Glory to Jesus Christ, in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Our commemorations this weekend are in memory
and celebration of what we call the Unmercenary
Saints. The first Sunday... in November is dedicated
to their memory, the Unmercenary Saints. The
word unmercenary basically means they don't charge.
They give their gift for free, their work for
free. They are physicians and healers. Some were
actual physicians and some had the gift of healing.
You see some icons here and over here. These
are the Unmercenary Saints. Panteleimon, for
example. Cosmos and Damien. Three sets of Cosmos
and Damien. Asia Minor, Rome, and someplace else.
And St. Luke of Simferopol in the Crimea, the
most recent one that we know of, the physician,
the surgeon. So this is important that we remember
that because we have these saints and we call
upon them. We ask for their prayers, their intercessions.
They are alive in Christ. And so we have this
interesting gospel about the healing of a woman
and the raising of a young girl on this day when
we commemorate these marvelous gifts to the church
who gave their gift out of love. That's why we
have the epistle about St. Paul's epistle about
love. It wasn't just because I liked it. prescribed
for today. And it defines these saints so perfectly.
Full of God's love. This is what we're called
to, too. We may not have the capacity, the ability,
the grace, the cleansing of our heart and soul
to heal somebody. But we can have God's love.
Let's look, however, leave that as it is for
now. Let's look at the Holy Gospel according
to St. Luke. about this incident. There's illness.
I think of this verse from St. Paul often when
I think of illness and those who are bearing
a heavy burden of illness. St. Paul puts it this
way, we do not lose heart. We don't lose heart.
In other words, we have hope. Though our outer
man is wasting away, yet our inner man is being
renewed day by day. We may be failing on the
outside, bodies falling apart, sickness, travail,
sorrows. But St. Paul says that may be true,
but the inner person is being sustained and growing
and faith is maturing through that trouble. through
what seems so unwanted by us. For this light
momentary affliction of sickness is preparing
for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all
comparison. I'm always surprised when Christians
who are mature Christians, long -time Christians,
they come to a struggle that has to do with their
health. And they think, if only the doctor, and
we should go to the doctor. We do seek healing
from our doctors. This is in the scriptures.
This is proper. I'm not saying not to do it.
I go to the doctor all the time now that I'm
65, even though God's blessed me with good physical
health my entire life. Which means he's going
to really require of me some serious spiritual
health before the end. Because I've had no obstacles
there. But I'm surprised when someone in my situation
laments, oh God, why did you do this to me? I'm
telling you this, brothers and sisters, so you
can prepare for the inevitable in your life.
And for those in your life to refer to. all to
Christ, to call upon the mercenary healers to
help you when you're suffering and to come to
the church and to be blessed and to let the inner
man be renewed. For this light momentary affliction
seems heavy, seems terrible, but St. Paul says
it's light compared, compared to the eternal
weight of glory. For we look not to the things
that are seen, but the things that are unseen.
Case in point, this gospel story. It's an extremely
dramatic story. Suffering. Sickness. Hope. Beyond
hope. Disappointment. Death. Faith. Lack of faith.
Exaltation. Joy. I count five miracles in this
story. Maybe there'll be a sixth, which will
be us by the end of this liturgy. Bear with me,
five miracles. The gospel account picks up where
we left off last Sunday. Literally right there
in the gospel of Luke. Jesus has just left this
gathering community after healing this man with
a legion of demons. And the local population
said... Leave. We don't want you here. Jesus
then, with a crowd of people, his disciples in
tow, is approached, moves on. He's approached
by a desperate man named Jairus, synagogue leader.
Think back to chapter 6 of Luke. Synagogue leaders
are conspiring already against Jesus. I have
no reason to think that this man Jairus wasn't
part of that group. But nevertheless, he's approached
by Jairus. Jairus' 12 -year -old daughter is
dying, 12 years old, and we learn that she does
die as the Savior is delayed, intentionally delayed.
This is miracle number one. that Jairus overcomes
his fear, his resentment, his uncertainty about
Jesus, and lays it all out there. During the
delay, a great miracle takes place, another one.
Well, I'd say two. I'd say two at this point.
First, this woman. We know her from tradition
as Veronica. It turns out that Veronica, later
in life, commissions a statue of Jesus, which
is attested to by a church historian in the 4th
century. So we know it existed. It was destroyed.
This woman, Veronica, Saint Luke describes her
condition. Chronic, horrible, horrible flow of
menstrual blood. Desperation, fear, and certainly
disappointment. She's been living, you could
say, barely living. This also for 12 years. You
remember the young girl, 12 years old. For 12
years, this woman, since that girl was born,
this woman has been suffering the isolation because
she's ritually impure. She cannot pray with others.
She cannot eat with others. She cannot... Embrace
her husband or her children according to the
law of Moses. She comes to Jesus with incredible
faith. No words are necessary. No words are possible.
