In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Glory to Jesus Christ. When
I was a child, I was very healthy for the most
part. But as happens to most of us, there were
times when I would get sick. And my mother would
take me to the doctor, and he would diagnose
the problem. and I would be prescribed medicine
to take. And on one such occasion, I remember,
the medicine was a liquid, and it tasted ghastly
and horrible. And the dosage was not just a teaspoon,
but a tablespoon. And I remember my mom holding
up that spoon, and my mouth staying closed. And,
of course, over time, she talked me into taking
my medicine, and I opened my mouth, and I swallowed
it, and thanks be to God, I got better. Sometimes
we can resist the medicine that will help bring
us healing. What about you this Lent? We have
reached the second Sunday of Lent now. God is
the doctor who has diagnosed sin as the illness,
all the passions just being variants of that
sin. In my analogy, the church is your mother
and is offering you medicine for your soul. Have
you been taking your medicine? Or perhaps like
me in my childhood story, you are resisting the
Lenten remedies that are given to us. Today's
Gospel reading from Mark 2, 1 -12 is about the
healing of the paralytic. Jesus was preaching
to a crowd at Capernaum and four men. carried
this paralyzed man to Jesus. And when the crowds
made it difficult, they took off a portion of
the roof and lowered him down to Jesus. They
came to Jesus with faith. And Jesus, seeing this,
said, Son, your sins are forgiven you. And when
those without faith questioned him, Jesus replied,
that you might know that the Son of Man has power
on earth to forgive sins. And he said to the
paralytic, I say to you, arise, take up your
bed and go to your house. And that paralytic
was healed and immediately took up his bed and
walked. He came to Jesus with faith. He was forgiven
his sins and he walked. Imagine the joy in his
heart. He is our example. We are to have faith
in God. We are to receive forgiveness from God.
And then we are to walk with God. The Orthodox
Study Bible in the footnotes on this passage
today. says this, this passage read on the second
Sunday of Lent in the Orthodox Church has a three
-fold symbolism relating to our preparation for
Easter. One, we must come to Christ in faith
and let him heal us of our spiritual paralysis.
Two, we should let nothing deter us from getting
to Christ. who alone can heal us, both in body
and in soul. And three, we must help each other
come to Christ. As a child, I didn't want to
take my medicine. I resisted it, yet my mom helped
me to understand that I needed it, and eventually
I opened my mouth and endured it to my benefit
and healing. You need to take your medicine.
This second Sunday of Lent is St. Gregory Palamas
Sunday. Thus, it seems right to hear from him
from his own homily on this passage. St. Gregory
says this. The bed, that is of the paralytic,
is to be understood as the body to which the
mind which pursues fleshly desires, clings, and
through which it applies itself to sinful actions.
After being healed, our mind has our body under
control and leads and carries it about. Through
it, our mind brings to light the fruits and works
of repentance so that all who see them glorify
God. Do you have faith? Demonstrate it by picking
up your bed, by taking your medicine. Fasting
helps us learn how to grow beyond the passions
and teaches us self -control so that we can walk
with God and be free from sin so that we can
be healed from our own spiritual paralysis. One
last thing. Don't let what you cannot do keep
you from doing what you can do. Don't let what
you cannot do keep you from doing what you can
do. For medical reasons or perhaps our own weakness
or life situations, there may be things that
you cannot do. And sometimes we use this as an
excuse. to do nothing. Instead, determine what
you can do and then do it. Exercise faith. Pick
up your bed. You can do it by looking to God
with faith and he will give you the strength.
It is God's desire to heal us, to sanctify us,
to cleanse us, to make us whole. He has given
us the gift of salvation. the way of peace, the
hope of eternal life. May we all determine to
take our medicine. Glory to Jesus Christ.