Sunday of the Paralytic

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“Like the paralytic, we are also expected to go into the world, and sin no more. We have been given a far greater deposit of faith, of Tradition, found in the Church; of Love, found in obedience to the commandments of Christ, once given, and always echoing in our ears, in the scriptures, in our liturgies and services: Go, and sin no more, for anyone who loves Christ will keep his commandments, in faith, and in simple obedience to His word. For, obedience is the natural fruit of faith, and is born of humility, the mother of all virtue.”

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. One God! Amen.

In today’s Gospel reading we hear the story of The Paralytic, a man who had been afflicted for thirty eight years with paralysis, waiting by the sheep’s gate of the pool called Bethesda for the stirring of the waters by the Angel of the Lord. We do not know how old this man was, nor do we know the cause of his affliction, but whatever the cause of his condition, some fathers have considered it to be the result of some sin he had committed in his life. This is further affirmed by the command that Christ had given him when he later found him in the temple after he healed him of his infirmity.:

“See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”

Christ gave one other person a similar command, the women taken in adultery and condemned to stoning, wherein he told her likewise, after no one was left to condemn her, “go, and sin no more.”

It is a simple command that should be heeded by all of us, but not so simple to carry out, as I am sure many of us have learned with great difficulty, and an often unexpected humility, during the Lenten season that is now behind us. Yet, sin is an illness, a spiritual illness, afflicting us all till the end of life, and we can no more fault one another for our own affliction than we could a cancer patient dying of their disease. The difference comes in how we respond to it. What manner of life do we choose to live? How do we present ourselves to the world and before God? For the command has been given, and it only requires a simple obedience. Consider that the paralytic man likely did not know who Christ was, did not know that He was the son of God, or even able to perform such a miracle; but, by his obedience to the simple command of Christ, quickly found that he could walk once again. By his faith in what he was told to be true, he found he was healed of his infirmity and made whole once again.

Like the paralytic, we are also expected to go into the world, and sin no more. We have been given a far greater deposit of faith, of Tradition, found in the Church; of Love, found in obedience to the commandments of Christ, once given, and always echoing in our ears, in the scriptures, in our liturgies and services: Go, and sin no more, for anyone who loves Christ will keep his commandments, in faith, and in simple obedience to His word. For, obedience is the natural fruit of faith, and is born of humility, the mother of all virtue.

In the words of Thomas Hopko of blessed memory:

In the Orthodox spiritual tradition, obedience is a basic virtue: obedience to the Lord, to the Gospel, to the Church, to the leaders of the Church to one’s parents and elders, to “every ordinance of man”, “to one another out of reverence for Christ.” There is no spiritual life without obedience, no freedom or liberation from sinful passions and lusts. To submit to God’s discipline in all of its human forms, is the only way to obtain “the glorious liberty of the children of God,” disciplines us as His children out of His great love for us. “He disciplines us for our good, that we might share His holiness.”. Our obedience to God’s commandments and discipline is the exclusive sign of our love for Him and His Son.

It is within the Church that is found the fullness of this deposit of faith: The Gospels; her liturgies and prayers; her praxis of faith and liturgical rhythm of life; an Orthodox prescription of life found in prayer, fasting, and almsgiving; and the Holy Sacraments from which we are given and provided the means or our healing from the clutches of this illness, of which the symptom is sin. For, the Church is after all a hospital for our souls, but more than that, it is the pillar and foundation of Truth, established upon the foundation of the teachings of the Prophets and the apostles, with Christ as the cornerstone, of which we are all living stones. It is within the Church that we find our eternal remedy and food in the body of blood of Christ, the prescriptions of life for our own eternal life and edification, but so many of us find ourselves in the same condition as the paralytic, unable to move because of our own spiritual infirmity; unable to act upon what we know is right because of the weight of our own sin. Yet, Christ bids us all, get up and sin no more.

Life is a choice. Death is a choice. We are not punished so much as we are recipients of the fruits of our decisions. Whoever sincerely desires their own salvation does everything for the sake of their salvation. Whoever truly desires their salvation will distance themselves from everything that hinders them in the work of their salvation. For while our salvation is a gift freely given to us, a clenched fist, or a hand grasping something else receives nothing. For if we are not obedient in all things to the best of our ability, then we are at risk of receiving nothing, and losing all things.

