Jarius Daughter 2022

Glory to Jesus Christ, in the name of the Father,

and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Our commemorations this weekend are in memory

and celebration of what we call the Unmercenary

Saints. The first Sunday... in November is dedicated

to their memory, the Unmercenary Saints. The

word unmercenary basically means they don't charge.

They give their gift for free, their work for

free. They are physicians and healers. Some were

actual physicians and some had the gift of healing.

You see some icons here and over here. These

are the Unmercenary Saints. Panteleimon, for

example. Cosmos and Damien. Three sets of Cosmos

and Damien. Asia Minor, Rome, and someplace else.

And St. Luke of Simferopol in the Crimea, the

most recent one that we know of, the physician,

the surgeon. So this is important that we remember

that because we have these saints and we call

upon them. We ask for their prayers, their intercessions.

They are alive in Christ. And so we have this

interesting gospel about the healing of a woman

and the raising of a young girl on this day when

we commemorate these marvelous gifts to the church

who gave their gift out of love. That's why we

have the epistle about St. Paul's epistle about

love. It wasn't just because I liked it. prescribed

for today. And it defines these saints so perfectly.

Full of God's love. This is what we're called

to, too. We may not have the capacity, the ability,

the grace, the cleansing of our heart and soul

to heal somebody. But we can have God's love.

Let's look, however, leave that as it is for

now. Let's look at the Holy Gospel according

to St. Luke. about this incident. There's illness.

I think of this verse from St. Paul often when

I think of illness and those who are bearing

a heavy burden of illness. St. Paul puts it this

way, we do not lose heart. We don't lose heart.

In other words, we have hope. Though our outer

man is wasting away, yet our inner man is being

renewed day by day. We may be failing on the

outside, bodies falling apart, sickness, travail,

sorrows. But St. Paul says that may be true,

but the inner person is being sustained and growing

and faith is maturing through that trouble. through

what seems so unwanted by us. For this light

momentary affliction of sickness is preparing

for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all

comparison. I'm always surprised when Christians

who are mature Christians, long -time Christians,

they come to a struggle that has to do with their

health. And they think, if only the doctor, and

we should go to the doctor. We do seek healing

from our doctors. This is in the scriptures.

This is proper. I'm not saying not to do it.

I go to the doctor all the time now that I'm

65, even though God's blessed me with good physical

health my entire life. Which means he's going

to really require of me some serious spiritual

health before the end. Because I've had no obstacles

there. But I'm surprised when someone in my situation

laments, oh God, why did you do this to me? I'm

telling you this, brothers and sisters, so you

can prepare for the inevitable in your life.

And for those in your life to refer to. all to

Christ, to call upon the mercenary healers to

help you when you're suffering and to come to

the church and to be blessed and to let the inner

man be renewed. For this light momentary affliction

seems heavy, seems terrible, but St. Paul says

it's light compared, compared to the eternal

weight of glory. For we look not to the things

that are seen, but the things that are unseen.

Case in point, this gospel story. It's an extremely

dramatic story. Suffering. Sickness. Hope. Beyond

hope. Disappointment. Death. Faith. Lack of faith.

Exaltation. Joy. I count five miracles in this

story. Maybe there'll be a sixth, which will

be us by the end of this liturgy. Bear with me,

five miracles. The gospel account picks up where

we left off last Sunday. Literally right there

in the gospel of Luke. Jesus has just left this

gathering community after healing this man with

a legion of demons. And the local population

said... Leave. We don't want you here. Jesus

then, with a crowd of people, his disciples in

tow, is approached, moves on. He's approached

by a desperate man named Jairus, synagogue leader.

Think back to chapter 6 of Luke. Synagogue leaders

are conspiring already against Jesus. I have

no reason to think that this man Jairus wasn't

part of that group. But nevertheless, he's approached

by Jairus. Jairus' 12 -year -old daughter is

dying, 12 years old, and we learn that she does

die as the Savior is delayed, intentionally delayed.

This is miracle number one. that Jairus overcomes

his fear, his resentment, his uncertainty about

Jesus, and lays it all out there. During the

delay, a great miracle takes place, another one.

Well, I'd say two. I'd say two at this point.

First, this woman. We know her from tradition

as Veronica. It turns out that Veronica, later

in life, commissions a statue of Jesus, which

is attested to by a church historian in the 4th

century. So we know it existed. It was destroyed.

This woman, Veronica, Saint Luke describes her

condition. Chronic, horrible, horrible flow of

menstrual blood. Desperation, fear, and certainly

disappointment. She's been living, you could

say, barely living. This also for 12 years. You

remember the young girl, 12 years old. For 12

years, this woman, since that girl was born,

this woman has been suffering the isolation because

she's ritually impure. She cannot pray with others.

She cannot eat with others. She cannot... Embrace

her husband or her children according to the

law of Moses. She comes to Jesus with incredible

faith. No words are necessary. No words are possible.

