WEBVTT 00:00:02.859 --> 00:00:05.019 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 00:00:05.019 --> 00:00:09.839 of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Well, you're all bundled 00:00:09.839 --> 00:00:15.279 up today, I see. I was listening to one Vespers 00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:18.399 last night, and the priest said, Well, tomorrow 00:00:18.399 --> 00:00:22.399 we have outdoor liturgy, so be sure you come 00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:25.879 dressed warmly. Like one little girl in our parish 00:00:25.879 --> 00:00:29.000 said, We never have bad weather in California. 00:00:30.480 --> 00:00:34.560 We just don't wear enough clothes, which I thought, 00:00:34.679 --> 00:00:37.799 a lot of wisdom, same thing my son said. But 00:00:37.799 --> 00:00:41.840 at any rate, today, in addition to the regular 00:00:41.840 --> 00:00:46.100 Sunday lectionary about the daughter of Jairus 00:00:46.100 --> 00:00:49.219 and the woman with the issue of blood, we also 00:00:49.219 --> 00:00:52.780 have, because of the movement of the days, this 00:00:52.780 --> 00:00:57.299 is November 8th, the Feast of St. Michael and 00:00:57.299 --> 00:01:02.130 all the archangels. and all the angels. And I 00:01:02.130 --> 00:01:05.209 originally had planned on saying something about 00:01:05.209 --> 00:01:08.950 angels today, and then I looked at the OCA website, 00:01:09.209 --> 00:01:13.950 and there's a very extensive article on angels. 00:01:14.530 --> 00:01:17.650 You read that, and there's much more there than 00:01:17.650 --> 00:01:21.250 you can possibly remember. So I thought, if they 00:01:21.250 --> 00:01:23.609 want to learn about angels, then they can just 00:01:23.609 --> 00:01:27.129 read that on the OCA website. So what I'm going 00:01:27.129 --> 00:01:30.469 to do is just say a few words about angels, and 00:01:30.469 --> 00:01:32.849 then I'm going to focus our attention primarily 00:01:32.849 --> 00:01:36.870 on the other gospel, the one for this particular 00:01:36.870 --> 00:01:41.489 Sunday after Pentecost. Angels, of course, we 00:01:41.489 --> 00:01:45.590 believe in because we say in the Creed, that 00:01:45.590 --> 00:01:49.209 God is the creator of all things, both visible 00:01:49.209 --> 00:01:52.799 and invisible. What are the invisible things? 00:01:52.900 --> 00:01:55.739 Things we can't see. Angels. We can't see angels. 00:01:56.239 --> 00:02:05.000 We know they exist. There are guardians. In the 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:08.620 baptism service, one of the prayers is, yoke 00:02:08.620 --> 00:02:13.199 unto his life, or her life, a radiant angel. 00:02:14.219 --> 00:02:17.560 So the church's liturgical tradition is that 00:02:17.560 --> 00:02:21.300 each one of us at baptism is assigned by God 00:02:21.300 --> 00:02:26.960 an angel to watch over us. We pray at every liturgy 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:32.099 for an angel of peace, a faithful guide, and 00:02:32.099 --> 00:02:37.379 a guardian of our souls and bodies. I remember 00:02:37.379 --> 00:02:41.780 probably the earliest prayer that i probably 00:02:41.780 --> 00:02:46.419 memorized was a little jingle and i'm it's probably 00:02:46.419 --> 00:02:51.139 familiar to most or many of you angel of god 00:02:51.139 --> 00:02:54.560 my guardian dear to whom god's love commits me 00:02:54.560 --> 00:02:58.599 here ever this day be at my side to light to 00:02:58.599 --> 00:03:03.180 guard to rule and guide amen and i thought that 00:03:03.180 --> 00:03:05.439 was such a beautiful prayer i say it not at the 00:03:05.439 --> 00:03:07.500 beginning of the day but i say it when i go to 00:03:07.500 --> 00:03:10.599 bed at night So we should remember we not only 00:03:10.599 --> 00:03:14.960 have patron saints, but we have an angel