In the words of Saint Anthony the Great:

The truly intelligent man pursues one sole objective: to obey and conform to the God of all. With this single aim in view, he disciplines his soul, and whatever he may encounter in the course of his life, he gives thanks to God for the compass and depth of His providential ordering of all things.

For it is absurd to be grateful to doctors who give us bitter and unpleasant medicines to cure our bodies, and yet to be ungrateful to God for what appears to us to be harsh, not grasping that all we encounter is for our benefit and in accordance with His providence. For knowledge of God and faith in Him is the salvation and perfection of the soul.”

Do you want to be healed? It is the question Christ asked of the paralytic. But, it is a question that should be asked of all of us. Do we really want to be healed? Through the Church we have been given the tools, the means, and the prescriptions of an authentic spiritual practice to find such a thing. The Church awakens in us those spiritual gifts God has given to all of us through its sacraments, prayers, liturgies, and Tradition. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Great Physician, has come to set us free from the illness of sin, but it is our choice alone to follow the prescriptions we have been given. It is of our own free will that we receive that gift we have been given.

Do we partake of all that has been given us? Do we foster within us a genuine desire to become better men and women then what we are by nature? Do we try to observe and maintain our purity of life not only in our own conscience, but in the eyes of God? Do we live vigorously to fight against the passions of the flesh, but also against the vices of this world without concessions to the vagaries of this world? Do we turn to God for help and assistance when trouble finds us, and do we use those means we have been given for our own salvation rightly and as prescribed? Are we zealous about reading the word of God with introspection, to see and identify those things we need to correct when we examine ourselves in the mirror of Truth? Do we confess ourselves before God that we might be absolved of our many transgressions? Do we imitate those Saints that have gone before us, and have we developed a relationship with the one who’s name we bear? Do we help our fellow men, and rejoice when we find the opportunity to do s

We must strive so that our earthly life resembles that heavenly life we all strive towards. We must compare all things earthly to those things heavenly, and not the other way around as so many are wont to do. We must see that which is invisible and eternal in favor over that which is visible and temporal. Be ready to give up anything and consider everything as dung so that no earthly thing may stand between us and Christ. Our thoughts should be given to eternity. Our desires should be the perfection of virtue. Our greatest pleasures should be our reflection, consideration and conversations about the blessedness of those who have gone before us, and our greatest sorrow should be when we feel no spiritual draw nor attraction to heavenly things. We are not troubled by this life, but only the next, and the concerns of not only our own salvation, but those of our brothers and sisters around us. Our life should be a visible expression, image, and preparation for that better life in the age to come. Our prayer life, and our life within this world, should be equal and parallel expressions of the same faith we seek to live day by day.

So, as we move forward in this Paschal season with the joyous exclamation, Christ is Risen! Let us also rise with Him. Let us rise from our sins. Let us rise with the strength He has given us to overcome them. Let us rise, no more shackled by fear of this world, or fear for the sake of our failures, but move forward, day by day, into the eternal Joy of the Kingdom of God. So let us all take up our own beds, and sin no more, that me we might walk together in the joy of eternal life.

He is Risen! He is Risen! He is Risen!

By the prayers of thy most pure mother, the Holy and God bearing Fathers, all the saints, the martyrs and the angels, have mercy on us and save us.

Amen.

Sickness and Death

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Sickness and death

In order for us to approach and understand the Church’s view towards sickness and death, I think it is important to first examine and understand how Christ approached and treated sickness and death. Christ spent a good majority of his time ministering to the people by healing, raising people from the dead, forgiving sins, and the performing of miracles all towards that end. For Jesus, the forgiveness of sins, the healing of the body, the destruction of the devil, and also the raising of the dead are all one and the same act of salvation. Jesus’ ministry of healing was a healing of the whole person, body and spirit. He showed us that death could be defeated. Jesus showed us that He is Christ the Messiah, the fulfillment of the prophets who brings the Kingdom of God into the world.

“Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.”
James 5:14-16

Death grows within us by means of physical illness and decay. Our sufferings of sickness and illness are not normal, but are direct consequences of the ancestral sin, when Adam first rebelled against God, and thus rebelled against life, because God is life. Adam’s rebellion against Life brought suffering, sickness, decay, and death upon himself and Eve, as well as all their progeny. As such, human nature is fallen and is subject to death, and “Death is the enemy to be destroyed.” The one inescapable and unavoidable reality is that each and every human being born into this world, death is now before each and every person.

Death is not a natural part of this life, but something abnormal and truly horrible, and it is something that humanity, the world, strives daily to overcome. The world attempts to avoid death, to avoid the concept of death, even at funerals. Others choose to embrace death, developing a preoccupation with death in all its forms, some believing and treating death as the one true freedom; the one thing they can know with certainty. This latter stance may be one reason that suicide has become so prevalent today. Yet, if death is the enemy, then each person must find a way to combat that enemy. Despite the fact that it is now an inevitable part of life, death is not natural, and is what humanity strives to overcome. It is a endemic condition on humanity, one that is ever present and taking humanity in a way that was never intended.

“The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. ⁵But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
1 Corinthians 15:56-57

Understanding that death is not a natural part of life, and is a plague upon this world, upon humanity, God offers us an answer to this plague of death through Christ. Christ came to earth to redeem man, and to fully restore within us the image of God that we were fully intended to grow into, as witnessed in the Transfiguration of Christ upon Mount Tabor, which was to us a prefiguration of His resurrection. The incarnation of Christ redeemed all of creation, for all of creation fell into disarray when man fell from grace. Christ took on death and overcame it victoriously. He gave himself up to death so that he could take death captive and free all of humanity from the grip death had upon it, and therefore removed the separation of humanity and God in our death. It is for this reason that the Church proclaims in faith “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs, bestowing life,” all through the Paschal season.

Christ has triumphed over death, but death still exists in this world. Man is still subject to physical death. Christ “does not ‘abolish’ or ‘destroy’ the physical death because He does not ‘abolish’ the physical world…by abolishing death as a spiritual reality, by filling it with Himself…He makes death…into a shining and joyful passage” So, Christ has destroyed the spiritual aspects of death, but we are not free from the bonds of a physical death. “We all share the same fate, saint and sinner, young and old.”

Recognizing Christ’s role in overcoming death, we can better understand the role the Church, the body of Christ, plays in dealing with sickness and death. The Church must be properly seen as being a part of medicine, and her minsters and clergy its healers. The Church, in all reality, is a spiritual hospital. For Jesus said, ““Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” Human beings, as sinners, are considered to be sick; as such, the Church is concerned with the ultimate fate of all human beings, which is their salvation through the forgiveness of sins, which can only be found within the Church, and sin being the root cause of all illness and suffering in the world. Whereas Christ defeated death, the Church is here to reveal it, not reconcile it like so many religious and religions of this world. No, the Church reveals death because it is the revelation of Life.

The Church understand and approaches sickness and death in a holistic manner, healing the root of all illness, and not merely the symptoms. While modern medicine has made many advances in technology and practice, it does not fill the need which are part of the whole of healing and health. The human person requires a healing which does not merely address the physical needs and condition, but healing that deals with the whole human being, both body and spirit. The Church realizes this need, and focuses on the entire person: mind, body, soul, and spirit. Disease may be temporarily addressed the modern medicines of this world, but it is only a temporary fix until the root cause of the problems are cured. So, the Church approaches sickness, death, and healing within the context of sin and redemption.

When one falls ill, they must recognize that whatever illness they may have, it is caused by sin, their own sin or the sins of the whole world. There is no blame for God for their ailment. God does not wish for his children to be sick. If God so wills it, one can be healed of his infirmities, allowing him more time to live in service to both God and man here on earth, fulfilling whatever He has planned. The sickness as well can serve as a means towards serving God, and it should be accepted in this way, offering ones faith and love unconditionally, for there is no greater witness to one’s faith than enduring sickness in love and faith, courage and patience, hope, happiness, and joy. Such a life lived, even to one’s death by such illness, is incomparable to any offering man can provide.

