As with all of the great healings and miracles
accomplished as Jesus walked amongst us, there's
something for us to learn in them for our personal
lives. Today, right now, whatever we're dealing
with in life. This woman was... bowed down with
an infirmity. And the Fathers teach us that this
symbolizes the fact that when we are growing
into the creatures we are from our youth, from
our early days, we become bowed down too. The
question is, what are we bowed down to? What
are we bent over? Where is our focus? And the
Fathers tell us that this denotes a man whose
cares are in the world. All of the stuff, all
of the things we have to do, all of our preoccupations
and our worries and the things that go right
and the things that go wrong. We want to celebrate
some of the time, but there's always something
else happening. And there's no resolution to
this. There's no resolution to a man being able
to sort out all of the things he's worried about
in a way that will ever be satisfying. We do
what we can. We try to enjoy and reap and celebrate,
party. But what does it do? It just brings back
a new level of being caved in on what happened
and what did this person do and how much money
did I spend and now what am I going to do because
this and because of that. And we cycle back in
and we become more and more and more burdened
and bowed down as time goes on. And we all know
that this isn't what we should be. This isn't
what we should do. Every one of us, whether here,
In this parish, where Orthodox Christians all
over the world are people of any persuasion or
creed or faith, it's known everywhere that that
isn't the point of life. But she symbolizes us.
She could not lift herself up. Try as we might,
we're never going to be able to leave it behind.
But we can do the one thing needful. Make ourselves
available to the one who brought us healing and
freedom. Jesus' presence in her represents for
us that time when that still, silent voice calls
us. to rise up, to lift our heads above the world
that has us drawn down and brings us to a place
where we can see. Man was created to be upright,
not just in stature, but in spirit, in sentience,
to be upright with our head heavenward, all of
our senses above the rest. We have beautiful
creatures around us. I'm staying with my daughter
and they have this wonderful dog. But a dog is
designed to participate in the elements of its
surrounding and its earth. And they are by nature,
same with horses and cows, and most creatures
are by nature bound to live in this interaction
of the world in which they were created. that
exalted place in creation where his creature
meets God. She's exalted because she's raised
up. And the nature of being truly healed or lifted
up or just seeing for the first time something
you haven't seen or being freed from the burdens
of the life we live The sure sign is one of gratitude.
She glorified God. Her natural response wasn't
anything to do with what she'd been through.
Utter thankfulness. Jubilant spirit inside. And
of course, there's those that live Like an actor
on a stage, which is where the word hypocrite
comes from in Greek. Someone who is one way,
but they behaved another way. And so we have
a man of the temple. And beware lest you get
caught in that yourself. Where you use the things
that have been preciously God -given as a way
to position yourself with others. He wanted to
position himself as the one with real authority.
He condemned the healing that took place because
it was on the Sabbath. And Christ calls him a
hypocrite because he was using the Sabbath for
his own inner greedy means. We all need to be
careful of being that kind of hypocrite about
what we do in our lives. whether it's in the
church or outside of the church, no matter who
it's with or where it's at, do we find ourselves
being two -faced, putting on the mask of a certain
kind of person, or are we being honest and transparent
and free in the freedom of having been lifted
up? Now, the people around that witnessed this
What did they do? Did they envy? Did they judge?
The gospel witnesses for us what they did when
they witnessed the great miracle. They gave great
thanks to God that someone else had been lifted
above. They recognized what had happened. They
glorified God for that very thing that no one
of us can do on our own. No group of us can do
together. The only thing we can do is to make
ourselves available to the coming of the kingdom
that lies within us. It's our inner disposition
that matters in all things. What are our hearts
and minds inclined towards when everything we
do? And do we give thanks? Is that our immediate
response? We need to live, as the Fathers say,
giving thanks for all things and being aware
that we could be taken at any time. We certainly
are aware of that now. The doors are wide open,
the chairs are spaced far apart, and we have
all got masks on. Because it could take us at
any time. But it won't matter if in that moment
we're standing up and we're not bowed down with
the cares of the world. Can you find that place
no matter what's going on? Will you struggle
for it? Will you ask God to and invite the presence
of that divine emanating love and life that he
gives us to illumine us so that we can stand
up? Thanksgiving is what it's all about. It's
something we just celebrated as a nation. And
it's something that we can't ever, ever have
too much of. Giving thanks at all times, in all
situations, no matter how hard it looks. Accept
him and let him open your heart to being thankful
that you can be transformed. and that you can
be raised up glory be to god