who 00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:19.659 leads us and guides us and inspires us to do 00:03:19.659 --> 00:03:24.699 good things and reminds us not to sin and to 00:03:24.699 --> 00:03:34.840 resist temptation. The other gospel. These are 00:03:34.840 --> 00:03:38.319 familiar stories to us about the daughter of 00:03:38.319 --> 00:03:41.500 the ruler of the synagogue. It's probably the 00:03:41.500 --> 00:03:44.680 equivalent of a parish council member or something 00:03:44.680 --> 00:03:49.599 like that, whose daughter was dying. And then 00:03:49.599 --> 00:03:53.360 on the way, a woman with an issue of blood touches 00:03:53.360 --> 00:03:58.780 the hem of his garment and is healed. Now, I'm 00:03:58.780 --> 00:04:02.120 very fond, like many of the fathers of the church, 00:04:02.639 --> 00:04:06.120 of seeing, well, what does this signify? Does 00:04:06.120 --> 00:04:10.060 this remind us of something or stand for something 00:04:10.060 --> 00:04:14.719 else? This is what's technically called allegory. 00:04:14.759 --> 00:04:18.420 Does this stand for something else? Now, sometimes 00:04:18.420 --> 00:04:21.560 it's clear that it stands for something else. 00:04:21.779 --> 00:04:26.220 Sometimes the comparisons are a little bit, how 00:04:26.220 --> 00:04:30.259 could I say, I don't want to say far -fetched, 00:04:30.259 --> 00:04:33.720 but fanciful. That would be a good way to put 00:04:33.720 --> 00:04:37.819 them. Some of the fathers of the church see here 00:04:37.819 --> 00:04:40.680 that the girl who's dying and the woman with 00:04:40.680 --> 00:04:44.060 the issue of blood represent two things. The 00:04:44.060 --> 00:04:48.540 girl who's dying represents the synagogue, the 00:04:48.540 --> 00:04:51.399 Jewish nation. The woman with the issue of blood 00:04:51.399 --> 00:04:55.680 represents the Gentiles. So Jesus comes primarily 00:04:55.680 --> 00:05:02.199 to heal the Gentiles. the Israelites, the Jewish 00:05:02.199 --> 00:05:07.000 people, who cannot receive this complete forgiveness 00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:11.399 of sins and redemption except through the coming 00:05:11.399 --> 00:05:15.759 of their Messiah, Jesus Christ. And on the way, 00:05:15.759 --> 00:05:20.259 he also touches and heals this woman who had 00:05:20.259 --> 00:05:23.500 the issue of blood, who had spent all her money 00:05:23.500 --> 00:05:27.899 on other things, other physicians, other gods, 00:05:28.420 --> 00:05:37.449 other things. to try and heal her. The girl, 00:05:40.370 --> 00:05:44.110 it's interesting, the girl is described, St. 00:05:44.230 --> 00:05:47.069 Luke, the gospel, this is found, of course, in 00:05:47.069 --> 00:05:50.930 this, these both miracles are linked together, 00:05:51.069 --> 00:05:54.350 and they're found in all three of the first three 00:05:54.350 --> 00:05:57.569 gospels, the synoptic gospels. Luke, the one 00:05:57.569 --> 00:06:01.750 we just read, says that she was dying. And then 00:06:01.750 --> 00:06:05.829 word comes from one of the servants to the father 00:06:05.829 --> 00:06:10.009 and says, she's just died. St. Mark says, she 00:06:10.009 --> 00:06:13.769 was on the point of death. Matthew says that 00:06:13.769 --> 00:06:17.730 she had just died. Well, some people might think, 00:06:17.810 --> 00:06:20.930 so what's the difference? But what I find there 00:06:20.930 --> 00:06:26.550 is fascinating because people that study the 00:06:26.550 --> 00:06:30.629 scriptures, I think maybe they run out of really 00:06:30.629 --> 00:06:33.610 important things to study, but one of them they 00:06:33.610 --> 00:06:36.610 like to say, well, is there a connection? Does 00:06:36.610 --> 00:06:39.829 one gospel writer depend on another gospel writer? 