Second Sunday of Lent - On Spiritual Friends

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.