The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (8:41-56)

Whenever we read or hear the Scriptures and especially the Holy Gospels we are encountering a sacred text that has many levels. It is not simply a surface reading but often something much deeper. One of the beautiful aspects of Orthodox Christianity is an acknowledgement that the Bible is so powerful and so rich with meaning that often we can dig a bit deeper into a text and examine it. The Bible is our book. In fact, the Church wrote the New Testament. The New Testament did not bring the Church into existence, rather, the Church gave birth to the New Testament. This might seem like some sort of a controversial statement but please hear me out.

The earliest book in the New Testament was probably one of the epistles of St. Paul. He began writing near the year 50 or 60 ad. If we assume that the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified somewhere between 29 and 33 ad then we are left with somewhere between 20-30 years when there was not only no New Testament, but not even the first book of the New Testament. This suggests rather strongly that the Church survived and grew even without the New Testament. The Church had an intact structure and authority that was living and breathing and full of vitality within the men who were appointed by Christ to be apostles to the ends of the earth. The authority did not reside in the book (since the book didn’t exist). The authority rested on the Apostles and those who were appointed by them, such as the bishops and presbyters.

It is the Apostles of Christ that gave us the gospels and the epistles and all that is contained within the New Testament. So far from denying the importance and need for the New Testament, we affirm it with a hearty affirmation. The New Testament belongs to the Church. The Church gave birth to her through the work of the Holy Spirit. And this brings me back to my initial point, when we read the Scriptures and especially the gospels, we are encountering something sacred and deep. The Church fathers were well acquainted with these texts, they lived and breathed them and they had such a familiarity with them that they could sometimes drill down and see things by the grace of God that might not be immediately clear to us as casual readers.

Such is the case in today’s gospel reading. Many of the fathers tell us that the woman with an issue of blood is a symbol of the gentiles or the nations. While the girl who is dead is a symbol of the synagogue. This is further reinforced by the face that the girl’s father is the leader of the synagogue. St. Ambrose tells us that “The assembly of the nations is like the woman who spent all her money on physicians. The assembly of nations also lost all the gifts of nature and squandered the inheritance of life.” Yet he recognizes that she also came with a humble faith to be healed by the master. He writes

“The shy woman touched the hem, the faithful approached, the pious believed, the wise knew she was healed. The holy people of the nations that believed in God were so ashamed of their sin that they abandoned it. Brought faith, they believed.”

Yet another interesting commentary from St. Cyril of Alexandria tells us that the woman chose to remain hidden because she was considered unclean according to the Mosaic purity laws and that there was a punishment that would be brought against her for touching something or someone who was holy. He says “For this reason the woman was careful to remain concealed, for fear that having transgressed the law she should have to bear the punishment which it imposed. When she touched, she was healed immediately and without delay.” This should comfort us. Why? Because God is showing himself to be gracious and merciful. Not so concerned with the letter of the law but with the healing of His children.

Sometimes we put many different rules and regulations for ourselves and we think that if we perform all of these religious acts in a particular manner then we will win God’s mercy. It is false. God is not governed by our acts of piety. He is not manipulated by us. Sometimes we perform these religious routines to make ourselves feel better but we should be careful because this does not equate to a living relationship with Christ.

God desires to know us and commune with us in truth and He does this when He can enter deep into our hearts. When the heart is soft. When we are open to receiving Him. When we cry out to Him truly, then it means that we are open to welcoming Christ into our dwelling. We make a place for Him to dwell. The beauty of our faith is that the relationship that we’ve cultivated with Christ remains with us into eternity. It doesn’t end the day that we close our eyes. The soul is indelibly marked by the depth of this relationship to Christ. And Christ is eternally faithful to His promises to His children. So this is why we pursue this relationship with zeal on a daily basis.

Whatever we gain will be treasure that will remain with us forever. But often we find ourselves like the sick woman with the issue of blood. She focused all of her wealth on finding a cure for what was ailing her. Yet we do the same without even knowing it. We work hard and we acquire wealth and we spend our time in many pursuits, but perhaps we do so in a misguided way or with misguided intentions. We might feel that our earthly treasures will help us down the road. We might feel that these treasures will give us health and security, that they will take away our emotional pains or help us with our deepest longings. Yet the Lord offers a gentle rebuke in today’s gospel.

The healing and the wellness and the good that we seek isn’t found in acquiring things but in mending the severed bond with our Creator. We are healed in our soul once we give up on every other possibility or distraction or alternative to Christ. If you have an alternative to Christ in your heart then that is your idol. But true healing begins once we smash the idols in our life and really fall before His feet and ask Him to help us. Christ alone is our true healing. He is our resurrection, as He demonstrates in today’s passage. He gives healing to one and life to another because He is the giver of life. He is the source of life and we have no other. Again quoting St. Cyril of Alexandria, he writes, “O the power of a word and the might of commands that nothing can resist! O the life producing touch of the hand that abolishes death and corruption!” May this same Lord also abolish the death and corruption that is in us and bring us to fullness of life.

Source: Sermons