Sermon on Luke 13:10 Fr. Damian Koult

As with all of the great healings and miracles

accomplished as Jesus walked amongst us, there's

something for us to learn in them for our personal

lives. Today, right now, whatever we're dealing

with in life. This woman was... bowed down with

an infirmity. And the Fathers teach us that this

symbolizes the fact that when we are growing

into the creatures we are from our youth, from

our early days, we become bowed down too. The

question is, what are we bowed down to? What

are we bent over? Where is our focus? And the

Fathers tell us that this denotes a man whose

cares are in the world. All of the stuff, all

of the things we have to do, all of our preoccupations

and our worries and the things that go right

and the things that go wrong. We want to celebrate

some of the time, but there's always something

else happening. And there's no resolution to

this. There's no resolution to a man being able

to sort out all of the things he's worried about

in a way that will ever be satisfying. We do

what we can. We try to enjoy and reap and celebrate,

party. But what does it do? It just brings back

a new level of being caved in on what happened

and what did this person do and how much money

did I spend and now what am I going to do because

this and because of that. And we cycle back in

and we become more and more and more burdened

and bowed down as time goes on. And we all know

that this isn't what we should be. This isn't

what we should do. Every one of us, whether here,

In this parish, where Orthodox Christians all

over the world are people of any persuasion or

creed or faith, it's known everywhere that that

isn't the point of life. But she symbolizes us.

She could not lift herself up. Try as we might,

we're never going to be able to leave it behind.

But we can do the one thing needful. Make ourselves

available to the one who brought us healing and

freedom. Jesus' presence in her represents for

us that time when that still, silent voice calls

us. to rise up, to lift our heads above the world

that has us drawn down and brings us to a place

where we can see. Man was created to be upright,

not just in stature, but in spirit, in sentience,

to be upright with our head heavenward, all of

our senses above the rest. We have beautiful

creatures around us. I'm staying with my daughter

and they have this wonderful dog. But a dog is

designed to participate in the elements of its

surrounding and its earth. And they are by nature,

same with horses and cows, and most creatures

are by nature bound to live in this interaction

of the world in which they were created. that

exalted place in creation where his creature

meets God. She's exalted because she's raised

up. And the nature of being truly healed or lifted

up or just seeing for the first time something

you haven't seen or being freed from the burdens

of the life we live The sure sign is one of gratitude.

She glorified God. Her natural response wasn't

anything to do with what she'd been through.

Utter thankfulness. Jubilant spirit inside. And

of course, there's those that live Like an actor

on a stage, which is where the word hypocrite

comes from in Greek. Someone who is one way,

but they behaved another way. And so we have

a man of the temple. And beware lest you get

caught in that yourself. Where you use the things

that have been preciously God -given as a way

to position yourself with others. He wanted to

position himself as the one with real authority.

He condemned the healing that took place because

it was on the Sabbath. And Christ calls him a

hypocrite because he was using the Sabbath for

his own inner greedy means. We all need to be

careful of being that kind of hypocrite about

what we do in our lives. whether it's in the

church or outside of the church, no matter who

it's with or where it's at, do we find ourselves

being two -faced, putting on the mask of a certain

kind of person, or are we being honest and transparent

and free in the freedom of having been lifted

up? Now, the people around that witnessed this

What did they do? Did they envy? Did they judge?

The gospel witnesses for us what they did when

they witnessed the great miracle. They gave great

thanks to God that someone else had been lifted

above. They recognized what had happened. They

glorified God for that very thing that no one

of us can do on our own. No group of us can do

together. The only thing we can do is to make

ourselves available to the coming of the kingdom

that lies within us. It's our inner disposition

that matters in all things. What are our hearts

and minds inclined towards when everything we

do? And do we give thanks? Is that our immediate

response? We need to live, as the Fathers say,

giving thanks for all things and being aware

that we could be taken at any time. We certainly

are aware of that now. The doors are wide open,

the chairs are spaced far apart, and we have

all got masks on. Because it could take us at

any time. But it won't matter if in that moment

we're standing up and we're not bowed down with

the cares of the world. Can you find that place

no matter what's going on? Will you struggle

for it? Will you ask God to and invite the presence

of that divine emanating love and life that he

gives us to illumine us so that we can stand

up? Thanksgiving is what it's all about. It's

something we just celebrated as a nation. And

it's something that we can't ever, ever have

too much of. Giving thanks at all times, in all

situations, no matter how hard it looks. Accept

him and let him open your heart to being thankful

that you can be transformed. and that you can

be raised up glory be to god