I myself have been witness to the healing mercies of our Father. January 11^th of 2016 would see me in the hospital, and slipping into full respiratory failure through pneumonia, and a culmination of other issues. After I was put on life support, Holy Unction was administered. The only thing I can remember from that day was waking briefly two times throughout that day, and hearing the psalms being read to me. The woman from the Church took turns, and sat in my room, reading the entirety of the Psalter to me. I eventually regained consciousness, and at the end of the week was the first person Chrismated into the Orthodox Church in Mountain Home, Arkansas, at my home parish. I have witnessed, believe, and understand the healing power and need of the Church in its role as a spiritual hospital of sorts for the whole and holistic healing of man.

The sacrament of healing is performed for the healing of body and soul, and for the forgiveness of sins, though it is not performed for the sake of the sick alone, but also for the physically healthy. While it may not have the focus importance equal to the rite of Baptism or the ongoing celebration of the Holy Eucharist within the life of the Church, it still addresses a fundamental need in human life. “Healing is a sacrament, not healing as such, the restoration of health, but the entrance of man into the life of the kingdom, into the joy and peach of the Holy Spirit.” As such, the prayers of the Sacrament of Healing are penitential in nature, asking for the forgiveness of one’s sins. The body is anointed, invoking the grace of God upon the ill and infirmed, because it is the grace of God that heals all illnesses, both body and soul.

Despite the importance of the Sacrament of Healing, this emphasis on spiritual healing and wellbeing does not mean that one should forgo any attempt at physical healing. All things can be used to the glory of God. All healing, both spiritual and physical should be brought to God with prayer. Faith does not stand in opposition to science, nor science to faith, but science confirms what faith has already revealed. God is the source of both, and all things, and as such the two are not in opposition to one another. Just as theosis is achieved through cooperation with God, so is healing a cooperation of human effort, and prayer, with God and His will.

Ultimately not all people are physically healed, some slipping from this life into the next through whatever illness was plaguing them. It is here we transition from the rite of healing, into the funeral rites of the Orthodox Church. The service helps those in attendance develop a greater understanding of the meaning and purpose of life. It assists us with the emotional response we develop at the time of death, as well as the time that passes after. It also places an emphasis on the fact that death is not the end, and helps to affirm our hope in salvation and life eternal. The funeral rite, by the prayers, hymns, and readings that take place, is a dialogue between God and the people, as well as God and the dearly departed. The service also recognizes the realities of our human existence, our frailty and finite time in this world, and the vanity of this world and all the things in it. We bless the departed and say goodbye with a final kiss of peace, with our pain of separation and the tragedy of death being acknowledged in the hymns that are sung. We pass from this life with both prayers and tears, but are soon welcomed into the joy and gladness of the Lord.

Our sins, our illnesses, and our eventual death are all related one to another. By Adam’s sin both sickness and death were ushered into this world, and it is through Christ and his resurrection that humanity is redeemed and released from the grip of death. The nature of sin and death are recognized within both the rites of healing and the funeral service, yet so is the fact that Christ has conquered all of these things for the redemption for the whole of mankind. He is an offering of truth and life for those within the body of Christ, which is the Church, forgiving all of our sins to the betterment of all mankind. Christ, truly, is the life of the world.

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What is the value of a Human life?

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Human Life – January 27th, 2019

What is the value of a human life?

What does it mean to value something? As in most languages, most words take on their specificity within the context they are used. Value, as a tangible attribute, is the degree of importance, usefulness, or worth that something is regarded to have. When asking most people across the current cultural milieu what it means for something to have value, the vast majority of respondents would likely reply with regard to something’s monetary value, or market worth. Yet, does something have value simply because of its net or market worth? It is not entirely the monetary amount attached to an item that gives it value, for an item has value particularly when someone owns it (self valuation of the object owned), or another person wants it (coveting an item not owned).

The monetary value of an item is often subjective, and determined by outside factors. One such set of factors driving the value of most market goods is the law of supply and demand. Simply put, the prices of items are determined by the varying degrees of supply and demand, and their subsequent fluctuations. For example, if supply is high, and demand is low, the cost will be low. If demand is high and the supply is low, the cost will be high. Yet, this law seems not to apply in unique and niche markets, where the price of an item can be determined by any number of external factors. Though, for rare and unique items, one of a kind items, whether they be collectibles, cultural artifacts, or other items that cannot be repeated or duplicated, what price can be attached to these? Most people would call these items priceless, for what value can be given to an item unique in its existence.

