Restoring the Image

St. Matthew 15:29-31 (8/1) The Gospel for Friday of the Seventh Week after Pentecost Restoring the Image: St. Matthew 15:29-31, especially vs. 31: “So the multitude marveled whenthey saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing, andthey glorified the God of Israel.” Our God graciously shows us that we are created in His image(Gen. 1:26). In addition, to help us understand how our human nature corresponds to His, Heactively visualizes Himself, that we may perceive how to exercise our dominion over His othercreatures (Gen. 1:26,28) in speech (Gen. 1:3,26, et al.), forming and modifying His creation (Gen.1:28), valuing all things (Gen. 1:4,21,31, et al.), and making decisions (Gen. 1:3,14,26, et al.). Howwondrous to be made in God’s image! Our problem, which these three verses in St. Matthew reveal, is that our sin corruptsthese gifts of God, crippling, blinding, and diminishing us in body, soul, and spirit. What a tragicportrait of our kind: great multitudes coming to lay sufferings before the Lord (Mt. 15:30); and yethow clear a statement concerning God’s will for us is presented in these verses; for the central wordhere is that our God’s abiding purpose is to heal and restore His image in us. Remember: God has set us as stewards over His creation, yet because of our sin we donot exercise our stewardship as the Lord intends. Thus, until we are healed, we have no hope to“subdue” without tyrannizing, crushing, or deforming the other creatures with whom we share thisearth. In the Hebrew account of creation, the principal meaning of “subdue” is “to form or to shape”(Gen. 1:28). However, too often in subduing we damage, distort, and pollute when we apply ourGod-given capacities - “professing to be wise,” our thinking is “futile” (Rom. 1:22). Our blindness is mentioned here in verse 30, reminding us that we need Christ our Godto restore our sight so that we may heal the damage, waste, and pollution we create. First must comethe renewal of our spiritual vision according to the Divine image in us. Can we hope for this? St.Peter of Damascus, says “God irradiates knowledge to all and at the same time He gives us faith asan eye through which we can perceive it. If we choose to grasp this knowledge firmly by means offaith, we can keep ourselves mindful of it by putting it into practice, and God then gives us greaterardor, knowledge and power. For our pursuit of natural knowledge kindles our ardor and this ardorincreases our capacity to put the knowledge into practice.” In addition to being blind, we ought also to admit that we are mute. We maim God’s giftof speech by our sin, using words and speech to lie, cheat, and deceive, proving that we have becomeslaves of the wicked spirit of darkness. How well the Lord describes us: “You are of your father thedevil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He...does not stand in the truth, because thereis no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar....” (Jn.8:44). Follow the Lord Jesus and ascend the mountain of healing with the multitudes. Go tothe place where Christ our God is seated, and there repent. May our tears flow humbly as we seekthe restoration of our speech (Mt. 15:29-31). The Fathers teach that in the deep center of our hearts,God has planted a capacity for His “pure words, silver that is fired, tried in the earth, brought tosevenfold purity” (Ps. 11:6). Yes, today our speech is confounded so that we do “not understandeach the voice of his neighbour” (Gen. 11:7), yet the Gospel declares that our God is waiting toanswer if we will but cry out to Him: “O Lord, Thou shalt open my lips, and my mouth shall declareThy praise” (Ps. 50:15). O Thou Who hast power to release men from their sins, forgive and release me that Imight obtain Thy cooling solace and be found without any impurity or stain before Thee.