00:06:40.189 --> 00:06:44.329 Well, you know, you could chase after that idea 00:06:44.329 --> 00:06:47.910 forever and ever, and I don't think that even 00:06:47.910 --> 00:06:51.910 if we could say they were familiar, they borrowed 00:06:51.910 --> 00:06:54.910 this, they borrowed that, still there's an independent 00:06:54.910 --> 00:06:59.819 tradition. about these events that they all know 00:06:59.819 --> 00:07:03.240 very well through the stories about Jesus and 00:07:03.240 --> 00:07:06.860 through the preaching about him. So these little 00:07:06.860 --> 00:07:13.240 variations, I think, serve to reinforce the importance 00:07:13.240 --> 00:07:16.579 of the scripture writers, especially the gospel 00:07:16.579 --> 00:07:22.339 writers, as basically independent witnesses to 00:07:22.339 --> 00:07:25.279 the same reality. And they're not just copying. 00:07:25.850 --> 00:07:30.269 somebody else's story. Another interesting illustration 00:07:30.269 --> 00:07:36.629 of this is Saint Mark says she was the little 00:07:36.629 --> 00:07:41.370 daughter of the man. Matthew says she was the 00:07:41.370 --> 00:07:46.110 daughter and Luke adds two important ideas here. 00:07:47.970 --> 00:07:52.509 She was the only daughter and she was 12 years 00:07:52.509 --> 00:07:56.839 old. So once again, an illustration, these minor 00:07:56.839 --> 00:08:01.360 little variations in details simply illustrate 00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:08.839 not so much any interdependence, but the independent 00:08:08.839 --> 00:08:19.860 witness to the reality itself. Before I get into 00:08:19.860 --> 00:08:23.259 probably my closing thought to share with you, 00:08:23.639 --> 00:08:28.160 I want to remind you that we have, before communion, 00:08:28.540 --> 00:08:31.660 there are communion prayers that we should be 00:08:31.660 --> 00:08:35.039 saying in addition to our regular evening prayers 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:39.419 or morning prayers. Prayers, depending on how 00:08:39.419 --> 00:08:41.940 many you want to say, takes anywhere from 10 00:08:41.940 --> 00:08:46.379 to 15, 20 minutes. But we should say a few extra 00:08:46.379 --> 00:08:50.929 prayers. before we receive communion, whether 00:08:50.929 --> 00:08:54.269 it's the night before or in the morning. Prayers 00:08:54.269 --> 00:08:57.850 before communion. They're found in any Orthodox 00:08:57.850 --> 00:09:03.690 prayer book. One of them, the woman in today's 00:09:03.690 --> 00:09:09.529 gospel has a reminder each and every time we 00:09:09.529 --> 00:09:14.659 say these prayers. One of the prayers says, Do 00:09:14.659 --> 00:09:17.559 thou, O Christ, our God, who didst justify the 00:09:17.559 --> 00:09:21.100 publican, had mercy on the Canaanite woman, open 00:09:21.100 --> 00:09:25.440 the gates of paradise to the thief, open to me 00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:28.960 the compassion of thy love toward mankind, and 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:32.759 receive me as I approach and touch thee, like 00:09:32.759 --> 00:09:36.200 the sinful woman, and like the woman with the 00:09:36.200 --> 00:09:46.039 issue of blood. By embracing thy feet, receive 00:09:46.039 --> 00:09:50.019 the forgiveness of her sins and the other, but 00:09:50.019 --> 00:09:54.320 by touching the hem of thy garment was healed. 