In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Amen. On the second Sunday
of Lent, we celebrate, we commemorate, we remember
the great bishop of Thessalonica, the great monastic
elder, St. Gregory Palamas, whose icon is here
in the center of the church. And that second
gospel reading was read. Because that describes
what kind of bishop he was, a true shepherd.
There is a really good and dense article by the
late monk Maximus in your handout. So I won't
speak about St. Gregory. I'll let Father Maximus,
in his inimitable way, tell you about that. So
I recommend you read that. As I say, it's dense.
Give yourself some time. Instead, I'd like to
speak about that first gospel, chapter 2 from
Mark. In there, I see three spiritual laws, let's
say, from which we can draw forth from that account.
Our Protestant brothers and sisters might have
heard of the four spiritual laws. I think they
lack a little protein now that we're in Lent.
We need a little bit more. So let's look at,
from this account, these three very powerful
spiritual laws and realities of our Christian
life here. They would be, first, spiritual friendship.
Secondly, the spiritual hospital of the church.
And third, spiritual healing that takes place
in that hospital and because of that friendship.
Today we'll only speak about, put your mind to
ease, the first one. Next week and the following
week we'll speak about the other two. What we
heard was that Jesus was preaching in a house,
having just previously healed the possessed man,
healed Peter's mother -in -law, healed many,
many others with various diseases, and demonic
possession, healed a man with leprosy, and so
on. That's just chapter two. St. Mark writes
that the man who had been healed of leprosy was
told by Jesus sternly, say nothing to anyone
about this. Well, change in his condition was
obviously going to be noticed, but so this man
went out and told everyone. About the wonderful
things that Jesus had done for him. Absolutely
changed, foundationally changed his life. That's
what it's supposed to be like for a Christian.
The change from one to the other. That radical,
that much. We should do what this man did. Tell
others about the great things that the Lord has
done for us too. Life eternal. Healing beginning
here, now. Jesus went after the healing of that
paralyzed man. He escaped. Went into the desert
to pray. And people followed him. People came,
says St. Mark, from every direction for help,
for healing, for consolations, for words of truth.
That's Lent, isn't it? That we should go out
with Jesus. Not into the desert. Well, if you
can, by all means, do so. But to pull away a
little bit from the normal life. To be with Jesus.
Jesus was preaching the words there in that house,
says St. Mark. And it was completely filled.
That should be true for us too. And it is true.
We commune with Jesus. Why do we come here? It's
for Jesus. It's not so you can hear a 10 -minute,
a 12 -minute, 15 -minute sermon. It's so you
can be with the Lord and with each other. That's
liturgy. What they were doing is what we're doing.
Except us, much, much more because Christ is
in our midst even now. The house was packed.
People were outside trying to listen. You heard
then that four men were carrying their paralyzed
friend up to the roof of this house. Now imagine,
not an easy task, keeping the guy on his bed,
going up the roof, breaking it open. That's work.
And that's resolve. And there's resistance against
it. They would not let anything stop them from
being in front of Jesus Christ. Imagine also
the racket going on down below and pieces of
ceiling coming down on the people. Like, what's
going on up there? And they come down. This man
is lowered somehow. Right before Jesus. Jesus,
it says, seeing their faith. The four men said
to the paralyzed man, who knows what kind of
faith he had, doesn't say. Seeing their faith,
said to the paralyzed man, son, incredible to
be called son by the Lord. Son, your sins are
forgiven you. The Pharisees spoke the truth.
Who can forgive sins but God only? Well, there's
two things that we could draw out here. First,
very briefly, this is not a class, but very briefly,
what is sin? Lots of possible answers, but let
me put this thought out there for you. Sin is
that which we do which separates us from God,
from intimacy with God, from knowledge of his
presence, from closeness and love and thanksgiving
for all things to God. Knowledge of his providence.
Joy in prayer and worship. Love of our neighbor.
Vision of his presence in everything around us.
In nature, in the world, in other people. Sin
is not just, I didn't fast enough last week.
Sin is not, I had an argument with my spouse.
Yes, those are sins. But what's behind that?
It's that separation from God that happened in
the garden. And we still carry on with the same
thing. We anticipate, we look for the resurrection
of the dead and the life of the age to come.
Amen. That glorious day which we will soon have
a taste of at Pascha in which no sin, no suffering.
No death. But in this world, this is what we
deal with. This is why we fast. This is why we
pray. This is why we worship. This is why we
confess so that our hearts will also be cleansed.
We will hear the words of the Lord at the confessional.
Son, daughter, your sins are forgiven. That's
monumental. Because sin, the grip of sin and
the consequences and the madness of sin in this
world, I don't have to spell it out. We are released
from that power. Tell your friends, this is the
good news. Secondly, seeing their faith, Jesus
says, should be seeing their faithfulness. Not
just what they believed, but what they did. Faith
is what we do, not what we think. Seeing their
faithfulness, this healing came about because
of the care of spiritual friendship. Let's say,
brethren, which means men and women and children,
brethren. At the time of the early church, pagan
Romans... Thought it foolish that Christians
would call each other brethren since they were
not related. Because calling someone a brother
or a sister, brethren, implies to those Romans
something that you would never do. Share. Take
responsibility for the other. Feed the hungry
person. Shelter the homeless person. Care for
the person who's sick. Bury the dead. Family.
How do we measure up to that? Or are we fragmented
and separated and afraid? We need each other
very much. We need each other's prayer very much.
We need each other's faithfulness before God.
We carry one another. We all have someone. Think
about it. Every single one of us has someone
who brought us to Jesus, the physician of souls
and bodies. Even St. Paul, he was told to go
see so -and -so in the city. Let the Lord see
your faithfulness and your resolve and action
to bring others to Christ by your prayers, by
your good works, by your almsgiving, by your
fasting. By your love. And let each other, as
we say, let us commend all our life and one another
to Christ our God. We're united, brothers and
sisters. We are responsible for each other. Let's
not be afraid of what that responsibility will
entail. God will equip us and supply us. Believe
it. This is the image of the church. Others pray
for us. Others teach us. Others carry us. Others
impart the holy mysteries to us. Far more than
we realize. And others say those words. Your
sins are forgiven. Repent and be baptized, every
one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the
forgiveness of your sins. I'm speaking to catechumens
now. And you will receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit. Forgiveness of sins and the gift of the
Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for
your children and for all who are far off. Everyone
whom the Lord our God calls to himself. This
is the image of the church. You and I are like
the paralyzed man. We're brought to Christ. Maybe
as a baby and we're baptized. Maybe as an adult
after a life. of not knowing him. We're brought
to Jesus Christ. We need to be brought. And Jesus
can heal us from that madness of sin and the
consequences of the craziness that it causes
in our world. We call Jesus Christ the physician
of souls and bodies. He opens the hospital to
us. We gain health because we are given the holy
mysteries. So we see in the account today that
there's many of us maybe have too many prerequisites
for God, requirements that he should follow through
on, expectations of what he can do. No doubt
the four friends were surprised. by what Christ
said. Because he didn't say, son, you're healed
of your paralyzation. He said, son, your sins
are forgiven you. This is the first thing we
need. Hopefully this will lead us to next week
and the weeks to come. This tells me that we
should strive to come as the paralytics. Let
our spiritual guides hear, brothers and sisters,
and the saints. Help us recognize our helplessness
in the face of our sins. Don't be proud. And
be inspired when we look at the saints and what
magnificent health is given to them and freely
to us. To our Lord, who is our life, be glory
and honor now and ever to ages of ages. Amen.