Tenth Sunday of Saint Luke
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
In the Gospel reading appointed for this Sunday our Saviour, the true Physician of souls and bodies, taught in the Synagogue on the Sabbath day and a woman who had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years entered therein. And as it is written, He immediately called her to Himself and said, “Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And He laid His hands on her and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God” (Luke 13:10).
After this stupendous miracle, beyond all expectation the ruler of the Synagogue answered with indignation, “There are six days in which men ought to work, in them therefore come and be healed and not on the Sabbath day” (Luke 13:14).
So depraved are men who give themselves up to bitter envy. And our Lord answered this foolish accusation with the words, “Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?" (Luke 13:15-16).
There was not a man or woman present that did not know of these exceptions to the prohibition from working on the Sabbath and thus all of our Lord’s “adversaries were ashamed: and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him” (Luke 13:17).
Thus we see a woman loosed from being bound by Satan and a man bound by sin and made crooked with the disease of envy. But some might ask, what was the cause of the woman’s physical malady and what is the cause of illness in general? In order to find the answer to this question one must begin at the Scriptural account of the creation of the world where it says, “And God saw all the things that he had made, and, behold, they were very good” (Gen 1:31).
Solomon further instructs us when he wrote, “God made not death: neither hath He pleasure in the destruction of the living. For He created all things that they might have their being; and healthful were the generatings of the world; and there is in them no poison of destruction…but by envy of the devil, death entered into the world” (Wisdom 1:13, 2:24).
Furthermore, Saint Basil the Great wrote concerning these things in his Homily Explaining That God Is Not The Cause of Evil:
“...from what source are illnesses? From what source are the maimings of the body? For neither is illness ungenerated, nor is it the handiwork of God. But living beings were created with the bodily faculties suited to them according to nature, and brought to life complete in their limbs and organs, but they became ill through a perversion of what is according to nature. For a disruption of health occurs either because of a bad lifestyle or because of some other cause of illness. Therefore, God created the body, but not illness; and likewise God created the soul, but not sin. Rather the soul is made evil through a perversion of what is according to nature." [p. 74 “Homily Explaining That God Is Not The Creator of Evil” found in “Saint Basil the Great On The Human Condition,” translated by Nonna Harrison, Saint Vladimir’s Seminary Press, Crestwood, New York, 2005.]
A little further on in the same homily Saint Basil explains the origin of illness.
"...There was a time when Adam was set on high, not in place but by free choice, when, having just then been given life, he looked up toward heaven and became exceedingly glad at the things he saw. He greatly loved his Benefactor, Who gave him the enjoyment of eternal life…As he was protected in all these things by God and enjoyed the blessings belonging to him, he quickly became full of everything. And as it were becoming insolent through satiety, he preferred what appeared delightful to the fleshly eye to the spiritual beauty and considered the filling of the stomach more valuable than the spiritual enjoyments. And immediately he was outside of paradise and outside of that blessed way of life, becoming evil not from necessity, but from thoughtlessness. Because of this he also sinned through wicked free choice, and he died through the sin. “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:25). For to the extent he withdrew from life, he likewise drew near to death. For God is life, and the privation of life is death. Therefore Adam prepared death for himself through his withdrawal from God, in accordance with what is written, “Behold, those who remove themselves from Thee are destroyed” (Psalm 72: 27). Thus God did not create death, but we brought it upon ourselves by a wicked intention. To be sure, for the reason stated above, He did not prevent our dissolution, so that our weakness might not remain as immortal. It is like someone not allowing a leaky clay pot in fire [and hardened] until the weakness present in it has been completely mended through refashioning. [ibid.]
Through free choice, Adam and Eve hearkened to the Slanderer (Diavolos) and turned away from the source of life and partook of the forbidden fruit. When God confronted them, they did not repent, but rather made excuses in their sin and as a result were cast out of paradise. Thus, through the influence of the evil one, the will of our first parents was corrupted and it is through this that we have sin, illness and death. Even to this day, Satan (whose name signifies Adversary) is the cause of all of our problems, yet he is not the only cause. We ourselves are a major cause of our own ruin. The devil suggests things to tempt us into sin, but he cannot constrain. Sin is cooperation with the will of Satan as opposed to cooperation with the will of God. If we would only see things for what they are, if we would only perceive spiritual reality! Our Saviour came as a Physician to heal us and to free us from sin. As our Saviour said, “Amen, amen, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the slave of sin. And the slave abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth for ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:34-36).
If we are deceived and fall into sin, we can immediately repent and He will set us free. Saint Symeon the New Theologian states that if Adam and Eve immediately repented things they would have been forgiven. For this reason even if we fall into great sin we should not lose hope. The Holy Fathers teach us that all things are from God, except despair. If we repent, if we cry out unto the Lord and do not make excuse with excuses in sin, we can be reconciled to God and healed.
The Holy Fathers of the desert used a parable that compared the soul to a lamp. So long as the lamp is lit, the light burns brightly and the heat of the lamp keeps mice away. Yet, if for some reason the lamp is extinguished, it grows cold and a mouse can come and eat the wick and devour the oil and overturn the vessel. If it is made of clay, the vessel can break. If it is made of metal it may survive undamaged and opportunity is given for the householder to set the lamp aright and relight it. One interpretation is that the vessel of clay signifies the unrepentant soul and the vessel of metal signifies one who is made of better things and readily repents. If we judge ourselves, we attract the mercy of the Householder, God, and we find healing.
Saint Paul comments concerning the men of his day in Corinth, concerning the fact that they drew near to the Eucharist without proper repentance, saying, “Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this Cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world” (1Cor 11:27-32).
He we have an example of sickness as a form of chastisement that is intended to bring about repentance. As Saint Basil wrote, “As, therefore, the physician is a benefactor even if he produces distress or pain in the body (for he fights the illness, not the sick person), so also God is good, Who provides salvation to all, through particular punishments.” [Harrison, Op. cit., p. 68]
Our Saviour came to heal mankind bent and twisted in sin so that we might walk in uprightness and look to the things above.
Yet, while on the topic of illness, one may ask concerning the fate of the billions of men and women in the world and why are they found in so many different conditions. Saint Anthony the Great also asked just such a question:
218. Abba Anthony besought God to inform him why young children died whilst so many old men lived, and why upright men were poor whilst the wicked were rich, and why some were blind and others had their sight, and why the righteous suffered from illness whilst the wicked were healthy, and a voice came, which said, “Anthony, take care of thine own self, for these matters are the judgements of God.” [p. 200 The Paradise of the Holy Fathers Vol. II, Translated by E.A. Wallis Budge, Chato & Windus 1907, London]
These words given to one of the greatest of the saints have been preserved for our spiritual profit. The Christian made wise by humility freely admits the limits of the knowledge that has been given unto us and refrains from speculating about the judgments of God. Let us limit ourselves to the legitimate teachings from the consensus of the Holy Fathers. Let us trust in our God, Who, out of co-suffering and self-sacrificing love for us, became Man so that we would turn away from sin and become partakers of life. May you and your families be blessed in this age and in the age to come. Amen.