Things have value, and we value these things because they have value, whether that is of a monetary nature, or its usefulness and what it contributes to our own lives. As such our personal valuation of an item is based upon two questions: 1) What will it cost me? And 2) What can it provide for me? In a materialistic cultural framework, these are the two questions that drive our perceived value of any given thing. So, people desire these things based on how little the answer to number one is versus the greater response within the answer to number two. It is in effect a social adaptation to the supply and demand model. Though, we run into a problem when we try to apply this model to determine the value of a human life, because it at once runs into an immediate contradiction, and the fact that human beings are not things. Let us address the latter point, before addressing the former.

Human beings are not things, but people have reduced themselves to treating other human beings as things, as objects. The reason behind this is due to where one’s desires lie. If you love a thing, you will become a thing. If you love a person, you will become a person. As the cultural milieu in which we live is largely materialistic, most people have fallen in love with things – the car they drive, the house they live in, the “toys” they have, and all the other accoutrements in this life. People love things, and as such they have reduced their own humanity, or perhaps their understanding of humanity, to that of a thing. Humans are no longer unique and individual persons, but things whose value is determined by what one can provide for them.

The devaluing of the human person is why others are so easily able to kill others; so easily able to break another person, whether physically, psychologically, or emotionally; are so easily able to “buy” and use people (i.e. prostitution, slavery, etc) for their own pleasure or purposes; so easily discard and replace people like cogs in a machine; so easily able to ignore the plight of the homeless, the needy, the suffering, and the interred, because to them if a human being cannot otherwise provide something of value or importance to an individual, then they have no value.
The devaluing of the human person is why we are so easily able to discard millions of unborn children, and not even bat an eye about it at a cultural or societal level. They are not yet born, so they do not yet have value. They are not yet born, so they cannot possibly provide the other person any service or material of worth. Humanity, or the understanding of humanity, has been reduced to a thing, so in the eyes of our cultural milieu, the unborn child is not human.

Yet, a human being is not a thing.

So what value can be given to a human life? I cannot even begin to answer this question without first establishing what human life means, and I can only do that through the lens of the Church, within which lies my entire understanding of the whole human being.

In Christian Anthropology, we understand man (ἄνθρωπος) to be created in the image and likeness of its creator. He is a being created with both body and soul. It is with this and in this image and likeness that man stands apart from the rest of creation. So we all begin unique in our humanity alone.

When we look at human DNA, the complex lattice work of deoxyribonucleic acid that exists in all life, we come to the realization that every single human being is unique. No human being has the same DNA as another human being (genetic anomalies and exceptions aside). So, biologically, we are all unique individuals. On top of biology, each human being develops into his own unique and individual person, with unique personalities and character traits, attributes, appearances, and various cognitive and creative qualities. Many aspects are shaped and molded by the environment in which that person exists. So, the end result is that you have a unique human person that cannot be recreated or duplicated – one of a kind. People may be similar to one another, but always unique.

So, what is the value of human life? If we attach the same value construct as previously established, we can only come to one conclusion: Priceless. Yet, this is not the way in which the cultural milieu sees the value of other human beings. So, there now exists a cognitive dissonance between the social construct in which we now live, and the means in which we apply that to the value and understanding of human life.

The Christian Anthropological understanding of the human person is the only one that makes any sense any longer. We are all unique persons living and existing in communion with one another, and should be coexisting in a cooperation of perfect love. We all have value because we are all made in the image and likeness of God. Yes, we are broken individuals, but this is why the Church has always been regarded as a hospital for the human soul, and her theology a therapeutic science towards that end. We hold each other up, contributing our own gifts and material goods to the good and benefit of the whole, to the aid and benefit of that of all His Holy Church, the body of Christ, the collection of people living in communion with one another.

A human being is priceless. Each Human being is a unique person beyond value.. Even those most empty, damaged, corrupted, and broken are not to be discarded, for all have worth and importance. We do not know the value of a piece when reassembling something shattered until we get to the end. We are human beings, collectively pieces of a broken humanity, unique and beyond valuation, marching towards completion in and with God. We are not things, and those who see humanity as things, will be discarded as things in the end.