mercy and gave her a reason to live for! For He is the treasury of blessings and giver of life! Prayer of the heavenly King
On the other side of the spectrum, we have people who completely reject God and His Church as soon as something goes wrong in their lives.
I personally know of a good man who lost his wife, the love of his life only after a few years after marriage. The resentment he still holds to this day is tremendous. Not only he slanders the Church and it's clergy all across the board, but he curses and blasphemes the Holy name of God.
I totally sympathise with this man, and I can only imagine how he must feel, but to deny that there is life after death means that he has not come to terms with life itself; (The All Holy Trinity) their exists a void in his life which he fills with life’s pressures. Still there is something missing, something which he refuses to see due to the horrific events from his past. Something that will be made clear to him perhaps at the moment of death; even then Our Good and Gracious Lord will give him the chance to repent; the ball is in his court, as we say in our Australian slang.
Moreover, there is a choice to be made when things go wrong in life, we can either come to terms with what life throws at us and offer them up to the Lord, that in Faith he will render us whole, or we can do the complete opposite and resent and despise God, blaming Him for life’s turmoils. “ I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit within you; I will remove from you, your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” Ez 36:26
If we know such people in our lives, let us pray that the Lord soften their hearts of stone into clay so that He (Christ) who is the potter can mould them into vessels of Salvation! “But now, O Lord, You are our Father, we are the clay, and you our Potter, and all of us are the work of Your hands” Is 64:8
Last Saturday evening, on the eve of our Lord's Holy Theophany, the Church gathered to celebrate the blessing of the waters and the Divine Liturgy.
As some may know, my youngest daughter Lucy has had some complications from before birth. She has a herniation of the abdominal wall which has caused some of her organs to grow out of her body. She has been doing fantastic. We have been waiting for skin to grow over her hernia in order to protect her organs; so that in due time she can have her operation to fix everything up.
On Monday morning a nurse came for her weekly visit to change Lucy’s bandage and to check on her progress.
Thus, we the nurse removed the bandage and low and behold, a very thin fresh layer of skin had grown; which the week before had not been present. May I also add that due to Lucy having an open wound as such, there was an odour that was slightly overwhelming and quit difficult to get used to. But as of Monday the smell had disappeared.
With great and upmost conviction, I know without a doubt and profess that, in Lucy receiving the Holy waters of the Jordan, she had received healing by Christ who IS the Living waters!; the Life Giving Spring!
Jesus looked at them and said, “with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Something that I have just testified to; the healing of my daughter! Then Jesus said to him,
“Receive your sight, your faith has made you well.” Lk 18:43
Comments