A touch is sufficient. Silently, patiently, with
hope, prayerfully, she touches the Lord. I've
seen it many times when a person is in such pain
that all strength has left him or her. No way
to pray with words. I can sit by the bedside
and pray with that person. I suspect most of
us are going to be in that condition or something
like it at some point in our life, in our journey
to the resurrection. In that case, we can only
keep silence before God. There's a story from
the Desert Fathers, a certain Saint Dos Atheos,
ancient saint of the desert, was so weak he could
not walk. And his friend, Saint Dorotheos, says
to him, how is your prayer, Father Dos Atheos?
Common answer with the Desert Fathers, how's
your prayer? He replied, forgive me, I no longer
have strength to pray. Dorotheus replied, don't
worry about prayer. Just guard the memory of
God and know that he is with you. Guard the memory
of God in your heart and know that he is standing
with you. Father, into thy hands I commit my
spirit. We should say with Jesus at those moments.
and for those who are suffering. This is the
meaning, by the way, for me, of the touch which
the woman lays upon Jesus' robe. This incredible
woman unites herself to Jesus Christ and was
then able to receive the grace of that healing
pouring into her. Jesus says, who touched me?
Of course he knew, for I perceive power. The
enemies has gone forth. He wanted to demonstrate
to those around him what was happening. And he
says to her this beautiful word. Your faith has
made you well. He affirms it to her. He confirms
the faith and the healing to her, not to himself.
This is the kind of faith we want. The third
miracle was about the faith also of Jairus. for
he had to acquire it. First he came, and that
was a miracle, but now it was going to be put
to an extremely hard test. While Jesus was speaking
about the woman, a servant from the house came
to Jairus and says, it seems kind of cold, don't
trouble the master, your daughter's dead. Could
you imagine? The position this man is in, and
someone comes up and is like, don't bother him,
your daughter's dead. So cold and heartless.
Now maybe St. Luke is just condensing here for
the sake of, to not be too loquacious. He does
that. The beloved daughter died while Jesus was
praising Veronica's faith. The mourning had already
begun. It was time to get ready for the funeral.
And here was Christ. responding to Jairus, do
not weep. She is not dead. She is just sleeping.
And they, including Peter, James, and John in
the house, scornfully laughed at Jesus. Lord,
how do you have such patience with us? Ancient
peoples, by the way, you know, she didn't just
kind of faint like some modern biblical interpreters
would say. Well, she just fainted. Obviously,
Jesus just revived her. You know, ancient peoples
didn't need a heart and a brainwave monitor or
a stethoscope to know when somebody was truly
dead. really understood these things better than
we think they did. Jairus' faith is put to a
terrible test. Can you imagine how hard it must
be for Jairus and his wife to hear this news
and to believe in the Lord's words, don't be
afraid, only believe that you will be made well.
Why should they believe? But this is our response
to death. Don't be afraid, only believe. and
he or she and they will be made well. We believe
God loves us, and God works for our good. The
trust in Jesus is the third miracle. There are
many examples. I'll be very brief. One of the
great saints that we commemorate today, St. Luke
of the Crimea, the surgeon, the doctor, born
in 1877, of a very poor family. Got a good education,
miraculously. Began law school, but then he decided
that medicine would be the right thing because
he wanted to help people. His mother was a Roman
Catholic. His father was not really a believer.
I might have that backwards, but whatever. He
gets his degree in medicine. He becomes an expert
in ophthalmology. He goes out to the Russia -Japanese
War in the early 1900s. And he's treating soldiers
for wounds. And he's discovering incredible and
many, many different kinds of treatments that
are revolutionary at the time. Not just for the
eyes, but for war wounds. His wife contracts
tuberculosis. She dies. The communists, the Bolsheviks
come to power. He spends the next number of decades
being shuttled to and from Tashkent and Kiev
to the gulags in Siberia. All he wanted to do
was help, but God had a different plan for him.
He's ordained, he's made a monk, he's made a
priest, he's made a bishop. And he ministers
to the people while being accused and disappearing
for years at a time and then coming back. Hope
beyond hope. Don't lose heart. He knew this.
Though our outer man is wasting away, circumstances
are not. profitable for us our inner man is being
renewed day by day for this light momentary affliction
is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory
beyond all comparison as we look not to the things
that are seen but to the things that are unseen
trust in christ patience and trials Fervency
in prayer to the Lord, to the Theotokos, and
to the unmercenary saints. This is one thing
we can do, brothers and sisters. Here in this
gospel about sin and death, remember, you're
going to come up and not just touch the Lord,
but you're going to receive his body and blood
within you. Let there be a change. a repentance,
a glorious thanksgiving and joy to the Lord for
that gift. Then hope will rise up to here and
with hope and faith and love. To our Lord be
glory now and ever, to ages of ages. Glory to
Jesus Christ.