00:09:55.220 --> 00:09:58.659 So when we say these prayers, this is the woman 00:09:58.659 --> 00:10:01.379 comes to our mind each and every time we do that. 00:10:03.159 --> 00:10:07.480 There is, I mentioned comparing the three. To 00:10:07.480 --> 00:10:11.019 me, it's fun. I enjoy reading to see if there's 00:10:11.019 --> 00:10:14.879 any difference. When these particular gospels 00:10:14.879 --> 00:10:20.080 are, the stories are told in different, each 00:10:20.080 --> 00:10:24.399 one of the gospels. It's an interesting thing 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:27.379 for you to do. Try that once in a while, too. 00:10:28.559 --> 00:10:32.419 There's one important item that I found very 00:10:32.419 --> 00:10:37.500 fascinating. Mark has a sentence in there that 00:10:37.500 --> 00:10:42.809 isn't found in Matthew or Luke. and talking about, 00:10:42.970 --> 00:10:47.509 they both say, well, she was sick for 12 years 00:10:47.509 --> 00:10:50.649 or for a long period of time and couldn't find 00:10:50.649 --> 00:10:57.210 healing at all. Mark adds, and she had suffered 00:10:57.210 --> 00:11:02.110 much under many physicians and had spent all 00:11:02.110 --> 00:11:05.870 that she had and was no better off but rather 00:11:05.870 --> 00:11:10.830 grew worse. I'm sure that you or people you know, 00:11:11.340 --> 00:11:14.039 have had that same kind of feeling. Boy, I've 00:11:14.039 --> 00:11:17.259 seen all these doctors, and I'm not any better 00:11:17.259 --> 00:11:19.580 than I was before. It's kind of frustrating, 00:11:19.820 --> 00:11:22.299 isn't it? Well, we know somebody that feels that 00:11:22.299 --> 00:11:28.480 way. When I went to see my family physician back 00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:33.759 when we lived in Michigan, I told him about the 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:38.259 retired priest who I replaced, and he was still 00:11:38.259 --> 00:11:41.659 in the parish. and he went to see the doctor 00:11:41.659 --> 00:11:44.419 because, as it turned out to be, he had a hernia. 00:11:44.980 --> 00:11:49.759 But he and his family told me, 86 years old, 00:11:49.860 --> 00:11:55.080 he never saw a doctor before. And I said to my 00:11:55.080 --> 00:11:57.779 doctor, who had a good sense of humor, as you'll 00:11:57.779 --> 00:12:00.500 see, I said, you know, how can somebody live 00:12:00.500 --> 00:12:04.820 to be 86 and never go to see a doctor? My doctor 00:12:04.820 --> 00:12:07.860 said, that's probably why he lived to be 86. 00:12:12.610 --> 00:12:19.690 So, are we like this woman who suffers much, 00:12:19.950 --> 00:12:25.149 can't find healing? I think we are. Because we 00:12:25.149 --> 00:12:30.309 want to have happiness, peace, find some kind 00:12:30.309 --> 00:12:34.870 of fulfillment in our life. Jesus is the only 00:12:34.870 --> 00:12:38.870 one that can provide this. He's the only one 00:12:38.870 --> 00:12:43.409 that can heal that. Constant flow of blood of 00:12:43.409 --> 00:12:48.450 being unable to be fully healthy. Faith in our 00:12:48.450 --> 00:12:51.230 Lord. And this is what the fathers like to underline. 00:12:51.350 --> 00:12:54.990 It's faith in our Lord. Like this woman has. 00:12:55.250 --> 00:12:57.809 That because she was unclean, she didn't even 00:12:57.809 --> 00:12:59.870 want to come up and ask him anything. She said, 00:12:59.889 --> 00:13:02.490 I'm just going to touch the bottom of this garment. 00:13:02.830 --> 00:13:08.029 And she was healed. That is the way we are. We 00:13:08.029 --> 00:13:12.340 don't find healing in money. We don't find healing 00:13:12.340 --> 00:13:18.820 in houses, speed boats, skiing, doing all these 00:13:18.820 --> 00:13:22.659 things that attract our attention. The only thing 00:13:22.659 --> 00:13:27.000 that finds us peace, happiness, joy, fulfillment 00:13:27.000 --> 00:13:32.539 in life is a real relationship and faith in Jesus 00:13:32.539 --> 00:13:37.279 Christ and his church. This gives us the healing 00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:42.500 and the happiness that the little girl in today's 00:13:42.500 --> 00:13:46.620 gospel, and this ill woman had. So let us renew 00:13:46.620 --> 00:13:49.240 once again our faith and our commitment today 00:13:49.240 --> 00:13:52.720 to our Lord Jesus Christ and our love for him 00:13:52.720 --> 00:13:54.860 and his church. Amen.