Miracles of Faith and Healing
Fr. Nicholas explores the profound tales of healing in today's sermon, focusing on the miracles performed by Jesus. Through the stories of the woman with a flow of blood and the daughter of Jairus, Fr. Nicholas emphasizes the power of humble and persistent faith in receiving divine grace. He invites the congregation to reflect on how these ancient miracles speak to us today.
Transcript
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Beloved in Christ, in today's Holy Gospel, we behold two miracles of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ: the healing of the woman with the flow of blood and the raising of the daughter of Jairus.
In these two stories, the church reveals to us one and the same truth: that our Lord is the giver of life, the physician of our souls and bodies, and that faith, humble, persistent faith, opens the door to his grace.
Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, comes before Christ in deep humility. He falls to the ground and begs the Lord to heal his dying daughter. Though he is a man of position and learning, his heart is stripped bare. For in the face of death, all earthly power vanishes and only faith remains.
As they journey to the house, a woman in the crowd, one who has suffered for 12 years with the flow of blood, draws near. She has spent all she had on physicians yet found no healing. Isolated, considered unclean, she cannot even ask openly for help.
Father Lawrence Farley writes, "She had an internal hemorrhage and this made her ritually unclean. It also made ritually unclean anyone she touched and thus spared her from all meaningful social contact as well as worship in the synagogue and the temple. She could not enter a crowd without spreading the contagion and so could not come to Jesus."
But within her heart she says, "If I can only touch the hem of his garment, I shall be made well." And so she comes quietly unseen among the crowd and touches the Lord's garment. And immediately she is healed.
Christ stops and asks, "Who touched me?" Not to shame her, she comes quietly, but to reveal her faith. Trembling, she falls before him and confesses all. Father Farley continues, "Such a public confession took courage, for she had committed an outrage in spreading her ritual contagion to all there."
And the Lord with the gentleness of divine compassion says, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace." Our Lord's power is stronger than any contagion or sickness, however long-lasting. All her afflictions give way before his sovereign authority. For 12 long years, she has been cut off and forgotten. Yet the Lord calls her daughter. In that moment, she is restored not only to health, but to communion, to life, and to peace with God.
Then comes the news Jairus dreads most: "Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the teacher anymore." But the Lord, the lover of mankind, turns to him and says, "Do not fear, only believe." When he enters the house, the mourners laugh at him when he says, "She is not dead, but sleeping." But their unbelief cannot stop the power of God. Christ takes the child by the hand and says, "Child, arise." Her spirit returns and she lives again.
Two miracles, two healings, one faith. The woman had suffered for 12 years. The girl was 12 years old. The number unites their stories. One at the end of her strength, the other at the beginning of life. Both are touched by the same savior. Both receive new life from the same divine hand.
And in his compassion, the Lord tells them to give the child something to eat. The one who conquers death does not forget her hunger. So too in his holy church, after raising us from the death of sin through baptism, he feeds us at his holy table with his own body and blood that we may live by him.
Beloved, the same Lord who touched and healed the woman who raised the little girl is present with us now. He walks among us in the divine liturgy. The hem of his garment is stretched out before us, not in cloth, but in the holy chalice. And as the woman reached out with faith and trembling to touch him, so now we are invited to draw near in faith and love to receive the Lord himself, the fountain of life.
Therefore, let us not carelessly or with distraction, but with the same faith and longing, saying in our hearts, "If I may but touch you, I shall be made whole." For the Lord still says to every faithful soul, "Do not fear, only believe." And to those who draw near to him in faith, he says, "Forever, child, arise."
To our God and Savior Jesus Christ, the giver of life and the lover of mankind, together with his eternal father and your holy good and life-giving spirit, be glory now and forever unto ages of ages. Amen.
