A HOMILY FOR THE TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
About How Christ Continuously Heals and Raises from the Dead Those Who Possess True Faith
Brothers and sisters!
Today we heard the lection from the Gospel of Saint Luke telling how our Lord Jesus raised from the dead the daughter of Jairus, ruler of a synagogue in Galilee, and how with the fringe of His garment Christ healed the woman with an issue of blood.
Brothers and sisters, let us bless the fortunate Jairus, who was deemed worthy to see his beloved daughter alive after death; let us bless also the woman who had suffered from hemorrhage for twelve years and regained her health merely by touching the robe of the Saviour. Let us especially bless both Jairus and the woman for their fervent faith in Christ Jesus, for it was only by faith in Him that they obtained such great and wondrous help and mercy. Fear not, believe only, the Redeemer bade the ruler of the synagogue; and to the woman He said, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace. Let us strive for their faith, so that whatever our need of soul or body, we may obtain those of our requests which are truly beneficial. For no less now than then, the Lord is present among us – invisibly, in His grace and divine power, and visibly, in the sacred Mysteries of the Church. Now as then, He hearkens unto the prayer of faith. Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world,[1] He assures us; and His chosen vessel Saint Paul declares: Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.[2]
And lo, Jesus Christ is truly with us even now, no less than He was present in Galilee two thousand years ago; He accepts our prayers, our repentance, and our gratitude, and reveals in us His mercy. He delivers us from sins and sorrows; He illumines, cleanses, sanctifies, and comforts all who with sincere faith flee to Him and send up to Him fervent prayer. Especially, more than anywhere else, it is here, in His holy house, that we can touch Him with our hearts by means of faith, as once did the blood-streaming woman. I the sinner touch the edge of Christ’s holy throne, His sacred altar table, and – strange wonder! – I am straightway filled with lifegiving, saving power, proceeding from Him Who sits upon the throne. I am healed of the poisonous bites of invisible serpents; I am delivered from every sorrow, from the oppression of sin, and am granted peace, freedom, boldness, and spiritual strength. From this I am certain that my Lord and God is present here, in His holy temple, as nowhere else on earth. God the Word need not descend from heaven again before the Dread Judgment, for having descended from heaven two thousand years ago for the sake of us men and for our salvation, He most certainly abides here with us, even if He has taken up His flesh into heaven.
And so, dear brothers and sisters, consider what follows from this… Let every man draw near the Lord with faith, as did that pitiful, ailing woman of old. All of us from our youth have hemorrhaged many sins; all of us are spiritually drained by a powerful effusion of unseemly thoughts and unholy feelings. Who, besides the Lord, can heal us of the bloody flux of sin? What earthly physician can cure this deadliest illness? No one, except Jesus Christ, by His divine grace. Draw near to Him; touch Him with faith, with a heart pure and contrite, and you will see and feel that He heals you, immediately. The Lord is an unfailing spring of mercy and healing. We have only to believe, and He will pour out mercy and healing upon us. Fear not, believe only, and you shall be healed.
Wherever He went, many people followed Christ, thronging Him and touching His garments; but most touched Him only with superficial faith – some without much thought as to Who the Miracle Worker might be, others regarding Him as merely some sort of magician. Similarly today, many people come to church and stand through the service with scarcely a thought as to Whose presence they have entered, while others consider God to be a magician Who will bring them good luck if they placate Him by their religious observances. Such people do not regard Christ with the reverence He desires, they do not yearn for inner communion with Him, they do not possess true faith in Him or offer Him pure prayer. In the crowd that long-ago day, only the one woman touched Christ with God-pleasing faith, and only one experienced His power. May we all enter the Lord’s holy house of prayer with her faith, her humility and repentance, and her heartfelt prayer, that we may snatch from the Lord healing of body and soul, alleviation of sorrows and passions, and cleansing of iniquities.
Similarly, when Christ said to those mourning Jairus’ daughter, Weep not, she is not dead, but sleepeth, they laughed Him to scorn. They did not understand that He is verily the Destroyer of death and Hades, and that He was about to show that the gates of Hades were very soon to be broken open. He sent away all those scoffers, all those people with no faith, or weak or superficial faith, and allowed to remain in the maiden’s room only the parents and His three elect disciples Peter, James, and John. Apparently, only they were worthy to witness the miracle He was about to perform. Taking the girl by the hand, Jesus cried, Maid, arise! And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and He commanded to give her to eat.
O our life and resurrection, Lord, glory be to Thee! O our Hope, as Thou didst raise the maiden, so shalt Thou raise all the dead at the archangel’s trump on the last day. We believe this without doubt. But even now, every day, Thou dost raise up innumerable Christian souls perishing in sin; Thou dost raise them up through their faith and repentance, and by Thy grace. Thus I perish many times daily in my sins, but Thou raisest me up by Thy grace and compassion as soon as I the worthless turn to Thee with ardent faith and profound repentance. Many times every day Thou grantest me the re-creation which is Thy salvation. Instead of death, Thou grantest me life; instead of the decrepitude of sin, Thou createst in me a new spirit; instead of constriction of heart, Thou fashionest in me a loving bosom capable of embracing and encompassing all men and even Thee, the infinite God; instead of darkness, Thou shinest upon me light!
And so, brothers and sisters, believe wholeheartedly that as once Jesus Christ healed the woman with an issue of blood and raised up Jairus’ daughter, so now He heals ailing souls and raises up the spiritually dead: He heals and raises them up by means of their faith and repentance, and His grace. All you who are sinners like me, love faith and repentance, and you will be raised up from the bed of spiritual sickness and death every day. You will be deemed worthy of the restoration our Christ grants continuously to those who posses true faith, and will learn to glorify at every hour the One Who raises up from death bodies and souls. Amen.
[1] Matt. 28:20
[2] Heb. 18:8
