DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS
St. Luke 13:10-17
(1/6)
For the 32nd Sunday after Pentecost (The 27th
Sunday)
To Heal
All: St. Luke 13:10-17, especially vs. 16: “So
ought not this woman...be loosed from this bond on the
Sabbath?” During
the reign of King Asa of Judah (911-870 BC), the Holy
Prophet Hanani reproached the king for making
defensive treaties with pagans rather than relying upon God (2 Chr. 16:1-9 LXX).
The Prophet reminded King Asa of a basic truth
concerning God and mankind: “...the eyes of the Lord look upon all the
earth, to strengthen every heart that is perfect toward Him” (2 Chr. 16:9 LXX).
In today’s Gospel, note that Hanani’s
declaration is manifested in the Lord Jesus’ actions. His healing of a bent woman includes
efforts also to heal all who were present - in the same way that He seeks to
renew “every heart that is perfect toward Him.”
The Lord
Jesus did two things when He healed the bent woman: He declared that she was
loosed from her infirmity (vs. 12), and He laid “His hands on her”
(vs. 13). St. Cyril of Alexandria
draws attention to the difference between the manner in which our Lord healed
and the manner of the worthies of the Old Testament as they healed: “each
of the Holy Prophets, if anywhere at all they wrought any miracle, is seen to
have done it by the power of God.”
Typically, they fell on their faces before the Almighty and besought Him
with appropriate words of prayer; but “Christ, the Savior of all, offers
no prayer, but refers the accomplishment of the matter to His own power,
healing her by a word and the touch of the hand.”
Not to
overwhelm the multitudes who were present in the
synagogue, but rather to awaken them to His Divinity, Christ Jesus subtly
departs from a familiar pattern employed by the ancient saints for gaining
God’s compassion and healing.
Instead, He behaves in a manner appropriate to His Divine nature, that
they might perceive something of the One present with
them and turn to Him to be healed.
Our Lord’s “low-key” style did not overwhelm or force
the witnesses to believe in Him.
Rather, He led them to trust Him for their own healing. In response, “all the multitude
rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him” (vs. 17).
When the
Lord was “censured” for working on the Sabbath - allegedly contrary
to the Law of Moses (Ex. 20:8-11) - He admonished the ruler of the synagogue
for condemning Him, pointing out a contradiction in the man’s thinking. The Evangelist tells us that the ruler
and other “adversaries” of the Lord were “put to shame”
(vss. 15-17).
The Lord yearned for them to be healed of their wrong thinking, but
instead, as Blessed Theophylact notes, they
“burned with rage that He had healed at all,” missing a great
opportunity to have their souls and theology healed.
Had the
Lord Jesus’ adversaries perceived His Divinity from His telltale manner
of healing, they would have realized that God gave the commandment to rest on
the Sabbath for the benefit of men and beasts, but not for Himself. God did rest on the Sabbath (Gen. 2:2),
yet never ceased providing for us.
If, on the Sabbath, the sun left its course, the rains did not fall, and
the rivers did not run, and a multitude of other Divine works stopped, what disasters
would befall us!
By
laying His hand upon the bent woman, our Lord used His own human nature drawn
from the Theotokos, to show us a new means for being
healed. As St. Cyril of
O Lord,
may Thy life-giving Mysteries be for the healing of our souls and bodies!
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