Conception of the Theotokos and the 10 Lepers

Glory to Jesus Christ. Well, you won't move closer

to me, so I'll move closer to you. In the name

of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy

Spirit. Amen. I find it very interesting and

comforting, too, this thought that if you're

at a store, doctor's office, waiting room, at

this time of year, December. On the speaker is,

well, my doctors at my dentist's office, thank

God it was Ella Fitzgerald, who's a legit and

wonderful musician, but it's songs like Let It

Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow, and Up on the

Rooftop, and all of these songs. Getting us ready

for Christmas. And then you have, if you turn

on the news, the horrible, the terrible chaos

going on in the Middle East and Syria, especially

right now, and the war in Ukraine and other places.

But in the church, we come here, and you're not

going to hear... Pointless songs, even if it's

Ella Fitzgerald, her magnificent voice about

snow, you're going to have your attention, if

we listen, directed towards something we need

to hear for the healing of our soul so we can

actually approach Christmas, the birth of Christ,

in a worthy manner, in a joyful manner, even

sorrowing. for all this chaos and the profoundly

suffering world, we can still rejoice at the

same time as we sorrow. The church teaches us

how to do that because the church is a spiritual

hospital. Some people don't know their patience.

That's one problem. But for those who ask God

to reveal... There's sins to them. The church

will take us who are fallen, sick, confused human

beings who suffer from all kinds of destructive

passions and sins and give us a tangible therapy

with worship, with confession, with communion,

with holy unction, with... fellowship with one

another, and the lives of the saints and the

stories from the gospel, which aren't teaching

us a good moral, but are teaching us the foundations

of the spiritual life. Healing comes provided

we desire it, provided we don't normalize our

dysfunction and our sin. And that we accept the

situation that we are indeed, we need to be patients

in this hospital. The Orthodox Church offers

something that no other church can do. Many other

places you might get into the waiting room for

the doctor. But here you will meet the physician

and he will lay his hands upon you. We're admitted

to the hospital for healing and the church has

the remedies and all the holy mysteries. It's

sometimes, mostly, not sometimes, mostly all

times, a great effort to overcome those things

within us that prevent our healing. When I say

healing, I mean that the soul is reflecting the

light and the holiness and the love of God. And

that we are joyful and at peace. That's what

I mean by healing. But we have shame. We don't

want to admit things. That's true for every one

of us. We have pride. We justify ourselves. We

blame others for our situation. And we have fear

and anxiety and anger about that. But we have

a chance, brothers and sisters, if like the lepers

today in the gospel you just heard, we call out

for mercy so repeatedly. So heartfelt that we

appear before our Savior. They were far off,

it says in the story. This is Luke chapter 17.

Luke 17 · chapter mention

Isn't it interesting that we prepare for Christmas

by hearing a story about ten lepers and one Samaritan

of the ten who comes back. It's very interesting.

Well, they're far off. They have leprosy. They

can't be near. And they call to the Savior, have

mercy. They don't ask for anything but mercy.

And the Savior doesn't say to them, you are healed,

go your way, your faith has saved you. Does he?

He doesn't say that to them. Did you notice?

He says, go to the priests and show them. The

Old Testament, I think it's Deuteronomy, maybe

it's Leviticus, everybody's favorite book. Someone

with leprosy or skin disease had to go to the

priest to show them that they were sick and they

would then have to be isolated or they got well

and they would be admitted back. So Jesus says,

no, go to the priest. Which means... They're

invited to walk all the way to Jerusalem, probably

a two -day journey, because where Jesus is coming,

to have priests examine them. And one of the

nine, only one, not even a Jewish man, but the

Samaritan, that double outcast, not only with

leprosy, but he was a Samaritan. He wasn't Jewish.

He was the stranger and foreigner that St. Paul

mentions in the Ephesians. He turned back at

some point. Walked all the way back after being

healed. Imagine. And received more healing because

he worshipped his creator and his God. He persevered.

He heard what Christ asked him to do. He just

asked for mercy and Christ says, go. Do this

thing. It's going to take you two days to get

there and then two days to get back to me if

you want to give thanks. And he did it in faithfulness.

And as he started his journey to Jerusalem, to

the priest, he didn't know if he would be healed.