A touch is sufficient. Silently, patiently, with

hope, prayerfully, she touches the Lord. I've

seen it many times when a person is in such pain

that all strength has left him or her. No way

to pray with words. I can sit by the bedside

and pray with that person. I suspect most of

us are going to be in that condition or something

like it at some point in our life, in our journey

to the resurrection. In that case, we can only

keep silence before God. There's a story from

the Desert Fathers, a certain Saint Dos Atheos,

ancient saint of the desert, was so weak he could

not walk. And his friend, Saint Dorotheos, says

to him, how is your prayer, Father Dos Atheos?

Common answer with the Desert Fathers, how's

your prayer? He replied, forgive me, I no longer

have strength to pray. Dorotheus replied, don't

worry about prayer. Just guard the memory of

God and know that he is with you. Guard the memory

of God in your heart and know that he is standing

with you. Father, into thy hands I commit my

spirit. We should say with Jesus at those moments.

and for those who are suffering. This is the

meaning, by the way, for me, of the touch which

the woman lays upon Jesus' robe. This incredible

woman unites herself to Jesus Christ and was

then able to receive the grace of that healing

pouring into her. Jesus says, who touched me?

Of course he knew, for I perceive power. The

enemies has gone forth. He wanted to demonstrate

to those around him what was happening. And he

says to her this beautiful word. Your faith has

made you well. He affirms it to her. He confirms

the faith and the healing to her, not to himself.

This is the kind of faith we want. The third

miracle was about the faith also of Jairus. for

he had to acquire it. First he came, and that

was a miracle, but now it was going to be put

to an extremely hard test. While Jesus was speaking

about the woman, a servant from the house came

to Jairus and says, it seems kind of cold, don't

trouble the master, your daughter's dead. Could

you imagine? The position this man is in, and

someone comes up and is like, don't bother him,

your daughter's dead. So cold and heartless.

Now maybe St. Luke is just condensing here for

the sake of, to not be too loquacious. He does

that. The beloved daughter died while Jesus was

praising Veronica's faith. The mourning had already

begun. It was time to get ready for the funeral.

And here was Christ. responding to Jairus, do

not weep. She is not dead. She is just sleeping.

And they, including Peter, James, and John in

the house, scornfully laughed at Jesus. Lord,

how do you have such patience with us? Ancient

peoples, by the way, you know, she didn't just

kind of faint like some modern biblical interpreters

would say. Well, she just fainted. Obviously,

Jesus just revived her. You know, ancient peoples

didn't need a heart and a brainwave monitor or

a stethoscope to know when somebody was truly

dead. really understood these things better than

we think they did. Jairus' faith is put to a

terrible test. Can you imagine how hard it must

be for Jairus and his wife to hear this news

and to believe in the Lord's words, don't be

afraid, only believe that you will be made well.

Why should they believe? But this is our response

to death. Don't be afraid, only believe. and

he or she and they will be made well. We believe

God loves us, and God works for our good. The

trust in Jesus is the third miracle. There are

many examples. I'll be very brief. One of the

great saints that we commemorate today, St. Luke

of the Crimea, the surgeon, the doctor, born

in 1877, of a very poor family. Got a good education,

miraculously. Began law school, but then he decided

that medicine would be the right thing because

he wanted to help people. His mother was a Roman

Catholic. His father was not really a believer.

I might have that backwards, but whatever. He

gets his degree in medicine. He becomes an expert

in ophthalmology. He goes out to the Russia -Japanese

War in the early 1900s. And he's treating soldiers

for wounds. And he's discovering incredible and

many, many different kinds of treatments that

are revolutionary at the time. Not just for the

eyes, but for war wounds. His wife contracts

tuberculosis. She dies. The communists, the Bolsheviks

come to power. He spends the next number of decades

being shuttled to and from Tashkent and Kiev

to the gulags in Siberia. All he wanted to do

was help, but God had a different plan for him.

He's ordained, he's made a monk, he's made a

priest, he's made a bishop. And he ministers

to the people while being accused and disappearing

for years at a time and then coming back. Hope

beyond hope. Don't lose heart. He knew this.

Though our outer man is wasting away, circumstances

are not. profitable for us our inner man is being

renewed day by day for this light momentary affliction

is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory

beyond all comparison as we look not to the things

that are seen but to the things that are unseen

trust in christ patience and trials Fervency

in prayer to the Lord, to the Theotokos, and

to the unmercenary saints. This is one thing

we can do, brothers and sisters. Here in this

gospel about sin and death, remember, you're

going to come up and not just touch the Lord,

but you're going to receive his body and blood

within you. Let there be a change. a repentance,

a glorious thanksgiving and joy to the Lord for

that gift. Then hope will rise up to here and

with hope and faith and love. To our Lord be

glory now and ever, to ages of ages. Glory to

Jesus Christ.