Gospel for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

St. Matthew 9:1-8 (7/27) Gospel for
the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Faith and Wellness ~ Part II: St. Matthew 9:1-8, especially vs. 2:"When
Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, 'Son, be of good cheer;
your sins are forgiven you.'" In yesterday's Gospel (Mt. 9:18-26), a woman
barely touched the Lord Jesus, yet, because of her faith, she was healed.
In today's Gospel, again, because of the faith of a paralytic, as well as
the faith of his friends, his sins were forgiven. However, certain scribes
who heard Jesus' remark were outraged, saying "Who can forgive sins but God
alone?" (Mk. 2:7)). To the scribes, "forgiving" sins was blasphemy.
Therefore, to help everyone grasp His Divinity, the Lord healed the man's
paralysis.

We noted in yesterday's reading that to "believe in" the Lord Jesus Christ
is to trust Him despite one's doubts, which overcomes inaction and sin
within us. Such faith opens one to healing. Furthermore, being creatures,
we humans are at once physical, psychological, and spiritual beings, and so
our healing involves all these aspects of our nature.

The Lord Jesus' healing of the paralytic reveals that, of these three
aspects, the spiritual is most significant; for it is within our spirits -
within our hearts - that relationship with God either flourishes or withers
and dies. Hence, our Lord Jesus first forgave the paralytic's sins, which
lay the foundation for the man's physical healing. Behold! The paralytic's
physical healing flowed from his spiritual restoration to God and became a
sign of it. The relationship between healing and salvation is very close,
as we noted yesterday.

The present passage from St. Matthew declares that wellness is union with
God, truly a "Holy Communion." As St. Paul says, "In Him we have
redemption...the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace"
(Eph. 1:7); and from His grace healing can also come.

The true Christian seeks complete faith and any healing that comes with it.
To reach such a goal, you and I must grow in faith by controlling our
passions, purifying our hearts, and growing virtues, straining ahead to
blessedness, "deification," and union with God. Deification in man is
identical to what is called the " likeness of God" in Gen. 1:26. For
although God created man in His image and likeness, yet because of sin, we
are corrupted and debased, having lost our likeness to God (Rom. 1:23,28).
Hence, our deep need is restoration to God and to His likeness.

The Lord Jesus comes for all men as The Physician (Mt. 9:12,13). St. John
Chrysostom developed this image of Christ as The Physician in his analysis
of the parable of the Good Samaritan. Therein, he likened the Church to an
inn (Lk. 10:34). The Church is a place of healing where the Bishops and
Priests serve as the leading healers in the footsteps of the Lord and His
Apostles. Properly understood, one comes into the Church, into the healing
community, to take up a long and hard struggle for restoration and
deification. Orthodoxy repudiates a so-called faith in Christ that does not
labor at the healing process with Christ in the Spirit.

Here in St. Matthew, the Lord Jesus reveals that the paralytic and his
helpers knew he was sick, and so they did not remain inactive. Knowing the
man's need of healing, they took action; they came to Christ. Their faith
was expressed visibly by approaching the Lord (Mt. 9:2). A Christian knows
he needs the Physician. Thus, the Church, as the Body of Christ, provides
us with spiritual fathers, prayer, and worship to direct our souls toward
ultimate health in Christ.

Healing follows upon strict observance of Christ's commandments. The Lord
Jesus declares that "if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments."
(Mt. 19:17). Ascetic self-discipline is a direct means for applying His
command to obey. Hence St. Thalassios is able to say, "Obedience to the
commandments is resurrection of the dead."

Lord, heal me, for I am Thy servant; teach me to do Thy will, for Thou art
my God!