He didn't know. He just followed Christ. He was

at his wit's end. He was at the place where there

is no answer. There is no solution. And the same

traits, the same obedience, the same trust, the

same willingness to go the distance and then

some, because it's Christ, that's why. Because

it's Christ. Can be seen in the heroes of our

faith that we commemorate today, Saints Joachim

and Anna. Tomorrow is the actual feast day. We

moved it to today so we could all enjoy this.

And there are relics of the saints there on the

icon. Notice both accounts, that of the ten lepers

and that of Joachim and Anna, are being concerned

people that are outside of society. They feel

abandoned. They're outcasts. If not by God, then

certainly by others in their society. They need

help. They need healing. They have no answer.

This icon here, as I told you last year, because

we celebrated this feast day on a Sunday last

year. is the wedding icon that Matryoshka Ann

and I received from then Tom, now he's Father

Patrick, the Archimandrite. It's a beautiful

icon. It speaks to me about faithfulness. It

speaks to me about prayer in disappointment.

About long years of suffering. And sorrow. Born

together as husband and wife. And the profoundly

heartfelt and deep prayer that comes out of that.

And the obedience to Christ and his church. Christ

the head. The church the body. The whole Christ.

There's no Christ generic. There's Christ and

the church. They are one thing. That's what we're

being called to be obedient to. Last night, one

of the hymns describes the whole situation in

their life. It says, Anna cried out in her prayer,

beseeching the creator and God of all, O master,

thou dost perceive the shame of barrenness. They

were probably over 50 years old. Heal the pain

of my heart, open my womb to make it fruitful,

that we may offer thee a child as a gift. I see

in this icon the promise to offer God a gift

that they would only have for themselves for

a short time. They received the gift from God

and they gave it back right away. That's what

we're being asked to do with our life. I see

the warmth and joy of this gift in this icon.

I see the trust. that whatever God would give

or not give was okay. I see the beauty and sanctity

of marriage, the beauty and sanctity of conception

of a child. Who else celebrates a conception?

The Catholics have that, thank God, they keep

that feast as well. Today they actually keep

that. They have a different view of what happens.

I'm not going into the theology. I see the sacredness

of that conception and the beauty of that chastity,

that holiness, the trust in one another, in which

the Holy Spirit gives life at conception, a new

life. I see that marriage when I look at this

icon. in that embrace that the two of them have,

is not just a worldly institution that the government

can dictate and legislate about. It's a holy

vocation, a commitment of love and faith to participate

in God's creative and redemptive work. And if

you're not married, that's okay. What was...

The result of this conception. But the all holy

virgin. Let her be your example. If you are not

married. And don't plan to be married. This is

not a story. With a simple moral. The lepers.

Be grateful for what you have. Come back to Christ.

It's not that simple. They receive finally. After

struggling 50 years. the prayer of their heart,

and they received a child, and their offering.

This is not just about that. Those are elements

of this story. Like them, though, this story,

the lepers and Joachim and Anna, we're being

asked to consider, if we haven't already, to

make the sacrifice of our heart, our lives, to

our Savior. Despite whatever years, decades of

disappointment, and that we trust Christ, the

source of our life, when there seems to be no

solution, then in that struggle, we are becoming

saints. Because the grace of God can find an

opening within us in that sacrifice and transfigure

that struggle from just... Resentment and vain

struggle to something holy. For us, again, that

means we trust in Christ who is the head of the

church. The church is his body. The church is

not just, well, some old institution. And we,

unlike some other denominations, and we're not

a denomination, happen to have incense and icons

and saints and communion, confession and unction

and vigils and Pascha and the liturgy and the

Virgin Mary and vestments and all of this. That

is the content of the church and the tradition.

If we are faithful to that, brothers and sisters,

then the soul... Started to become like that

Samaritan leper that returned. Full of gratitude

and he worshipped the Lord. And we will become

like Saints Joachim and Anna. And all the things

that I said that Icon represents to me. We will

have those as a gift from God. In trust and in

love. And that witness. That witness. Of perseverance

and endurance. And Jesus says the one who endures

to the end will be saved. That witness will be

a joy to those around you. And to you as well.

To our Lord who gives us all this. Be glory and

honor now and ever to ages of ages. Amen.